Akon

Chairman & Co-Founder - Akoin

Of American-Senegalese descent, Akon is recognized as one of the most powerful voices across Africa and the Diaspora, named to the Forbes Celebrity 100 & 40 Most Powerful Celebrities in Africa lists. In addition to having two multi-platinum albums, 27 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, he is among the first artists to accomplish the feat of holding both the number one and two spots simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100 charts twice. Through Akon Lighting Africa, he has already brought solar power to 18 countries in Africa, creating safety, health and well-being for over 100M of the 600M Africans who lack electricity today.

Changpeng Zhao

Founder & CEO

Binance

Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, is a serial entrepreneur with an impressive track record of successful startups. He launched Binance in 2017 and within 180 days, grew it into the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. An expert in blockchain and trading systems, CZ has built Binance into the leading blockchain ecosystem, comprised of Binance Exchange, Labs, Launchpad, Info, Academy, Research, Trust Wallet and Charity Foundation. In 2005, CZ quit his role as head of the Bloomberg Tradebook Futures Research & Development team and moved to Shanghai to start Fusion Systems. Soon thereafter, he learned about Bitcoin and joined Blockchain.info as Head of Technology.

Roger Ver

Executive Chairman

Bitcoin.com

After founding several successful companies in Silicon Valley, Roger began his Bitcoin journey in February 2011. Years before traditional venture capital firms became involved, he became the first person in the world to start investing in Bitcoin related-startups, and nearly single-handedly funded the entire first generation of Bitcoin businesses. His current investments include Bitcoin, Blockchain, BitPay, Kraken FX, and many many others. In his free time, he enjoys competing in Brazilian Jujitsu tournaments.

Da Hongfei

Founder

Neo

Da Hongfei, the founder of NEO, is a leading entrepreneur within the global blockchain community. In 2014 together with Erik Zhang, he founded NEO, establishing China’s first ever blockchain company. Founded as an open-source project, NEO is powering a paradigm shift towards a smart economy by working with a community of developers to deliver optimized and future-designed solutions. Hongfei’s contributions to the industry have been recognized by prominent institutions. In 2018, he spoke before the European Parliament and offered cutting-edge insights into the feasibility of blockchain technology solutions. Moreover, he has delivered numerous speeches at leading industry events and academic seminars at esteemed universities.

David Chaum

Founder & CEO

Elixxir

Elixxir was founded by David Chaum, a pioneer in cryptography and privacy-preserving technologies, and is widely recognized as the inventor of digital cash. His work on cryptographic “vault systems” contains the first proposal for a blockchain protocol, containing all but one element detailed 26 years later in the Bitcoin white-paper.His company, DigiCash, created the first digital currency, eCash, in 1995. eCash deployed David's breakthrough cryptographic blind signature protocol to create the world's first attempt at anonymous digital cash. With a Ph.D. in computer science from UC Berkeley, he taught at NYU Graduate School of Business and the University of California, led a number of breakthrough projects and founded the International Association for Cryptologic Research.

Erik Voorhees

CEO & Founder

ShapeShift.io

Erik Voorhees is among the top-recognized serial Bitcoin advocates and entrepreneurs. He founded ShapeShift in August 2014 as an elegant, secure, and fast solution to digital asset exchanges. Erik has been a featured guest on Bloomberg, Fox Business, CNBC, BBC Radio, The Peter Schiff Show, and numerous blockchain industry conferences. His past affiliations include: BitInstant, Coinapult, and SatoshiDICE, which was responsible for most of the world’s Bitcoin transactions in 2012 and 2013.

Jimmy Song

Bitcoin Educator

Programming Blockchain

Jimmy Song is a Bitcoin educator, developer and entrepreneur. For the majority of his 20-year programming career, Song has worked as a software developer for a wide array of companies in different fields. He began exploring Bitcoin in 2011 and was contributing to open-source Bitcoin projects by 2013. In 2014, he joined Monetas, where he led the development of Bitcoin integration with open transactions. ​After developing a bitcoin wallet for Armory Technologies, Song became the principal architect for Paxos. In 2018, Song joined Blockchain Capital ​as a venture partner. In addition, he runs Programming Blockchain, a company that trains students around the world in blockchain programming and development techniques.

Charlie Shrem

Host

UntoldStories

Host of UntoldStories.com. In 2011, at the dawn of the crypto era, Shrem founded BitInstant, the first and largest Bitcoin company. In 2013, he founded the Bitcoin Foundation and served as its Vice Chairman. Since then, Charlie has advised more than a dozen digital currency companies, launched and managed numerous partnerships between crypto and non-crypto companies, and is the go-to guy for some of the world’s wealthiest entrepreneurs. He recently started Crypto.IQ, a premier advisory firm providing expert research, education and advice in the world of crypto assets.

Tone Vays

Content Creator, Derivatives Trader & Consultant

Tonevays.com

Tone has worked on Wall Street for almost 10 years starting as a Risk Analyst at Bear Stearns and later becoming a VP at JP Morgan Chase in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. His expertise is in Economic Trends, Trading and Risk Analysis. Ever since getting involved in the Crypto Currency ecosystem in early 2013, he has been very active in spreading the relevance and importance of this technology as it helps promote economic freedom. Tone has been featured in several Documentaries like Magic Money & Bitcoin - Beyond the Bubble. Tone is now an independent content creator at ToneVays.com, his YouTube Channel and is the organizer of 3 Conferences: Unconfiscatable, Understanding Bitcoin and The Financial Summit for traders & hedge funds. Tone holds a Masters Degree in Financial Engineering from Florida State University along with Bachelor Degrees in Mathematics and Geology.

Emin Gün Sirer

Founder and CEO

Ava Labs

Gün is a professor of computer science at Cornell University and Founder and CEO of Ava Labs. His expertise spans operating systems, networking and distributed systems, with special emphasis on blockchains and peer-to-peer systems. He is well-known for having implemented the first currency that used Proof-of-Work (PoW) to mint coins, as well as for selfish mining, characterizing the scale and centralization of existing cryptocurrencies, and having proposed the leading protocols for on-chain and off-chain scaling.He is also the Co-Director of the Initiative for Cryptocurrencies and Smart Contracts (IC3), which aims to move blockchain-based applications from today’s whiteboards and Proof-of-Concepts to tomorrow’s fast and reliable financial systems of execution and record.

Nicholas Merten

Host & Founder

DataDash

Nicholas Merten is the founder of DataDash, the largest cryptocurrency YouTube channel with over 315,000 subscribers. Being an international speaker, thought-leader, and crypto analyst in the space, he’s utilized his over seven years of experience in traditional markets to understand the potential of cryptocurrencies.

Edward Moncada

CEO & Co-founder

Blockfolio

Ed is co-founder and CEO of Blockfolio, the worlds #1 mobile crypto portfolio tracker. He is passionate about bringing cryptocurrency adoption to the mainstream, DAOs and decentralized governance, and future of cryptographic networks. In addition, Ed previously served as a founding board member of the Dash Foundation (2014 - 2018) where he helped conceptualize Dash's decentralized governance and treasury, as well as drive the first protocol M&A in the crypto ecosystem.

Peter McCormack

Podcaster and Filmmaker

Defiance

Peter is podcaster and filmmaker and the host of What Bitcoin Did and Defiance.

Robert “Crypto” Beadles

Co-Founder

Monarch Wallet

Robert “Crypto” Beadles is a Christian, father, husband, seasoned business builder; investor, author, prominent Blockchain & Cryptocurrency educator on TV, YouTube, TradingView Sessions, and throughout the world. Robert is responsible for starting and growing one of the largest construction service businesses in CA, a software development, real estate investment firm, and many more. Beadles is also the builder and Co-Founder of the Monarch Wallet, MonarchPay and is a member of the C4 Crypto Consortium.

Erhan Korhaliller

Founder EAK Digital & Istanbul Blockchain Week

Erhan Korhaliller is the Founder and CEO of EAK Digital, a specialist blockchain PR agency. Prior to launching EAK Digital, Erhan previously managed large scale project teams for blue-chip brands such as Nike, Rolls Royce, and Vodafone, successfully guiding his teams to multiple advertising awards, including a platinum award from Campaign Magazine. Erhan continues to lead from the front, giving PR a voice in the blockchain industry as a speaker at global events.

Kyn Chaturvedi

CBDO

TomoChain

Kyn Chaturvedi is an early cryptocurrency investor and the Chief Business Development Officer for TomoChain, South East Asia's largest public blockchain. His 15 year professional career spans 7 countries as a technology entrepreneur and management consultant for startups. Kyn also holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business and Bachelor Degrees in both Industrial Engineering & Economics from Georgia Tech.

Mati Greenspan

Founder & CEO

Quantum Economics

An investment specialist with an eye for the latest market trends and trading opportunities.
Having been involved in financial markets his entire life and paper-trading from the age of 13, he is the co-author of the book The Complete Guide to Fintech and Investing and is a licensed portfolio manager in the European Union. Mati has a unique way of viewing and explaining what’s happening in the financial markets, and helping people spot the best investment opportunities. His expertise is particularly strong in the field of cryptocurrencies where he is known as one of the industry’s top analysts. His market commentary is frequently quoted in financial news sites like Bloomberg, CNBC, Thomson Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and many more.

Zia Word

Founder

Findy Ventures

Zia is an experienced entrepreneur with two exits. Involved in blockchain startups since 2013, she was co-founder & CSO of crypto & blockchain ecosystem chozun 途赞 in China. She now consults in the space and is currently building Findy Ventures to invest into killer upcoming blockchain, crypto, Web 3 & FinTech startups. Zia regularly appears on Sky Business News and speaks all over the world at events. She was voted one of the Top Ten Most Influential by The Crypto Magazine.

Jon Karas

President, Co-Founder

Infinity Management

Finance, Entertainment and Technology industry entrepreneur, seasoned capital formation leader, film producer, and talent representative. With over 25 years in the entertainment and finance industries, Jon is a major force at the intersection of celebrity and social good. He is a founding Advisory Board member of Slate Entertainment Group, creator of disruptive crypto-driven streaming and ticketing platforms. As a veteran of the William Morris Agency, he founded Infinity Management International in 1990, which represents top record producers, film and television writers, directors, and producers. He began his career practicing transactional and securities law at two major law firms on Park Avenue in New York.

Lynn Liss

Chief Operating Officer & Co-Founder

Akoin

Social Impact entrepreneur, operating executive, driving financial revolutions and related technology, partnerships and business models. Lynn has over 10+ years in the social impact sector; advising, executing and operating innovating business models for world change. An early mover in the 'blockchain for good' space, Lynn was a founding partner at ICO Impact Group, providing advisement to blockchain companies and new cryptocurrencies with a social impact. Over 10+ years as an executive consultant with leading firms BearingPoint and CGI-AMS providing strategic advisement and deploying innovative technology with Fortune 500s, including negotiating a $20M+ deal signed by the COO of Microsoft. Combined with an MBA in Strategy/Finance from the University of Chicago, Lynn has deep networks and experience across the startup, venture capital, entertainment, finance, technology, and social good sectors.

Nikolaj Lollike

Head of Integrations

Maker Foundation

At the Maker Foundation, Nikolaj Lollike is in charge of leading an international team of integration engineers, and managing integration projects with external partners seeking to base their systems on the Maker protocol. Nikolaj has worked with smart contract solutions since 2015, when he co-founded the Copenhagen Ethereum Meetup group and published acclaimed research on the applications of Ethereum. Prior to joining the Maker Foundation, Nikolaj worked at Nets Group, as an innovation specialist with a focus on blockchain payment solutions.

Mitchell Moos

Managing Editor

CryptoBriefing

Mitchell is a software enthusiast and the managing editor at CryptoBriefing. His first startup built algorithms for optimizing cryptocurrency mining. He was previously the editor at CryptoSlate. Prior to journalism, Mitchell was a product manager at a company that built distributed software on Hyperledger.

Nate Whitehill

CEO

CryptoSlate

Nate Whitehill is an experienced technology entrepreneur, programmer and web developer, with nearly two decades of experience building web applications. In August of 2017, he built and launched CryptoSlate, now one of the top destinations for crypto news, data and information about people, products and companies. Over the past 2 years, CryptoSlate has become one of the largest crypto news site in the world by Alexa ranking, serving over 250,000 visitors per month.

Kristina Lucrezia Cornèr

Managing Editor & Head of Features

CoinTelegraph

Kristina Lucrezia Cornèr is managing editor and head of features at Cointelegraph. M.A. in political science and classical philology she is a passionate communicator promoting innovations, translating them into simple languages and helping visionaries to be heard.

Alexandre Kech

CEO

Onchain Custodian

Alexandre started his career in finance as a custody clerk in a bank. Thanks to his hard work, he climbed up the career ladder to Head of Securities & FX APAC at SWIFT and now the CEO of a fintech start-up.In 2013 Alex became more involved in the crypto and blockchain world. During his time at SWIFT, Alex had the opportunity to participate directly in blockchain POCs and projects － which helped him realise that this was the future of fintech.
Today, Alex is the CEO of Onchain Custodian. Headquartered in Singapore, the company offers a global, standardised, insured and compliant custody service for the safekeeping of institutional digital asset investments.