Expert Speakers
Hear About the Latest Developments in Blockchain and Crypto Mining from Top Industry Leaders
Wes Fulford is the CEO of Bitfarms, one of North America’s largest vertically integrated blockchain infrastructure and cryptocurrency mining companies. Wes brought 15 years of investment banking, capital markets and asset management experience to the Company. Wes manages corporate direction and strategy at Bitfarms, facilitating company activity in capital markets, sales, marketing, strategic alliances and business development. Prior to joining Bitfarms, Wes led the financial institutions and fintech investment banking practice for one of Canada’s largest financial institutions, Desjardins Group, and during his career has led over 100 successful financings and M&A transactions.
">Blockchain Infrastructure Research
Tanya is a professional applied economist, trained at the London School of Economics. She formerly worked for the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank, conducting risk analyses and international emerging market research. Tanya has particular expertise in supply and value chain assessment, policy and regulatory landscape evaluations, and price and trend analysis. Tanya is a strong business leader and avid blockchain enthusiast.
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Christopher Bendiksen is the Head of Research at CoinShares, Europe’s largest digital asset manager and issuer of the pioneering XBT Provider ETN’s tracking Bitcoin and Ether on Nasdaq Nordic. At CoinShares, Christopher runs the research desk with a main focus on the full technology stack of the two underlying assets of the CoinShares product suite, Bitcoin and Ethereum. Among other outputs, CoinShares Research publishes bi-annual Bitcoin Mining Reports covering the economics, dynamics, energy demands and sources of the Bitcoin mining network. Mr. Bendiksen holds a BA in Biochemistry from University of Tampa and an MSc in Biophysics from Universitat de Barcelona.
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Alex Hillman has over fifteen years of technology and business experience with a background in telecommunications, network architecture, hardware engineering, robotics, automation, and security. He is now the CEO and Co-Founder of Crypto Kings, a business and research team based in Vancouver that specializes in blockchain research, development, mining, and management. Crypto Kings also does blockchain consulting, FPGA-development, and was one of few large scale operations to remain profitable throughout the relentless bear market. With a heavy focus on education and awareness to help usher in mass adoption of blockchain, Alex and his team continue to support individuals, community bases, and large businesses both one on one and with regular informative content. Alex is also widely known for his viral random acts of kindness so feel free to come say hello and talk shop.
">Chetan Phull is a lawyer and founder of Smartblock Law, a law firm in Toronto focused in blockchain, cryptocurrency, IT contracts, and litigation. He is also an international speaker on cross-border legal management of blockchain operations. Chetan has given blockchain law seminars for the Ontario Bar Association, York University, Osgoode PD, and the Dubai government, and has upcoming seminars in Toronto, London, Frankfurt, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Buffalo. He is an an expert legal panelist at various industry events, and has been interviewed by numerous lawyer magazines and news outlets on cryptocurrency issues. Chetan has also authored numerous blockchain law compilations, available at no cost from www.smartblocklaw.com.
">Dina Matterson is a Business Development Manager with the Business & Economic Development team at BC Hydro. Since joining BC Hydro in 2003, Dina has worked in a variety of roles including Key Account Management, Energy Acquisitions and Policy & Research. As a Business Development Manager, Dina works with the Business & Economic Development team to proactively attract new customers to British Columbia by identifying the barriers to locating in B.C., and working collaboratively with key BC Hydro business groups, governments and non-government organizations to develop solutions to remove those barriers. Currently, Dina is working with potential customers in the cryptocurrency and data centre industries.
">Pete Lee was the first standup comedian to get a standing ovation on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and it resulted in him appearing on the show three times in the last year. Pete’s joyful humor comes from his Midwestern roots. Raised in Janesville, WI by divorced parents and a 19-inch television, he was destined to pursue a career in entertainment. In 2013, he made his late night television debut on CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman.Currently, Pete is a cast member of TruTV’s Greatest Ever and he hosts his own segment on Nickelodeon’s Nick Toons. Pete just moved to Los Angeles, California, and he launched a new podcast titled Snugglestorm, but he’ll be visiting his old New York friends often, because Jimmy Fallon officially named him a regular on The Tonight Show.
">Spencer is the Co-Founder and CTO of Crypto Kings, a Vancouver based company specializing in mining and blockchain technologies. He has provided consulting for small home miners, as well as commercial mining operations. With a passion for technology and hardware, he’s currently heavily involved with FPGA mining and experimenting with new and innovative projects. One of his major focuses since entering the blockchain and mining industry is education, with a focus on security.
">Amy Castor is an independent journalist and freelance writer based in Cambridge, MA. She has been writing about high tech in one form or another for about two decades.
In the last several years, she's become captivated by bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Her stories on the topic have appeared in The Block, Bitcoin Magazine, CoinDesk and Forbes. Her latest work including several pieces on QuadrigaCX can be found at https://amycastor.com/
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MintGreen Blockchain Innovation Corp
Colin is the President and co-founder of MintGreen Blockchain Innovation Corp., a tech company with a focus on innovative and sustainable digital currency mining projects. He has a background in thermal exchange and was introduced to the space as a supplier for immersion cooled Bitcoin mining systems. This sparked his passion for blockchain. Having the opportunity to learn from the best in the industry, he began consulting on GPU and ASIC mining deployments. In 2016, Colin joined the core development board for one of the early PoS coins. In 2017, he co-founded Ontario-based large-scale crypto mining project, BitCity, as the technical lead. PoW mining will continue to be a significant factor in the blockchain ecosystem and Colin is committed to sourcing green power for MintGreen’s projects and creating business synergies through environmental technology.
">Ben quit his job as a developer a few months after Ethereum launched in 2015 to start Island Computer, a cryptocurrency mining hardware and service company based in Hong Kong. Ben has lead the development of numerous generations of crypto mining hardware, provided crypto mining services, consulted on new crypto mining facilities around the world, advises two mining ICOs and has written the whitepaper for his company’s STO. Ben frequently speaks on cryptonomics and crypto mining at conferences and lectures and is the CTO and Cryptoeconomist for LuTech, a cryptomining hardware manufacturer.
">Shortly after learning about crypto currencies, Karl built his first Bitcoin mining computer in 2011. What started as a hobby quickly evolved into an obsession and eventually a career. Since then, Karl has deployed ASIC and GPU mining facilities in Canada, the US and Mexico. Karl has been working with Riot Blockchain to deploy their 12 MW facility in Oklahoma and develop custom software to control and maintain the large-scale operation.
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Ed Holloway is the founder and managing director for Mine Capital, a fund focused on Cryptocurrency Mining and Blockchain technologies which recently built out a 4 megawatt mining facility.
Ed has over 20 years experience in technology with a career spanning roles from a software engineer to a leadership role at Microsoft managing product for a $1.65B division, Chief Architect for the State of South Carolina’s voter registration and election system, as well as a founder at several successful software companies including Field2Base, Maidbooks and FollowUpPal.
Ed has been involved with cryptocurrencies and mining since 2011, and currently manages a successful and profitable personal mining farm in addition to Mine Capital assets, and also personally invests in and advises technology and blockchain companies.
">Blockchain Infrastructure Research
With experience in full stack development and online marketing for technology companies, Colin helps Blockchain Infrastructure Research achieve its research and operational goals through technology-based solutions. Currently, he is looking into how GPU compute power can be applied to industries other than crypto mining in order to help mining companies leverage valuable assets they wish to utilize.
">Trevor Curwin has been an alternative investments analyst for over 15 years, with a focus on IoT, cleantech, renewable energy and distributed infrastructure investment opportunities covering all major power markets in North America. In 2017, he took over content direction at RTInsights to evangelize the critical importance of edge infrastructure, including energy, connectivity and computer capacity. Previously, with Emera Energy, the energy marketing arm of Emera Inc. (TSX: EMA), he forecasted cross-grid energy demand, optimizing a multi-gigawatt portfolio of power generation assets across all fuel types and regional grids in the Northeastern and Western US and Canada. For the last decade, he has been focused on asset management and power trading and operations, covering all the major power markets in North America. He holds an MBA from Saint Mary’s University and a Bachelor of Journalism (Honors) degree from The University of King’s College.
">Blockchain Infrastructure Research
Ron Hankewich, P. Eng. MBA CFA, is a senior executive with Blockchain Infrastructure Research. He has numerous years of investment experience on the buy-side and sell-side with privately held investment funds as well as publicly traded corporations. His focus with BIR is on corporate valuation of mining entities as well as the creation of business combinations that provide value for shareholders.
">Cameron Naghdi is the Director of Security Architecture - West at Virsec. Cameron has worked for multiple endpoint security firms and has supported many vertical markets from retail and healthcare up to U.S. Federal/Civilian agencies and the Department of Defense. Cameron is also on the technology advisory board of 802Secure and was Co-Founder and CTO at FilecheckIO. Cameron specializes in understanding the current threat landscape and how to prepare solutions to address both today's and future security challenges.
">Abelian Enterprise Blockchain Services
John is the COO and Co-Founder of Abelian, a blockchain development company with a SAAS platform for optimizing crypto-mining profitability performance. He built his first bitcoin mining rig back in 2011 and has been researching and following the cryptocurrency space ever since. In his last role, John helped a Vancouver tech start-up grow from a team of 4 people and $200k in annual revenue, to a team of 20+ people and a revenue of $3M in under 2 years. He is currently focused on developing the blockchain ecosystem through infrastructure and enterprise solutions.
">Blockchain Infrastructure Research
Micah is a professional engineer with over 10 years experience in the hydropower industry and 5 years experience in blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Micah has extensive experience with cryptocurrency mining, having supported the development and operation of multiple large scale mining facilities to date. He provides technical services to prospective miners, and consulting services for investors, power companies and blockchain enthusiasts. Micah is known for his world-class expertise in clean energy and crypto mining infrastructure.
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Hive Blockchain
Frank Holmes is the CEO and chief investment officer of U.S. Global Investors. Mr. Holmes purchased a controlling interest in U.S. Global Investors in 1989 and became the firm’s chief investment officer in 1999. In 2006, Mr. Holmes was selected mining fund manager of the year by the Mining Journal, and in 2011 he was named a U.S. Metals and Mining "TopGun" by Brendan Wood International. In 2016, Mr. Holmes and portfolio manager Ralph Aldis received the award for Best Americas Based Fund Manager from the Mining Journal. He is also the co-author of The Goldwatcher: Demystifying Gold Investing. More than 30,000 subscribers follow his weekly commentary in the award-winning Investor Alert newsletter which is read in over 180 countries.
">Interim Executive Chairman
Hive Blockchain
Frank Holmes is the CEO and chief investment officer of U.S. Global Investors. Mr. Holmes purchased a controlling interest in U.S. Global Investors in 1989 and became the firm’s chief investment officer in 1999. In 2006, Mr. Holmes was selected mining fund manager of the year by the Mining Journal, and in 2011 he was named a U.S. Metals and Mining "TopGun" by Brendan Wood International. In 2016, Mr. Holmes and portfolio manager Ralph Aldis received the award for Best Americas Based Fund Manager from the Mining Journal. He is also the co-author of The Goldwatcher: Demystifying Gold Investing. More than 30,000 subscribers follow his weekly commentary in the award-winning Investor Alert newsletter which is read in over 180 countries.