Michael Terpin Discusses CoinAgenda: A Conference Dedicated to Investors

Just recently Bitcoin.com com spoke to CoinAgenda producer Michael Terpin, CEO of Transform Group, and co-founder of Bitangels. CoinAgenda is a series of conferences dedicated to the investment side of Bitcoin and blockchain technology.

Also read: Tech Startup IOHK Initiates Cryptocurrency and Blockchain University Network

This March 3-5 CoinAgenda will take place in the gorgeous settings of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The event will be focused entirely on the investment space, budding new startups, bitcoin as an asset class, the rise of initial coin offerings (ICO), and the most friendly global jurisdictions for investors. The aim of the CoinAgenda events is to connect and inform investors and entrepreneurs in the bitcoin, blockchain and cryptocurrency sectors.

Bitcoin.com (BC): So can you tell our readers what CoinAgenda is all about?

Michael Terpin (MT): CoinAgenda is a conference series and was something that I created in 2014 to further extend the original mission of Bitangels, to connect investors around the world with opportunities with Bitcoin and blockchain investing. As it became clear in 2014 with the Bitcoin 2.0 phenomenon, that’s now exploded with all the token crowd sales, it became a much broader field. Then bitcoin and other assets like Ethereum, Monero, Dash went up in value and it seemed like the time was getting closer and closer to also involve not just tech investors but mainstream investors as well. It seemed like a conference was a really good way to do it.

CoinAgenda Caribbean is the first one we are holding outside of mainland U.S. I always wanted to have sort of a winter Caribbean conference to appeal to the one percent crowd who are used to going to nice places to talk about stocks and bonds. So it seemed like putting on a high-end conference in the Caribbean would serve that purpose, as well as to highlight Puerto Rico, or what I’m calling the ‘Blockchain Island.’ It has a unique proposition regarding tax breaks that they’re offering both investors and companies, which is pretty unheard of for American citizens.

At the same time we’re doing what we do at every CoinAgenda which has panels on investing in the assets, investing in companies, and we also do a twenty startups competition. That’s also a sort of recognition that people do want to meet companies in person if they can. One thing we found with Bitangels is, doing Skype groups and meeting calls to find out about a company in Peru, or the Philippines, isn’t quite the same as watching a presentation in person or shaking hands and being able to meet the whole team.

BC: Why is CoinAgenda a conference tailored for investors?

MT: CoinAgenda is the only conference that specifically targets investors. With my role at Bitangels ever since we started with David Johnston in early 2013, I’ve appeared all over the world on venture capital and investor panels. We also started the Dapps fund together, which was originally called Bitangels Fund One, and that was one of the first funds to invest in these decentralized applications like Ethereum, Maidsafe, Factom, and Storj, so the fund did very well as we returned 3x the capital invested within a year. I thought that it was logical to have a conference that’s only about investing. Every panel is about investing. For instance, there are no panels on the technology. We think there are enough different topics in the investing subset to justify a whole two and half day conference.

BC: Can you explain the half-day dedicated to ‘friendly jurisdictions?’

MT: So ‘friendly jurisdictions’ basically is; where in the world can companies and investors go and not worry about investing in something that all of a sudden becomes declared illegal? This is why companies historically don’t invest in China. They invest in startups that are headquartered or incorporated in Delaware and have a Chinese operation. There’s a number of different jurisdictional issues. So CoinAgenda is looking at what’s going on in the Caribbean, what’s going on in different parts of Europe, what’s going on in Puerto Rico, and a number of U.S. states.

BC: What’s the overall mission of the 2017 CoinAgenda?

MT: The overall mission of this year’s event series is to educate and inform both the investors who are familiar with blockchain technology and the ones who should be familiar with this innovation. Their mission, as a family office or sovereign wealth fund or just a savvy investor, is to learn about opportunities that are going to grow faster than the rest of the market. Then also to connect companies to the space where there are investors. That’s really the overall mission. It’s been that way from the beginning.

Will you be attending the CoinAgenda conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico? Let us know in the comments below.

Disclaimer: Bitcoin.com is a CoinAgenda media partner.

Do you want to vote on important Bitcoin issues? Bitcoin.com has acquired Bitcoinocracy, and rebranded the project to Vote.bitcoin.com. Users simply sign a statement with a non-empty Bitcoin address and express their opinions. The project focuses on determining truth backed by monetary value and transparency.