The Cryptolina Bitcoin Expo is picking up where this past weekend’s Chicago Bitcoin conference left off. Raleigh, North Carolina – the city that has been called a new Silicon Valley – will host Cryptolina on August 15 and 16, and organizers announced today that a major regulatory discussion will occur on the morning of Saturday, August 16.

The ‘strategic regulatory panel’ will be moderated by Todd Erickson of the Bitcoin Foundation’s regulatory affairs committee, feature former U.S. Mint Director and Cryptolina keynote speaker Edmund Moy, and focus on recent N.Y. BitLicense regulations as well as the future of Bitcoin regulation.

Per Cryptolina’s press release, other regulatory panelists include:

Carol Van Cleef, Esq. – A partner with Washington-based law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, Ms. Van Cleef represents financial services companies and other clients in federal and state regulatory, compliance, and enforcement matters, including anti-money laundering, electronic payments, and federal deposit insurance.

David Aylor, Esq. – An acting part time-prosecutor and former Assistant Solicitor for the Ninth Circuit, Aylor has been practicing criminal law and civil law for several years in South Carolina. Most recently he has been representing the individual alleged to be involved with what is believed to be the first US Government Federal seizure of Bitcoins.

Tyler Gibbons, CPA – A CPA in public practice with Charleston-based Riser McLaurin and Gibbons, Tyler provides guidance on Federal and State compliance issues. He has presented to various associations on virtual currency tax reporting and is a current candidate for appointment to the IRS Information Reporting Advisory Committee.

Andrew Beal, Esq. – A Los Angeles-based corporate attorney and crypto equity expert who represents Bitcoin exchanges, large sellers, and ATM operators. He is legal counsel to several Bitcoin 2.0 companies working on issues related to crowd sales and distributed governance.

Cryptolina is taking place in downtown Raleigh at the convention center and is being organized by two local Raleigh men, Dan Spuller, who is a PIO for the North Carolina Department of Commerce, and Faruk Okcetin, who is involved in medical device sales and a new Bitcoin start-up called CoinState Ventures.

N.C. House of Representative member Tom Murry will be delivering welcoming remarks at the event. Murry is also the Chairman of the Commerce & Job Development Committee and Chair of the Regulatory Reform Subcommittee on Business & Labor, and will hopefully be making notes on how Bitcoin can help North Carolina business and economy. The banking commissioner along with other government representatives was invited as well.

Spuller told CCN.com that down the line, North Carolina “may end up potentially being like a California or New York, leading the charge. I think we have a very business-friendly state, so we just need to educate.”

And that’s the main goal of the event says Spuller. To educate not only Bitcoin enthusiasts, but those businesses, investors, and students who are less familiar with cryptocurrencies and want to learn from industry experts.

Other than the hot regulatory topics, other issues to be thoroughly discussed include crowdfunding, crypto equity, and Bitcoin 2.0.

Attendees will have the pleasures of hearing from one of the highest-ranking government officials to show support for Bitcoin, Edmund Moy, and also BoostVC founder (and the son of the man who recently won the U.S. Marshal Silk Road bitcoin auction), Adam Draper. Draper is scheduled to host a fireside chat Saturday afternoon and act as a keynote speaker alongside Moy.

Along with at least 30 other speakers, Duke University Professor of Finance and author of a recent paper titled Cryptofinance, Campbell R. Harvey, will be speaking, as well as Bitshares founder Daniel Larimer, BitPay ‘developer evangelist’ Eric Martindale, and anarcho-capitalist Jeff Berwick.

“We want to welcome everyone,” said Spuller. “It’s a Bitcoin expo, but we are really focusing on cryptocurrency in general too – it’s beyond the confines of just Bitcoin.”

Spuller said that he would like to see various altcoins attend Cryptolina as well. “I think traditionally Bitcoin conferences have kicked altcoins to the side, but we want to bring them to the table too. We want to welcome altcoins, whether they want to do a booth or just network,” adding that he is excited to hear that BlackCoin and Tesla Coin are interested in attending.

“If there are other altcoins that are interested in showcasing what they do, we’re all ears. We still have a little room left for some, and we are opening minded.”

Hoping to take advantage of North Carolina’s large tech force, Cryptolina will also feature a Hackathon aimed at developing innovative cryptocurrency ideas.

Cryptolina plans to have between 20 and 30 booths occupied by various businesses and altcoins, including Mastercoin, BitShares, Colored Coins, Swarm, and CoinPowers. And the 500 or so expected attendees should be in store for some big announcements coming on the Bitcoin 2.0 front – “secrets” that Spuller said he would rather withhold for now.

“I hope at the end of the day, what we can accomplish from this expo, is that people in Raleigh can have a better understanding of what Bitcoin is, and what its future holds. Not because they heard about it on the mainstream media but because they learned about for themselves and heard about from their own peers and thought leaders in the industry.”

Tickets are available for purchase on the Cryptolina site with bitcoins, credit, or debit, and Spuller said that they are open to negotiation for groups, also commenting that there may be volunteer positions available as well as promo codes released for other discounts.

Featured image by Shutterstock.