BayPay Forum Examines “Bitcoin, the Blockchain and
the Future of the Financial World”
SF Payment Execs Examine Status and Perspectives
Redwood Shores, CA, June 8, 2015. BayPay Forum, one of the world’s largest innovation and education networking organizations for the payment and ecommerce industries, today announced that the San Francisco chapter will host an event on “Bitcoin, the Blockchain and the Future of the Financial World”. It will take place on June 10th from 5PM to 7PM at the offices of Bryan Cave, on the 25th floor of 560 Mission Street in San Francisco. The session, will examine Bitcoin’s blockchain technology and its controversial potential to revolutionize the financial sector by transforming contracts, transactions and their documentation, and the exchange of value between two “non-trusting” parties.While the event is currently sold out, but there are still openings for the networking event immediately following the presentation. “We are giving away some bitcoins during the networking so attendees can get a feeling for how they work,” points out Daniel Chatelain, Managing Director of the BayPay Forum. “Networking is a very valuable part of our programs and there is an opportunity to talk with the presenters and many other investors, startups and established companies in this field.”
“Bitcoin’s underlying blockchain technology is considered by many to be the “Internet of money." He added. “However, at this stage, the financial community is still questioning how much reality there is behind the notion that Bitcoin will generate disruptive and lasting change in the financial markets. We have brought together some of the foremost financial thought leaders in the Bay area to discuss the business opportunities and challenges inherent not just in Bitcoin but all of the innovations and investments happening in currency, applications and platforms today and in the future.”
The evening’s panel will be moderated by Chatelain and the panel will include John McDonnell, CEO at Bitnet Technologies Ltd; Micah Winkelspecht, CEO and Founder of Gem; Paul Puey, CEO and Founder at Airbitz Inc; and Johnny Reinsch, SVP Strategy at Xapo.
John McDonnell is a seasoned FinTech executive with 20+ years of experience managing cutting-edge payment technology companies. Prior to founding Bitnet, John served as Senior Vice President for Visa and Head of Business Development for CyberSource, a global provider of electronic payment processing and security solutions for eCommerce and POS merchants that was acquired by Visa in 2010. Previously, John served as Executive Vice President - Chief Strategy Officer, General Counsel and a member of the board of directors of TNS, a global provider of business-critical communications services to card processing, financial services and telecommunications industries. John was head
of business development at Paymo (now BOKU), where he helped to build a mobile payments network that enabled over 1.5 billion consumers to pay by mobile phone.
Micah Winkelspecht is the CEO and Founder of Gem,a simple and secure platform for blockchain developers. Micah is an active Bitcoin community organizer and thought leader, he regularly speaks, moderates, and hosts at Bitcoin and startup events, and is co-organizer of the Los Angeles Bitcoin meetup group of over 1,000 members.
Paul Puey is CEO and Co-Founder of Airbitz, a company with a vision of delivering privacy and security of digital assets through ease of use and decentralization. Airbitz has be recognized as one of the top 3 mobile apps for bitcoin in the 2014 Blockchain Awards, was voted the #1 Bitcoin Company by the World Crypto Network, and the 'Top 50 FinTech Companies to Watch' by AlwaysOn Inc.
Johnny Reinsch is SVP of Strategy at Xapo, a bitcoin security company that is the largest outsourced custodian of bitcoin in the world. Xapo has generated the interest of some of Silicon Valley's most notable VC investors and is advised by Dee Hock, founder of Visa; John Reed, former CEO of Citi; and Larry Summers, former Secretary of the Treasury to Bill Clinton. Johnny is responsible for guiding high level corporate strategy, partnerships, sales channels and global expansion at Xapo. Johnny also devotes a substantial portion of his time engaging directly with regulators - both in the U.S. and abroad - on issues relating to bitcoin regulation.