ABOUT
Welcome to the Free State Blockchain Digital Assets Conference
The Free State Blockchain Digital Assets Conference (FSBDAC) 2019 took place on October 19th in Durham, NH. This event brought together some of the top financial tech innovators, researchers, company leaders, and other blockchain enthusiasts to explore topics such as digital assets, securities, cryptocurrencies, and other emerging blockchain applications. Click here to view the recap of the event. We look forward to seeing you next time!
2019 SPEAKERS
Jason King
Coming from the world of non-profits, Jason was one of the first in the industry to demonstrate the powerful effect bitcoin could have on charity. His organization Sean’s Outpost has fed over 167,000 meals to the homeless all paid for with cryptocurrency. He also founded Satoshi Forest, a 9 acre homeless sanctuary in Northwest Florida. Currently, he is the Founder/Executive Director of Unsung.org an app that aims to leverage the sharing economy to end hunger and food waste. He is currently based in Baltimore, MD.
Jeremy Kauffman
Jeremy knows how to build and scale a startup starting from day one. He knows how to deliver usable products and get those products in front of the right people.
Jeremy created LBRY because he fell in love with the idea of shared, global content registry that is owned and controlled by no one. Unsurprisingly, he is a longtime supporter of decentralized technology and freedom of information.
Prior to LBRY, Jeremy founded TopScore, a startup that processes millions of dollars monthly in event and activity registrations. He attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he received degrees in physics and computer science.
Jason King
Coming from the world of non-profits, Jason was one of the first in the industry to demonstrate the powerful effect bitcoin could have on charity. His organization Sean’s Outpost has fed over 167,000 meals to the homeless all paid for with cryptocurrency. He also founded Satoshi Forest, a 9 acre homeless sanctuary in Northwest Florida. Currently, he is the Founder/Executive Director of Unsung.org an app that aims to leverage the sharing economy to end hunger and food waste. He is currently based in Baltimore, MD.
Jeremy Kauffman
Jeremy knows how to build and scale a startup starting from day one. He knows how to deliver usable products and get those products in front of the right people.
Jeremy created LBRY because he fell in love with the idea of shared, global content registry that is owned and controlled by no one. Unsurprisingly, he is a longtime supporter of decentralized technology and freedom of information.
Prior to LBRY, Jeremy founded TopScore, a startup that processes millions of dollars monthly in event and activity registrations. He attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he received degrees in physics and computer science.
Jason King
Coming from the world of non-profits, Jason was one of the first in the industry to demonstrate the powerful effect bitcoin could have on charity. His organization Sean’s Outpost has fed over 167,000 meals to the homeless all paid for with cryptocurrency. He also founded Satoshi Forest, a 9 acre homeless sanctuary in Northwest Florida. Currently, he is the Founder/Executive Director of Unsung.org an app that aims to leverage the sharing economy to end hunger and food waste. He is currently based in Baltimore, MD.
Jeremy Kauffman
Jeremy knows how to build and scale a startup starting from day one. He knows how to deliver usable products and get those products in front of the right people.
Jeremy created LBRY because he fell in love with the idea of shared, global content registry that is owned and controlled by no one. Unsurprisingly, he is a longtime supporter of decentralized technology and freedom of information.
Prior to LBRY, Jeremy founded TopScore, a startup that processes millions of dollars monthly in event and activity registrations. He attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he received degrees in physics and computer science.
Jason King
Coming from the world of non-profits, Jason was one of the first in the industry to demonstrate the powerful effect bitcoin could have on charity. His organization Sean’s Outpost has fed over 167,000 meals to the homeless all paid for with cryptocurrency. He also founded Satoshi Forest, a 9 acre homeless sanctuary in Northwest Florida. Currently, he is the Founder/Executive Director of Unsung.org an app that aims to leverage the sharing economy to end hunger and food waste. He is currently based in Baltimore, MD.
Jeremy Kauffman
Jeremy knows how to build and scale a startup starting from day one. He knows how to deliver usable products and get those products in front of the right people.
Jeremy created LBRY because he fell in love with the idea of shared, global content registry that is owned and controlled by no one. Unsurprisingly, he is a longtime supporter of decentralized technology and freedom of information.
Prior to LBRY, Jeremy founded TopScore, a startup that processes millions of dollars monthly in event and activity registrations. He attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he received degrees in physics and computer science.
PAST SPEAKERS
Caitlin Long
Caitlin Long is a 22-year Wall Street veteran who has been active in bitcoin since 2012. She is co-founder of the Wyoming Blockchain Coalition and helped drive its trail-blazing 2018 blockchain legislation. From 2016-2018 she was chairman and president of Symbiont, an enterprise blockchain company, where she jointly spearheaded an index data blockchain project for Vanguard. Caitlin ran Morgan Stanley’s pension business (2007-2016), held senior roles at Credit Suisse (1997-2007) and began her career at Salomon Brothers (1994-1997). Inc named her one of 10 business leaders changing the world through tech in 2016, MarketsMedia awarded her its 2016 Women in Finance Award for Excellence in Blockchain, and Institutional Investor named her to its list of the most influential people in pensions in 2013, 2014 and 2015. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School (JD, 1994), the Kennedy School of Government (MPP, 1994) and the University of Wyoming (BA, 1990).
Anne Connelly
Anne Connelly is passionate about harnessing blockchain and decentralized technology to transform the lives of people in developing countries. Anne is Faculty at Singularity University at NASA Ames in Silicon Valley, teaching global leaders how exponential technologies can solve problems that impact over a billion people. She has been an active part of the global blockchain community since 2012, working with notable companies including Jaxx, Ledger Labs and ixo, and is currently the Vice Chair of the board of Blockchain Canada. She previously worked with Doctors Without Borders Canada in Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and currently serves on their board of directors. Anne has a Bachelor of Life Sciences from Queen’s University, an MBA from McMaster University, and a Fintech Certificate from MIT. She was honoured as one of CBC’s 12 Young Leaders Changing Canada.
Paul Snow
Paul Snow is CEO at Factom, the first usable blockchain technology to solve real-world business problems by providing an unalterable record keeping system. A leader in the open-source technology arena, Paul brings more than three decades of software development experience to his position at the helm of Factom.
Paul’s innovative approach to software and application engineering has spawned a litany of inventive open-source companies and solutions that have paved the way for Factom. A true open-source evangelist, Paul also acts as Chief Architect for DTRules, a open source project he founded in 2004 to make Decision Table based Rules Engines available to all sorts of projects. He built the first Decision Table based Rules Engine for the Texas TIERS project. He went on to build another for the state of Ohio to support onsite corporate audits. But both projects tied up the source with the vendors and states. DTRules, as open source has allowed this general purpose decision-making protocol to be used in many states for health and human services projects, commercial websites, university projects, and many other applications. An active proponent and developer of blockchain based technologies, Paul is a founder of the the Texas Bitcoin Conference, and currently serves as president and chair. He holds three patents for graphics hardware and system configuration technologies. He is a supporter of and sometimes contributor to the Colored Coins and Ethereum projects, in addition to driving the development of Factom.
Paul earned his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science at Louisiana Tech University and his Master’s degree in computer science and electrical engineering from Texas A&M University. Paul Snow is on Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Shawn Owen
Mr. Owen is the CEO of Salt Lending Holdings, Inc. and a serial entrepreneur with experience in management and ownership of enterprise operations with a passion for systems development, business operations, product delivery, and client service. Shawn became involved with blockchain technology through his advocacy of bitcoin in early 2011. He frequently speaks and writes on Blockchain technology and digital currencies.
Jeffrey A. Tucker
Jeffrey A. Tucker is Editorial Director for the American Institute for Economic Research. He is also a managing partner of Vellum Capital, CEO of the Atlanta Bitcoin Embassy, Senior Distinguished Fellow of the Austrian Economics Center in Vienna, Austria, Honorary Fellow of Mises Brazil, adviser to Acton Institute and Mackinac Institute, founder and Chief Liberty Officer of Liberty.me, an adviser to blockchain application companies, past editorial director of the Foundation for Economic Education and Laissez Faire Books, founder of the CryptoCurrency Conference, and author of many thousands of articles in the scholarly and popular press and eight books in 5 languages. He speaks widely on topics of economics, technology, social philosophy, and culture.
Stan Miroshnik
Stan Miroshnik is the co-founder and CEO of Element Capital Group, LLC, a full-service advisory company for the digital asset economy. He brings over 15 years of executive experience in investment banking, corporate finance, M&A, equities, and a depth of relationships in financial technology. Prior to founding the Element Group, he was the CEO of The Argon Group, and a Managing Director at Rosemount Consulting Partners, a structured finance advisory firm. Previously he was an Executive Vice President of Strategy and M&A for TNK-BP, a global energy company. Mr. Miroshnik started his career at Morgan Stanley where he was an Executive Director with investment banking roles across New York, London, and Moscow. He is a prolific early stage investor, has served as an advisor and a board member to multiple early-stage companies, and is passionate about the emerging blockchain technology and its capital markets implications. Mr. Miroshnik holds a BS and a BA from Berkeley in Business and Molecular Biology, and an MBA from the Sloan School of Management at MIT.
Hadley Stern
Hadley Stern is Senior Vice President, Managing Director for the Enterprise Services group at Fidelity Investments. Hadley is a product designer and program leader, helping to incubate and launch several new programs and products for the firm.
Since 2015, he has run Fidelity’s Bitcoin, Blockchain and Digital Currency Incubator, focusing on deep development research, proof of concepts, prototypes, and new product development. Prior to that, Hadley oversaw product strategy, development and program management for new services in mobile, social media, and online channels. Hadley was also group creative director for Fidelity’s advertising division.
Prior to joining Fidelity in 2001, Hadley was a director of experience at Razorfish. He has also held design roles at Rykodisc and Malcolm Grear Designers.
Hadley holds ten patents, is a speaker, and a published author.
Hadley received his bachelor of arts degree in liberal arts and creative writing from Concordia University, and his bachelor of fine arts in graphic design from the Rhode Island School of Design.