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With Bitcoin reaching all time highs, there has never been more information available on the financial revolution. Although this is exciting for eager learners, it can also be overwhelming to filter through the content and decide which experts to follow. Fortunately, CoinBeast has a solution for you...we put together a list of Bitcoin legends that offer exceptional insight and knowledge about Bitcoin. We did our best to include different walks of life such as developers, economists, philosophers, and investors to provide you with diverse perspectives. We also did not rank them in order of importance since they all offer unique views. Here’s the 2021 edition of the essential guide to learning about Bitcoin:
1) Saifedean Ammous - Bitcoin Educator (from the perspective of an economist)
“We’re not going to make more than 21 million. Deal with it.”
Source: What Bitcoin Did
Twitter: @saifedean
Website: saifedean.com
Bio: Saifedean Ammous received his Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering at the American University of Beirut. He continued his academic career by obtaining a PHD in sustainable development from Columbia University. He then became an economics lecturer and instructor at Columbia.
Working on: Ammous is currently writing books about economics and the power of Bitcoin. The Bitcoin Standard is considered to be one of the most important books ever written about Bitcoin. It discusses the history of monetary policy and why Bitcoin solves many of the current issues involved with central banking. He is a visiting scholar at Columbia University, gives lectures, and attends speaking events while pursuing his own entrepreneurial endeavors through saifedean.com. On his website, you can sign up for his online economics courses and get access to all of his work.
2) Caitlin Long - Bitcoin Trailblazer
“At a systemic level, the traditional financial system is as fragile as Bitcoin is anti-fragile.”
Source: Forbes
Twitter: @CaitlinLong_
Forbes: forbes.com
Website: caitlin-long.com
Bio: Caitlin Long is a Harvard graduate with 22 years of corporate finance under her belt. She has worked with many big companies: Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, and Salomon Brothers. In 2012, Long began her professional career in Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as she was involved in Morgan Stanley’s internal blockchain working group.
Working on: Long is the founder and CEO of Avanti Financial Group - a crypto-native bank within the US. Avanti has recently received a charter to custody cryptocurrency for their clients. This bank will serve as a “bridge” for institutions to participate in allocating portions of their funds into digital assets. Long continues to work with regulators in Wyoming to bring more digital asset products to customers. She also assists in making the business landscape more attractive for crypto businesses.
3) Andreas Antonopoulos - Bitcoin Evangelist
“How do I buy Bitcoin?’ And my answer is don’t, earn it.”
Source: What Bitcoin Did
Twitter: @aantonop
YouTube: aantonop
Website: aantonop.com
Bio: Andreas Antonopoulos is a notable author, entrepreneur, speaker, and educator in the Bitcoin space. After studying computer science, data communications, and distributed systems in college, Antonopoulos embarked on a career establishing computer security. His impressive public speaking skills, along with his background in technology, allowed him to pursue writing articles and delivering seminars about Bitcoin. He’s a master at breaking down complex concepts into a language that is easy to digest. You’ll be hard pressed to find someone that knows as much about so many different subjects. He’s a human encyclopedia that inspires you to learn.
Working on: Antonopoulos continues to lead talks and shows to help newcomers understand Bitcoin’s technical jargon. His work has allowed his followers to understand the technical innovations that Bitcoin has brought to the world of finance. The Internet of Money is a must read for anyone curious about Bitcoin and blockchain technology. You can also follow him on his YouTube channel and his Unscrypted Podcast. His enthusiasm for Bitcoin is contagious.
4) Jimmy Song - Bitcoin Educator (from the perspective of an engineer)
“When your money holds value, you don’t need to shop for deals.”
Source: Twitter
Twitter: @jimmysong
YouTube: Off the Chain with Jimmy Song
Website: programmingbitcoin.com
Bio: Jimmy Song is a graduate from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics. He has contributed to the Bitcoin Core repository and other open source Bitcoin projects. He was formerly a VP of Engineering for Bitcoinarmory.com where they provide solutions for cold storage, as well as consulting for individuals and companies.
Working on: Song is a lecturer at the University of Texas, a Bitcoin Fellow at Blockchain Capital, and an author. He also runs a popular Bitcoin blog and has a YouTube channel that features some very interesting discussions about Bitcoin. Over the last 3 years, he has been teaching engineers about the best practices for utilizing and programming blockchain technology. Song recently wrote a book called Thank God for Bitcoin which examines the creation, corruption and redemption of money.
5) Robert Breedlove - Bitcoin Philosopher
“Bitcoin completely changes our world by being unchangeable.”
Source: Twitter
Twitter: @Breedlove22
Website: https://linktr.ee/breedlove22
Bio: Robert Breedlove has a background in finance and accounting. He put his education to good use during his early career as a CFO of various companies: Xpert Exposition Services, Skywire, and Carepoynt. He later founded Parallax Digital, a global Bitcoin-focused hedge fund and consultancy.
Working on: Through Breedlove’s writings, presentations, and his YouTube channel, he continues to enlighten others with the importance of free markets and self-sovereignty. He is currently the CEO and CIO of Parallax and continues to work with a number of financial firms to lend his research. Breedlove’s essays on Medium provide amazing insight into the historical context of Bitcoin. Recently, he joined Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy, in The Saylor Series. Together, they discussed the evolution of money and the role of Bitcoin in our society. These discussions are illuminating and captivating. This is a great place to start for beginners.
6) Adam Back - Bitcoin Godfather
“It’s kind of one hell of an immune system that Bitcoin’s built up these last 10 years.”
Source: What Bitcoin Did
Twitter: @adam3us
Projects: cypherspace.org
Company: Blockstream
Bio: Adam Back is a British businessman, cryptographer, and cypherpunk. He has been involved in cryptography since the beginning of his career with publications dating back to 1995. His Hashcash project utilizes a proof-of-work algorithm. In an effort to deter email spamming, this algorithm requires users to attach a fee for sending emails. It is now used for the proof-of-work function within Bitcoin mining. Back, along with Nick Szabo and Hal Finney, were contacted by Satoshi Nakamoto about the concept of a digital cash. The three of them continued to contribute to the development of Bitcoin after Satoshi left the space.
Working on: Back is the CEO of Blockstream and continues to work on a number of projects that are on the cutting edge of cryptography. A running list of Blockstream’s products and services include Blockstream Green (wallet), Liquid side chains for institutions, Lightning Charge to help developers build applications on top of the Lightning Network, and satellites for broadcasting the Bitcoin network without internet.
7) Parker Lewis - Bitcoin MC
“Gradually, then suddenly.”
Source: Unchained Capital
Twitter: @parkerlewis
Articles: unchained-capital.com
Bio: Parker Lewis comes from a traditional finance background with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Duke University. He has been an analyst for Deutsche Bank and a director for FTI Consulting where he gained experience in equity valuations, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate finance and learned a number of other skills. He has appeared as a guest on many podcasts and always brings a wealth of knowledge to the topics he discusses.
Working on: Lewis is an associate with Hayman Capital Management and the Head of Business Development at Unchained Capital. Lewis continues to oversee the day-to-day management of bringing on and educating more individuals, family trusts, and institutions about multi-signature solutions for storing bitcoin.
8) Nic Carter - Bitcoin Free Thinker
“Bitcoin’s value comes from the market, so it’s quite pure.”
Source: What Bitcoin Did
Twitter: @nic_carter
Medium: @nic_carter
Website: niccarter.info
Bio: Nic Carter has an Undergraduate degree in Philosophy from St. Andrews and a Master’s degree in Finance from Edinburgh. Carter moved up fairly quickly in his career by becoming a part of the Cryptoassets team for Fidelity while simultaneously co-founding Coin Metrics.
Working on: Carter hosts the On the Brink podcast with Matt Walsh to discuss the politics, philosophy, and economics of Bitcoin. Carter also blogs on his Medium page and writes for Coindesk about Bitcoin and current events within the digital asset space. His line of work also includes being a co-founder and chairman of Coin Metrics and a partner of Castle Island Ventures. His blog titled A Most Peaceful Revolution on Medium is a compelling dive into why Bitcoin is such an important invention.
9) Tuur Demeester - Bitcoin Guardian
“The more value Bitcoin accrues, the more secure the network becomes.”
Source: Unchained Podcast
Twitter: @TuurDemeester
Website: adamancapitalfund.com
Bio: Tuur Demeester founded Adamant Capital in 2017 in order to seek higher returns with Bitcoin and a number of other investment vehicles. Demeester recommended purchasing Bitcoin when it was five dollars during the winter of 2012. He also used to curate and write an investment newsletter called MacroTrends to help investors make sound decisions with their capital.
Working on: Demeester continues to run Adamant Capital with an ‘out of the box’ approach, combining academic rigor, a focus on historical patterns, productive investment paranoia, and a knack for exploring new territories and opportunities. He is also an early investor in Kraken, the cryptocurrency exchange.
10) Pierre Rochard - Bitcoin Auditor
“Holders of last resort are intransigent advocates for Bitcoin’s economics and technology.”
Source: Medium
Twitter: @pierre_rochard
Website: pierrerochard.com
Bio: Pierre Rochard has researched and written about Bitcoin since February of 2013. He co-founded the Satoshi Nakamoto Institute with Michael Goldstein in 2014 to curate the best primary source literature within the Bitcoin space. In addition to developing Bitcoin software, Pierre is an outspoken advocate for Bitcoin’s decentralized governance.
Working on: In 2017 Rochard began co-hosting the Noded Bitcoin Podcast with Michael Goldstein. He is also very active in Bitcoin’s development community as he provides tools like bitcoinacks.com to incentivize developers to work on Bitcoin’s source code. Rochard is currently the Bitcoin strategist at Kraken Exchange.
11) Michael Saylor - Gigachad
“All my best investments were in networks that everyone needed, no one could stop, and few understood. Bitcoin is the monetary network.”
Source: Twitter
Twitter: @michael_saylor
Website: microstrategy.com
Bio: Michael Saylor is an American entrepreneur and business executive. He co-founded and led MicroStrategy, a company which provides business intelligence, mobile software, and cloud-based services. Prior to his position with MicroStrategy, Saylor attended MIT and later worked for DuPont. Upon request, Dupont paid and funded Saylor to found MicroStrategy with Sanju Bansal. Fast forward to March of 2020, Saylor began his Bitcoin journey while seeking a store of value beyond the stock market and real estate.
Working on: Saylor continues to run MicroStrategy and appears on various Bitcoin podcasts to share his investment thesis. Saylor recently converted a significant amount of MicroStrategy’s reserve assets to Bitcoin, making it a popular stock option for investors seeking Bitcoin exposure through the equity market. He also produced The Saylor Series, which features interviews with Robert Breeelove on the historical significance of Bitcoin. These episodes on YouTube are a must watch!
12) Lyn Alden - Bitcoin Jedi
“Bitcoin’s utility is that it allows people to store value outside of any currency system in something with provably scarce units.”
Source: lynalden.com
Twitter: @LynAldenContact
Website: lynalden.com
Bio: While studying electrical engineering along with a focus on engineering economics and financial modeling, Lyn Alden was able to provide investors with informed insight through her newsletter. For the past 15 years, her research has also been published in media outlets, such as Business Insider, Time’s Money Magazine, The Daily Telegraph, The Street, CNBC, US News and World Report. Alden has also been interviewed and invited multiple times to speak about her work with Kitco, Real Vision, The Investor’s Podcast Network, The Rebel Capitalist Show, Macro Voices, The Market Huddle, What Bitcoin Did, along with many other podcasts.
Working on: Her current website provides information on investment research and strategies, covering stocks, precious metals, international equities, and alternative investments. She aims to help everyone regardless of their level of financial literacy. Alden is also a regular contributor to Seeking Alpha, FEDweek, and Elliot Wave Trader.
13) Jeff Booth - Bitcoin Entrepreneur
“I would say it’s negligent not to have bitcoin in your portfolio.”
Source: Swan Bitcoin
Twitter: @JeffBooth
Website: jeffreybooth.com
Bio: Jeff Booth has been heavily involved with the most cutting edge technology over the last 20 years. He founded BuildDirect in 1999 and remained the CEO until 2017. Since then he has helped start and consult for a number of businesses: SPUD.ca, 5 Booths Consulting, Oitolabs.io, NocNoc.com, Addy, Terramera, and CubicFarm Systems Corporation.
Working on: In January of 2020, Booth released a book titled The Price of Tomorrowon on why technology and deflation will bring humanity a prosperous future. He continues to do interviews and lectures on his book while acting on the board of directors for several companies. When Booth appears as a guest on a podcast, pay attention because he always shares unique ideas.
14) Matt Odell - Bitcoin Renegade
“There won't be a Bitcoin community when we become the global reserve asset and every single person is a Bitcoiner.”
Source: What Bitcoin Did
Twitter: @matt_odell
Website: mattodell.keybase.pub
Bio: Matt Odell is an entrepreneur, developer, and educator within the space. He began his Bitcoin journey in 2013 when the US online gambling ban occurred. He came to the conclusion that online gamblers would continue to buy and use Bitcoin despite the ban in place. He began buying as much as he could afford and eventually started to become more publicly active in the community by educating others on Bitcoin best practices.
Working on: Odell continues to contribute to the Bitcoin source code, works on a number of Bitcoin related projects, and creates Bitcoin education resources and content. Odell also contributes to Tales from the Crypt podcast with Marty Bent.
15) Cory Klippsten - Bitcoin Morpheus
“Bitcoin is the best savings vehicle of all time.”
Source: Blockcast
Twitter: @coryklippsten
Website: swanbitcoin.com
Bio: Cory Klippsten earned his MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship from the University of Chicago. He later worked for Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, McKinsey & Company, Google, and a number of other companies holding various roles. Klippsten is the founder of GiveBitcoin.io which eventually led to the founding of Swan Bitcoin, a Bitcoin only exchange that automates purchases and withdrawals of Bitcoin.
Working on: Klippsten is the founder and CEO of Swan Bitcoin. He simultaneously holds a number of advisory roles with the following companies: Tesloop, Cliffstone, and Unchained Capital. He actively contributes to Bitcoin media outlets including Swan Bitcoin’s own Swan Signal podcast.
16) Dan Held - Bitcoin Marketer
“Over the years, as you learn more about Bitcoin, it's just really hard to get excited about other things...”
Source: What Bitcoin Did
Twitter: @danheld
Website: danheld.com
Bio: Dan Held studied business administration and finance at the Mays Business School in Texas. In 2013, he delved headfirst into the Bitcoin space when he started working for Blockchain.com as the Product Team Lead and scaled the company’s staff. Held then moved onto ChangeTip and then Uber as a product manager. In 2017 he co-founded Interchange which was later acquired by Kraken in 2019.
Working on: Dan Held is currently leading growth and marketing efforts with Kraken. Held also appears on numerous podcasts for Bitcoin and has been influential in adding to content creation within the space.
17) Tone Vays - Bitcoin Analyst
“Bitcoin doesn’t sleep so neither do we.”
Source: What Bitcoin Did
Twitter: @ToneVays
YouTube: ToneVays
Website: tonevays.com
Please be aware that trading must be thoroughly researched and has a very low success rate for most individuals.*
Bio: Tone Vays started his career in finance as a risk analyst with Bear Stearns. He eventually earned his way to becoming a VP at JP Morgan Chase. Vays became passionate and obsessed with Bitcoin and all of its properties around 2013. He is a very adamant Bitcoiner and shares many of his trading strategies on his YouTube channel.
Working on: Vays is very active in the Bitcoin trading space where he releases videos on his channel to discuss the price action of Bitcoin. He takes a very technical approach while citing current market conditions that may affect Bitcoin’s price movements. He is also not shy about sharing his opinion on trending topics in crypto which makes his content unique, authentic and highly entertaining.
18) Ari Paul - Bitcoin Strategist
“There’s nothing wrong with saying I own Bitcoin, I intend to hold it until I die, and I think you should too.”
Source: Unchained Podcast
Twitter: @AriDavidPaul
Website: thecryptocurrencyinvestor.com
Bio: Ari Paul earned a BA in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania. He also earned an MBA from the University of Chicago with concentrations in Economics, Entrepreneurship, Strategic Management, and Econometrics & Statistics. Paul is a CFA charter holder and was previously a portfolio manager for the University of Chicago's $8 billion endowment. He was also a derivatives market maker and proprietary trader for Susquehanna International Group (SIG).
Working on: Ari Paul co-founded BlockTower Capital in 2017 and is currently the CIO of the company. He continues to make guest appearances on various media outlets, while contributing to The Cryptocurrency Investor blog.
19) Steven Barbour - Bitcoin Pioneer
“Bitcoin is a burden on politics and a boost to competence. The time of rent seeking middlemen is rapidly ending!”
Source: Twitter
Twitter: @SGBarbour
Website: upstreamdata.ca
Bio: Steven Barbour began his Bitcoin journey in 2016 during his down time while designing downhole tools for oil drilling. He left his profession as an engineer with a Canadian oil and gas company and was very much aware of the stranded natural gas problem. Barbour quickly found that mining bitcoin is the perfect solution to recoup the losses. After being correct in his findings, Barbour received a lot of pushback from industry executives. As Bitcoin’s price continues to climb and oil markets become more volatile, he has been able to convince many gas and oil companies to transition to Bitcoin mining with Mining Datacenter units, Natural Gas Gensets, and ASIC miners.
Working on: Barbour continues to onboard various oil and gas companies to mine Bitcoin with the stranded gas and energy that they are unable to harness. His approach to mining is innovative and inspirational. Barbour’s company, Upstream Data, is considered by many experts to be one of the most important companies in Bitcoin today.
20) Catherine Wood - Bitcoin Shark
“Very early on I learned when everyone’s dismissing something because it doesn’t fit nicely into any sector or industry, take a very careful look.”
Source: Twitter
Twitter: @CathieDWood
Website: ark-invest.com
Bio: Catherine Wood studied Finance and Economics at the University of Southern California and started her career in Los Angeles at The Capital Group as an Assistant Economist. Wood has over 40 years of investment experience in identifying the most innovative developments within the technology space. Wood spent twelve years at AllianceBernstein as the CIO of Global Thematic Strategies while managing over $5 billion. She later worked for a number of finance firms: Alliance Capital, Tupelo Capital Management, and Jennison Associates LLC as Chief Economist, Equity Research Analyst, Portfolio Manager, and Director.
Working on: In 2014, Wood founded ARK Investment Management LLC (“ARK”) as an investment adviser to focus solely on disruptive innovations and research for her clients. She continues her work with ARK as CEO while being recognized as an influential fund manager across various media outlets. Wood speaks often about the value of disruptive technologies such as Bitcoin and how they are reshaping the world. Wood may not get as much recognition as Warren Buffet and Ray Dalio but she is a pioneer in investing and is considered to be one of the most successful investors in recent years.
21) Nick Szabo - Bitcoin Godfather
“Bitcoin is both trust-minimized (even more than gold) yet quite unlike gold, digital & easily transferable in its trust-minimized form.”
Source: Twitter
Twitter: @nickszabo4
Website: Szabos’s work
Bio: Nick Szabo received a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Washington followed by a law degree from George Washington Law School. He is highly regarded for his work in Bit Gold, which is considered to be the precursor for what Bitcoin is today. His proposal for the digital currency would include the mechanism of using computing power to solve complex puzzles. This process is now known as Proof-of-Work.
Working on: Szabo currently pursues development and improvement in smart contracts, where financial obligations via Bitcoin and digital currencies are met if term structures are executed.
