There is a growing gap between those who can participate in crypto and blockchain opportunities and those who cannot with the vast majority of crypto and blockchain projects involving the technical, financial savvy, speculators, or the wealthy.
On Thursday, October 18th, Helium is hosting a meetup and panel discussion in Santa Monica called Crossing the Crypto Chasm to explore the barriers that prevent everyone from participating in the new decentralized economy and look at companies solving real-world issues by bringing their projects to the masses.
Additional speakers TBA. Please RSVP to attend as space is limited. Helium's signature blocktails 🥃 and 🍕 will be served.
Frank Mong is COO at Helium. He is responsible for sales, marketing and business development. Frank has over 20 years of experience in cybersecurity, networking and software. Just prior to Helium, he served as Senior Vice President of product and solutions marketing at Palo Alto Networks. Helium was founded in 2013 by Amir Haleem, Shawn Fanning of Napster, and Sean Carey, with a mission to make it easier to build connected devices. The company has raised equity funding from GV, Khosla Ventures, FirstMark Capital, Marc Benioff, SV Angel, Slow Ventures, and others.
Heidi Pease cofounded the Los Angeles Blockchain Lab — a collaboration of academia, government, enterprise, and community focused on developing the blockchain ecosystem in Southern California and abroad. Founding partners include City of Los Angeles, University of California Los Angeles, University of California Irvine, University of Southern California, Caltech, Panasonic, etc. In addition, Heidi is CEO of Proof Of Art – a social funding and publicity network providing business solutions for artists using blockchain; and Cofounder of HomeSidekick – a peer-to-peer mortgage-lending platform. She was a hand-selected participant for Richard Branson’s Blockchain Summit — where 40 global thought leaders address blockchain’s potential for social impact. Most recently she presented on behalf of Los Angeles at the United Nations General Assembly Concordia “Blockchain Central.” She is also an advisor for numerous startups including Spire (mobile crypto wallets for emerging markets), DApperNetwork (developing blockchain technical talent), and ArtBit (platform directly compensating individual artists). Prior to her blockchain activism, Heidi focused on turning around distressed assets, growing small businesses into top-tier national firms, and leading sales teams for companies including AIG.
Greg Gilman is the Co-Founder and General Counsel at Science. Greg has 20+ yrs experience with startups as executive, advisor, investor or founder. Special Advisor of AmLaw 150 law firm for tech and practice development. Greg has deep roots in LA startup community as investor/advisor, including DocStoc (acquired by Intuit), Tsavo, (acquired by Cybermedia), Maker Studios (acquired by Disney), Scopely, WorldPokerTour (acquired by OIHL) and ZipRecruiter.
Amy Wan is Founder & CEO of Sagewise, business legal infrastructure for smart contracts. She has authored the Bloomberg Law practice guide to ICOs and Lexis Nexus' Private Equity practice guide. Previously, she was a Partner at a boutique securities law firm and General Counsel at a real estate crowdfunding platform. Amy is also the founder and co-organizer of Legal Hackers LA, which programs around the intersection of law and technology; was named one of ten women to watch in legal technology by the American Bar Association Journal in 2014 and one of 18 millennials changing legaltech by law.com in 2018; and was nominated as a Finalist for the Corporate Counsel of the Year Award 2015 by LA Business Journal.
Amy has also worked in international regulatory and trade policy at the U.S. Department of Commerce, and was a Presidential Management Fellow at the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of Transportation. She holds an LL.M. in Public International Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science, a JD from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, and a BA in Biological Sciences from the University of Southern California.
Stan Miroshnik is the CEO and Founder of Element Group, a full-service advisory firm 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 Element, 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. Stan 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 emerging blockchain technology and its capital markets implications.