Andreas Markos Antonopoulos[2] (born 1972 in London) is a British-Greek[3][4]Bitcoin advocate, tech entrepreneur, and author. He is a host on the Speaking of Bitcoin podcast[5] (formerly called Let's Talk Bitcoin![6]) and a teaching fellow for the M.Sc. Digital Currencies at the University of Nicosia.[7]
He was Senior Vice President and a Founding Partner with Nemertes Research, from 2003 until 2011.[9] While there, Antonopoulos researched computer security, stating that the greatest threat to computer security was not experienced hackers, but overly complex systems that resulted from rapid change in business.[11]
Bitcoin involvement
In 2012, Antonopoulos became enamored with Bitcoin. He eventually abandoned his job as a freelance consultant and started speaking at conferences about bitcoin, consulting for startups, and writing articles free of charge.[12]
According to his podcast, Antonopoulos is a consultant on several bitcoin-related startups.[13]
In January 2014, Antonopoulos joined Blockchain.info as chief security officer.[14] In September 2014, he left the CSO role.
In April 2014, Antonopoulos organised a fundraising campaign for Dorian Nakamoto, who was identified in a Newsweek article as the creator of bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto. The reporting techniques used in the article were controversial among journalists and Bitcoin community members. The fundraiser, intended to assist Nakamoto after the attention he received as a result of the article, raised 50 bitcoins, worth US$23,000 at the time.[15][16]
On 8 October 2014, Antonopoulos spoke in front of the Banking, Trade and Commerce committee of the Senate of Canada to address the senators' questions on how to regulate bitcoin in Canada.[17]
In March 2016, the first edition of Mastering Bitcoin was released by Antonopoulos, in print and online,[18] followed by a second edition in June 2017.[19]
In December 2017, unsolicited donations of over 100 bitcoins were sent to Antonopoulos by over a thousand followers of his work, after Roger Ver made a public post to Twitter on 5 December questioning Antonopoulos's investment choices given his "eloquent" public speaking about bitcoin since 2012.[12][20]
The Internet of Money (Volume 2) (2017, Merkle Bloom, self-published) ISBN978-1947910065
The Internet of Money (Volume 3) (2019, Merkle Bloom, self-published) ISBN978-1947910171
References
^"Issue 15 - Evidence - October 8, 2014". Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce. Parliament of Canada. 8 October 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2021. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
^ abAndreas M. Antonopoulos (19 August 2015). The Greek Debt Crisis Explained – Andreas Antonopoulos. London: YouTube (published 29 August 2015). Event occurs at 0:11-0:20. Brian Rose: Are you Greek? Andreas Antonopoulos: Yes, i am. I lived in Greece most of my childhood. I graduated from high school there. My parents are still in Greece, at the moment.
^Elias Hazou (11 April 2014). "UNIC launches bitcoin course". Business. CyprusMail. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
^Araya, Daniel (29 February 2016). "The Promise of Bitcoin: An Interview With Andreas M. Antonopoulos". Futurism. Archived from the original on 2 March 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2021. I've been interested in cryptocurrencies since the early 1990s. In many ways, my interest stems from my experiences growing up in Greece. I saw the way a currency crisis could wipe out the wealth of an entire generation, and it had a big impact on me.