BitAngels, the industry’s first angel network for digital currency startups, is launching a series of virtual pitch events to keep linking investors during the global coronavirus pandemic.
BitAngels founder Michael Terpin said on March 25 that the transition of the network to a full-online model of collaborations and events aims to keep the blockchain investment community “active and thriving” through uncertain periods.
Although the shutdown across many of the world’s major economies may be unprecedented, Terpin wrote that the model in some way returns the network to “its roots as a virtual network founded in 2013.”
Prior to the pandemic outbreak, BitAngels had grown to function both online and through in-person events organized by a global network of city leaders across its 15 regional “chapters” for each case.
The city leaders of the network pick a small number of blockchain start-ups for each event to pitch their ideas to investors, as well as hosting keynotes and discussions about business trends.
This model has reportedly enabled hundreds of projects in the last seven years to obtain support from BitAngels leaders.
The founders of BitAngels
Michael Terpin and his co-founder David Johnston of BitAngels have been involved in the industry since the early 2010s. In 2014, the latter formed a DApps Fund, and more recently, YCG, a venture studio that develops enterprise blockchain applications.
Terpin is the founder and CEO of Transform Group alongside BitAngels— a blockchain consulting and events organization that has historically collaborated with over 30% of the 100 companies and foundations in CoinMarketCap. He is also Marketwire’s business newswire manager.
In 2018, following his personal loss of $24 million in crypto due to a SIM-swap scam, Terpin became known around the industry for taking up a high-profile lawsuit against telecom giant AT&T.
Terpin won $75.8 million in a criminal lawsuit in May 2019 against Nichola Truglia, who defrauded him from his crypto-assets.