The bitcoin community is about to get a lot more connected – Bitcoin Conference 2013 is 2 days away.

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The global and decentralized nature of bitcoin inherently makes meeting in person less necessary than most business ventures. This conference will be a great way to reconnect face-to-face and see what the rest of the community is doing. Bitcoin 2013 is organized by The Bitcoin Foundation, and will be taking place May 17-19 in San Jose, California. Although there is a $300 entrance fee to attend in person, all of the presentations will be recorded and broadcast after the conference is completed.

The two days of presentations and panels is packed with over 60 speakers ranging from Venture Capitalists to technology and regulatory experts. There are 4 tracks divided into different rooms, as well as a two-day hackathon.

Each track is focused on a specific field: Tech, Business, Legal, or the Lightning Room (a rapid-fire mix of all topics). The two days are comprised of 18 time slots and contain a varied mix of feature presentations and panel discussions. Below are some of the highlights for each track, as well as biography excerpts of the presenters from the conference website

Technology and Mining

Presentation: State of the Union (Saturday 10:15)

Gavin Anderson – presenting on the current state of the bitcoin digital currency project. Gavin began his career working on 3D graphics software at Silicon Graphics Computer Systems. Since leaving Silicon Valley in 1996, Gavin has tackled a wide variety of software-related ventures, including CTO of an early voice-over-the-Internet startup. Most recently, Gavin has been the lead developer for the Bitcoin digital currency project.

Presentation: Off-chain Transactions (Saturday 2:45)

Peter Todd – presenting on off-chain transactions as the means to allow Bitcoin to scale to global transaction volumes while still remaining decentralized. Peter also works as an electronics designer for a mining industry startup – that is, the type of mining that involves geologists.

Panel Discussion: Alt-Chains (Sunday 11:00)

This is a panel discussion consisting of the founders and lead developers for four of the most popular alternative digital currencies

Chris Larsen – CEO and Co-founder of OpenCoin, the organization that first built the Ripple protocol.
Mark Friedenbach – the engineering lead of the Freicoin currency project, and has previously worked at NASA-Ames Research Center and Lockheed Martin Corporation.
Charles Lee – the creator and lead developer for Litecoin, the most popular alternative currency to Bitcoin.
Dennison Bertram – active in the alternative cryptocurrency community and was instrumental in building the user base of the new alt-coin: Terracoin.

Business

Presentation: Driving Business Adoption of Bitcoin (Saturday 2:45)

Anthony Gallippi – discussing what companies can do to further drive the incorporation of bitcoin both in-person and online. He is co-founder and CEO of BitPay. He saw a need for bitcoin payment processing and founded BitPay in 2011. Mr. Gallippi is involved in all of the day-to-day operations including new business development, marketing, and customer service. Mr. Gallippi has 15 years of experience in sales and marketing working in the Robotics industry.

Presentation: Cash Deposits, Challenges, and Ideas (Saturday 3:15)

Charlie Shrem – presenting on the legal climate and logistical challenges surrounding the acceptance of cash deposits. Mr. Shrem currently serving as CEO and co-founder of BitInstant, one of the largest, earliest and well known alternative payment companies. He is also founding member and current Vice Chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation. Along with Gareth Nelson, he leads BitInstant through the complex compliance, licensing and regulations of the worldwide banking system.

Panel: Funded Entrepreneurs (Sunday 11:00)

This panel will feature some of the most high profile entrepreneurs in the bitcoin community. They will discuss how they received funding, and what opportunities are available for aspiring companies.

Fred Ehrsam – co-founder of Coinbase. Fred previously traded foreign exchange at Goldman Sachs and worked at BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager.
Peter Vessenes – the CEO and founder of Coinlab.com, and Chairman of the Board for the Bitcoin Foundation.
Charlie Shrem – currently serving as CEO and co-founder of BitInstant
Anthony Gallippi – co-founder and CEO of BitPay, founded in 2011

Regulatory and Economic Issues

Presentation: Legal Classification of Bitcoins (Sunday 9:30)

Trace Mayer – will present his legal opinion of how bitcoins should be classified within regulatory frameworks. Mr. Mayer is an entrepreneur, investor, journalist, monetary scientist and ardent defender of the freedom of speech. He holds a law degree, a member of the San Diego County Bar Association, and co-authored Bitcoin Beginner’s Guide as well as A Lawyer’s Take On Bitcoin And Taxes.Trace has appeared on Canada’s national financial network BNN, ABC, NBC, and is syndicated through Seeking Alpha, Yahoo! Finance and MarketWatch.

Presentation: Online Gambling: Bits and Chips (Sunday 11:00)

David Gzesh – a discussion on the state of the bitcoin gambling community. He is an attorney specializing in internet gaming transactions through his practice, Gzesh Law, Ltd. Previously, he was CEO, General Counsel and Director of Yatahay, Ltd., an online poker network. David has worked extensively with online gaming clients for more than a decade and specializes in legal, business, and regulatory representation, licensing and operational matters related to the online gaming industry, especially gaming ventures interested in the emerging US market(s).

Panel: Issues of Regulatory Compliance (Saturday 11:00)

Regulatory concerns have been at the forefront of bitcoin news over the last few weeks. This panel discussion will address the issues that many bitcoin businesses will face complying with varied regulatory requirements.

Claire Sammon Roberts – joined the ZipZap senior management team in 2011. She is responsible for managing operations, customer care, risk management and administrative functions.
Ryan Straus – an attorney with a background in both technology and financial services, Ryan assists clients with payment matters, including electronic payments, mobile payments, prepaid cards, alternative currencies, and federal/state licensing.
Ryan Singer – Tradehill’s President and Chief Operating Officer.
Brian Klein – partner at the boutique litigation firm Baker Marquart LLP. He represents individuals and corporate clients in criminal, regulatory and intellectual property matters. He also teaches federal criminal law at USC’s law school and has written about the regulation of virtual currencies. As an Assistant United States Attorney in the Major Frauds Section of the United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles for 5 years, Brian handled significant white-collar criminal cases, including cases involving money laundering, corporate fraud and tax violations.
J. Dax Hansen – a Partner in the Seattle office of Perkins Coie LLP and Chair of the firm’s Electronic Financial Services Industry Group. Mr. Hansen advises payment service providers, retailers, wireless carriers, interactive entertainment companies and other clients on matters related to payments, technology, and international business.

Hackathon

The hackathon is a two day competition to develop the best bitcoin-related product. It is kicked off at 9am on Saturday with a 1 hour presentation by Jeff Garzik and Mike Hearn. This is followed at 10am with a 45 minute panel discussion by 5 VC discussing what markets and technologies most interest them. The list includes:

Alex Ferrera – Bessemer Venture Partners
Gus Fuldner – Benchmark Capital
Jeremy Liew – Lightspeed Venture Partners
Tihan Seale – Entrepreneurial Investor
Joel Yarmon – Draper Associates

Next in the hackathon is a 1 hour time slot where projects have 60 seconds to pitch an idea and recruit team members. Teams then have until Sunday to work alongside mentors and other teams to develop their project. At 3pm on Sunday teams will have a combined 2 hours to present their projects to the board of VCs. The best projects will be voted on, and prizes (TBD) will be awarded to the top teams.

Keynote

The keynote speakers on Saturday evening will be the Winklevoss Twins, most famous for their windfall in the Facebook lawsuit. They have invested their fortune in Winklevoss Capital, and have actively invested in technology startups. The recently made headlines when they announced having over 1% of the bitcoins in circulation.

Exhibits

Lastly, there will be 32 bitcoin-related companies exhibiting their products. Almost all of the large processing companies will be there including BitInstant, BitPay, and CoinLab – notably missing is Mt. Gox. Lamassu will be there displaying the first fully functional bitcoin ATM as well.

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Guide to Bitcoin Conference 2013 – San Jose