we build. we educate.

We built Crypto NYC to bring together the best people excited about blockchain, cryptography and cryptocurrency, and to curate the best content and events. Our mission is threefold:

• To connect people of all backgrounds and foster a forward-thinking community around blockchain and distributed consensus technologies
• To cut through the noise and curate the best blockchain-related content and events in and around New York City
• To raise awareness of and strive to make blockchain accessible to everyone

Our core values are integrity, authenticity, innovation, and inclusivity.

THE TEAM

Blake JohnsoN

Blake is a self-taught developer who has been coding and teaching others to code for the past 6 years. He was one of the first employees of the Flatiron School and led its partnership with the Tech Talent Pipeline of NYC creating a free version of the Flatiron School’s flagship boot camp for underrepresented minorities in tech at a satellite campus in Brooklyn. He bought his first bitcoin in 2013 and has been deep down the rabbit hole ever since.  ​

Sydney Lai​

Sydney Lai is a community organizer and digital marketer with an award-winning background in sales and business development. Sydney has been named an LGBT Technology Leader 2016 by The White House, Office of Science and Technology Policy and is a TEDx Speaker on creating innovation within communities. After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, she worked in asset management and banking at Credit Suisse and Wells Fargo, joined a VC, and then Head of Business at Audacy, a space satellite startup. She now is a founder of an ICO marketing agency and co-founder at Crypto NYC.

Lane Rettig​

Lane is an experienced entrepreneur, computer scientist, investor, and educator based in New York City. He worked in quant finance at D. E. Shaw & Co., a New York-based hedge fund, as a software developer and quantitative analyst in Manhattan and Hong Kong. He holds an MBA in entrepreneurial management from the Wharton School and an MA in international studies from the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. Lane co-founded Seratis, a healthcare communication and care coordination platform, which was acquired in 2016. He currently works as a blockchain evangelist and core developer, and writes at Etherean.

Chris Rusyniak​

Chris has been building ledgers, banking, and accounting systems for a long time. Growing up he designed and developed accounts receivable, billing, and inventory systems at small businesses and community organizations. There he built some of his first mobile apps on Windows PocketPC 2003.  At the Boston College Carroll School of Management he studied Computer Science, Finance, and Accounting. He started a software consulting firm at BC with his friends that built some of the first iOS and Android apps. He recently left his 6 year gig at PwC Advisory as a banking software architect to co-found and help run CryptoNYC full time. Chris is passionate about financial transparency, community credit, history and philosophy.

Additonal Team Members

David Rusyniak - Advisory/Former Operations Manager
Maryam - Finance & Accounting
Mike Kapitula - Operations Manager
Leo Lu - Community & Partnerships
Rafael Solari - Whitepaper Wednesdays
Sanaya Mirpuri - Newsletter
Peg Samuel - Communications

You!

If you're passionate about blockchain and about community, talk to us about joining our team! We can always use another pair of hands.