Michael Terpin
Michael Terpin is an American investor, entrepreneur and public relations (PR) agency manager. Terpin in 2013 co-founded BitAngels, an investment network for blockchain technology startups, and Transform Group, a PR firm for the digital currency industry, in 2014.
Launched in 2013 by David Johnston, Michael Terpin and Sam Onat Yilmaz, BitAngels was the first angel network for bitcoin and digital currency startups. Terpin, along with other cryptocurrency investors, aims to grow the blockchain ecosystem through community events intended to highlight new companies. In 2019, BitAngels grew to 500 international investors.
In 2014, Terpin along with Jay Lee co-founded Transform Group, a bitcoin and blockchain marketing firm headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The company has four major divisions: public relations, social media, event managing and cryptocurrency consulting. Their goal is to utilize their strategy to help their clients create and sustain industry leadership, and they have worked with several major projects, including Tether, Augur, EOS, NEO and Ripple.
In 2018, Terpin sued AT&T for $23.8 million in compensatory damages and $200 million in punitive damages, claiming that the company failed to protect his cellphone data and leading to hackers stealing $24 million in cryptocurrencies. Terpin was victim of SIM card swapping fraud, a method used to steal one’s phone numbers in order to access their crypto wallets. The perpetrator was eventually found and the court ordered him to pay $75 million in compensatory and punitive damages to Terpin.
