For George Popescu, former CEO of BTPrime, which entered insolvency at the beginning of this year following the market volatility caused by the Swiss National Bank’s removal of the 1.20 peg on the EURCHF pair, a return to his specialist subjects within the very upper echelons of academia beckoned as he joined Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as a Start up Mentor.
MIT is widely viewed as one of the world’s very best educational establishments, and Mr. Popescu is more than familiar with its high standing.
Since then, Mr. Popescu has assumed a further position. In addition to being a mentor at MIT, Mr. Popescu will also serve as Chairman to Gatecoin’s advisory board.
Gate coin is a regulated bitcoin exchange based in Hong Kong.
With regard to joining Gatecoin’s advisory board, Mr. Popescu stated “Bitcoin is here to revolutionize how payments are made. Bitcoin payments are instantaneous, 100% safe, and by far the cheapest. It will impact humanity in the same way as paper money did when it replaced gold and silver coins.”
Mr. Popescu continued, “Throughout human history, Asia has always been a center for innovation and growth. Gatecoin is in the right place at the right time doing the right thing.”
LeapRate spoke to Gatecoin regarding its future plans, with the firm having explained that exciting things have been developing within this particular startup since its launch earlier this year, and that Gatecoin is working closely with banks and financial institutions to develop cost-efficient payment solutions.
The firm also explained that it has been electing a series of industry professionals to its advisory board, whose aim is to help Gatecoin exchange grow in the B2B market for digital currencies. The advisory board members include the former CIO of Newedge, all of whom are listed here:
Collectively, Gatecoin’s advisory board members bring a wealth of experience in entrepreneurship, banking, and trading exchange systems, which will help Gatecoin grow and capture the B2B digital currency market. “Our aim is to create a group of advisors with the invaluable experience and insight to bring Gatecoin to the next level,” Menant explained. “I am confident that our advisory board members will help us achieve just that.”
Mr. Popescu’s existing remit at MIT involves advising MIT entrepreneurs (students, alumni, faculty, and staff) who are focusing on their personal development. The objective is to help them personally become successful.
This position follows two other interests which were held over a short period by Mr. Popescu.
In December he embarked on an advisory post with Alt-Options LLC which is a broker in the Bitcoin and crypto currencies derivatives space, a post that he currently continues to hold, as well as an 8 month period as Head of Strategy at Currency Mountain Holdings where he with the group’s strategy and was an adviser to the Chairman.
Mr. Popescu is also very much a venture capital specialist, as he is CEO of Backed Inc., an online lending platform, and Partner at LunaCap Ventures
Five years at the helm of BTPrime came to a conclusion in February 2015, when the company entered administration, preceded by his leadership role as CEO of Boston Technologies, which he assumed in 2007.
Mr. Popescu himself is an alumnus of MIT, having graduated with a Master of Science degree in Material Science, Mechanical Engineering, and Computer Science in 2007.
He also studied further Masters degrees at at Universite Paris XI between 2004 where he graduated with Masters of Science; Master of Science, Nanosciences; Math, Physics and Chemistry between his Batchelors and Masters degrees at MIT, having graduated from the Ecole Superieur d’Electricite in France with a qualification in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Mr. Popescu then embarked on his career which involved the publication of a litany of extremely scientific journals including subjects such as the use of real computers to simulate virtual cells, and the fractal dimension of human chromosome 22 at the East European Symposium on Interdisciplinary Approaches in Fractal Analysis in 2003.