Caitlin Long is the CEO of Avanti Financial Group. Long, who is seen as an economics expert on Wall Street, served as chairman of the blockchain startup Symbiont until 2018.
Caitlin Long Life
Caitlin Long, a Wall Street veteran, first encountered Bitcoin in 2012 in economic circles at the Austrian School. She was completely engulfed in 2013 when an article on how to buy and store Bitcoin crashed into her inbox. With a passion for “honest ledgers” and a goal of making securities markets fairer by issuing and buying and selling securities on a blockchain, Long was president and chairman of blockchain startup Symbiont until 2018.
He founded the Wyoming Blockchain Coalition in 2017 and was appointed governor in the Wyoming Blockchain Task Force until 2019. Long currently chairs WyoHackathon, a nonprofit hackathon, and is CEO of Avanti Financial Group.
Long made several headlines last year for his voice in the crypto regulatory arena. In February, it announced the creation of Avanti Financial Group, the first crypto-native bank in the US. In October, the firm received a contract to operate from the Wyoming State Banking Board, just behind San Francisco-based crypto exchange Kraken.
Caitlin Long at BTC 22 (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon appointed Long as a member of the Wyoming blockchain committee and used his influence to appeal to crypto users and others to support pro-crypto legislation in the state. June saw Long advocating for banking giant JPMorgan Chase to move to Wyoming to protect itself from a potential Bitcoin price.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic prevented many crypto events and conferences from taking place in 2020, Long was still an active speaker. Attending both the Wyoming Blockchain Stampede and April’s Virtual Blockchain Week, he urged firms to provide greater transparency in the crypto space and “not recreate what has happened in the traditional financial industry.”
Entering 2021, pro-crypto Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis will take her seat representing Wyoming. Pairing a crypto-friendly regulatory environment and a pro-Bitcoin legislator could help further crypto adoption in the new year. Long stated that Lummis wants to defend Bitcoin “against federal encroachment” and “believes in the philosophy” behind the digital asset.
