About Andreas
Andreas M. Antonopoulos is a best-selling author and educator, and one of the most widely recognized voices in the history of Bitcoin and open blockchain technologies. Over more than a decade, he became known for making complex subjects easy to understand and for highlighting both the positive and negative impacts these technologies can have on our societies. His mission was to educate as many people as possible, in as many places and in as many languages as possible, about the historical, technological, and socio-economic impacts of Bitcoin and open blockchains. In 2013, he coined the phrase “not your keys, not your coins,” a phrase that has defined the entire industry and set the standard for self-custody.
Andreas served as a teaching fellow for the free Introduction to Digital Currencies course offered to the public by the University of Nicosia, and co-authored its curriculum. He wrote and co-authored the best-selling technical books Mastering Bitcoin (now in its third edition), Mastering Ethereum (now in its second edition), and Mastering the Lightning Network, and published The Internet of Money series, which explored the social, political, and economic importance of these technologies. Earlier in his career he authored hundreds of syndicated articles on security, cloud computing, and data centers.
A frequent speaker at technology and security conferences around the world, Andreas gave talks that were unscripted and unique, combining economics, psychology, technology, and game theory with current events, personal anecdote, and historical precedent. He was interviewed by ABC, BBC, Bloomberg, CBS, CNBC, CNN, NBC, and the Financial Times; was a repeat guest on The Joe Rogan Experience and London Real; appeared in numerous documentary films; and was a permanent host of the Let’s Talk Bitcoin podcast, recording more than 400 episodes. His own podcast, Unscrypted, collected his most popular talks.
Andreas provided expert witness testimony on blockchain technology in legal cases and regulatory hearings around the world. In October 2014 he testified before the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce of the Parliament of Canada — one of the earliest and highest-level public presentations on bitcoin to any government, and a landmark hearing that helped shape how legislators came to understand the technology. He also appeared before the Australian Senate Banking Committee.
In January 2026, Andreas was awarded the Finney Freedom Prize in recognition of his work. He decided to share the 1 BTC prize with Creative Commons, in recognition of the importance of open licenses in his work: his Mastering books, and all of his talks and videos, are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license (CC BY-SA), free for anyone to share and re-use. The prize was paid in a single transaction, with half going to Andreas and half to Creative Commons — donated, not merely pledged, as anyone can verify on the Bitcoin blockchain: view the transaction.
In 2025, Andreas retired from public life for health reasons. His books, videos, and talks remain available as a resource for anyone learning about Bitcoin and open blockchains.