Meltem Demirors

Meltem Demirors is the Chief Strategy Officer of CoinShares, a publicly listed investment firm that manages over $250 million in digital assets on behalf of a global investor base and is a trusted partner to investors and entrepreneurs navigating the digital asset ecosystem.

An established veteran of digital asset investing, Meltem draws on her substantial experience and widespread influence to accelerate the growth and acceptance of the asset class. Prior to joining CoinShares, Meltem helped build and grow Digital Currency Group, raising capital from the world’s largest corporations and managing a portfolio of 120 companies and 4 subsidiaries. Before she was bitten by the bitcoin bug, Meltem worked in the Oil & Gas industry in trading, corporate treasury, and M&A roles.

Meltem has been recognized for her personal contributions to the industry and serves as an outspoken advocate. She is a founding member of the World Economic Forum Blockchain Council. Meltem teaches at her alma mater MIT as well as Oxford and is passionate about privacy and civil rights.

Meltem Demirors was born on May 14, 1987, in the Netherlands. Both her parents were Turkish immigrants. Her father completed his PhD from “The Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST)” and later worked as a researcher in a chemical company in the Netherlands. Her mother was also an intellectual, who completed her major in accounting from Aegean University.

In 1997, when Meltem was around 10 years of age, her family moved to Michigan, United States. She completed her fourth and final year of high school in 2004. She then enrolled in the Bachelor of Arts (BA) Degree program at Rice University (Houston, Texas), and completed her undergraduate in 2009 with a Major in Mathematical Economic Analysis.  

She briefly worked as a Corporate Treasury at Exxon Mobil Corporation, an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas.

After that, she landed a Strategy & Operation Consultant job at the well-known consulting firm Deloitte. She worked at the company from 2009 to 2013. In 2012, the firm offered a sponsorship program for higher studies and Meltem grabbed the opportunity, though she later decided to give up the consulting sponsorship and enrolled in the course through a student loan. 

For her graduation, Meltem pursued the full-time, two-year MBA program from the prestigious MIT Sloan School of Management in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She was in the 2013-2015 batch of the course and passed out alumni of the MIT Sloan class of 2015. While at the business school, she joined the “MIT Bitcoin Club” and co-founded the “MIT FinTech Club” for future students.

From Feb 18, 2015 to May 2015, she worked as a Marketing Consultant in “Elsen Inc.”, located in Boston, MA. Meltem first joined the cryptocurrency industry in 2015, when after a meeting with DCG CEO & Founder “Barry Silbert”, she landed a “Director of Development” job at the New York-based venture capital company.

Meltem Demirors was a member of the founding team at “Digital Currency Group” from April 2015 to January 2018. She worked many roles at the company from corporate investor, investing in blockchain technologies to Vice-president, at the end of her stint at the company. As VP @DCG, she helped push now-household names, like Coinbase and Ripple, into the limelight.

After she left the firm, Meltem started investing in companies in the digital asset ecosystem via her own personal crypto fund “Athena Capital”. Her personal investment portfolio is focused on pre-seed and seed stage opportunities in companies from diverse sectors like AI, Crypto, NFT, Defi, Capital market, Data Services and security etc.

Later in 2018, she joined UK Based digital asset management firm “Coinshares” as the “Chief Strategy Officer” for their New York City location. Currently, she is the head of “CoinShares Ventures”, a subsidiary, and serves as the managing director of the firm’s US operations. She also serves as a partner at 3.0 Capital, a leading crypto fund and a participating member at World Economic Forum Blockchain Council.

Meltem Demirors is a highly accomplished and visionary leader in the digital asset ecosystem. Her vision centres around driving the growth and development of blockchain and digital assets, with a focus on creating sustainable and equitable systems that benefit all stakeholders.

Throughout her career, Meltem has worked tirelessly to promote the adoption of digital assets and blockchain technology, from her early involvement in the MIT Bitcoin Club to her founding role at Digital Currency Group and her current leadership position at CoinShares Ventures. 

With her personal investment portfolio, she is also committed to supporting innovative companies at the pre-seed and seed stage, with a particular focus on emerging sectors like AI, NFTs, and DeFi. Her participation in various industry organizations like the World Economic Forum Blockchain Council further demonstrates her commitment to shaping the future of the digital asset ecosystem.

Meltem Demirors is one of the most influential personality in cryptocurrency and fintech space, with investment in over 200 companies across the crypto ecosystem. A social media personality, Meltem has over 230K followers on her official Twitter @Melt_Dem. Meltem Demirors was ranked 38 in the Fortune magazine’s “The Ledger 40 Under 40” list for 2018, along with other Women Crypto superstars like Arianna Simpson and Tina Bhatnagar. She was also featured in the Hackernoon’s 2018 list of “5 Notable Women in the Blockchain and Crypto Industry”, along with Bancor’s founder Galia Benartzi. Recently in 2021, She was nominated in the “City AM Outstanding Industry Contribution Award” category at Crypto AM Summit & awards 2021. Meltem serve as an advisor to Blockdaemon, Casa, Ocean Protocol & Shyft Network and also a board director of the Stacks Foundation. Let’s look at the biography, professional career journey and future plan of Meltem Demirors – the Chief Strategy Officer at Coinshares.

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