Eric Demuth is the CEO and co-founder of Bitpanda, one of Europe’s most successful fintechs and Austria’s first unicorn company with a $4.1 billion valuation. After initially embarking on a nautical career as a ship mechanic (with further ambitions of becoming captain), Eric quickly found this life wasn’t for him. Returning to dry land, he completed economics studies at WU Wien and the London School of Economics and Political Science. Delving into the world of crypto, he became frustrated with how hard it was to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. With this in mind, Eric co-founded Bitpanda in 2014 to break down investment barriers and make it simple, accessible and available to everyone to build financial freedom for their future. Today, Eric actively shapes the worldwide fintech community as an entrepreneur, investor and opinion leader in several fields.