Mike Vine Joins LBRY as Technology Evangelist

Manchester NH (October 22, 2015) - LBRY Inc., creator of a new blockchain-based content distribution platform, announced Mike Vine has signed on as the first addition to its executive team. As LBRY's Technology Evangelist, Vine will be charged with explaining the value proposition of what looks to be among the first-released of a new generation of "cryptoapps" based on Bitcoin's blockchain architecture.

Vine has been involved in the world of Bitcoin since 2011 when a writer at his media agency Centinel Consulting taught him about the emerging digital currency. After going "down the rabbit hole," as Bitcoiners are fond of describing their initial infatuation with the technology, Vine bought his first bits through the first prototype Lamassu Bitcoin ATM at the New Hampshire Liberty Forum in 2012. Since then, he has watched friends become millionaires – but more importantly to him, also witnessed the big influence they've had in enabling individual freedom. Vine would go on to organize PorcFest X, a massive libertarian festival which at the time set the record for largest face-to-face Bitcoin marketplace in the world.

Professionally, Mike Vine has worked in marketing communications for 6 years, starting at a brokerage house on Wall Street before founding his own firm in 2011. Centinel Consulting has since worked with clients on both Wall Street and Main Street, with an emphasis on helping everyday investors understand economics and the markets. Centinel has been profitable from inception and employs 7 people from its offices in Portsmouth NH.

Though LBRY may seem to be a departure from his roots, Vine begs to differ:

"LBRY is basically a way to distribute content, like music, films, and ebooks – but what makes it tick is a deep understanding of economics. LBRY can have a very simple naming system for finding content thanks to theories of Henry George and Ronald Coase. It has a built-in currency for micropayments to publishers that is the result of sound money advocates from Ludwig Von Mises to Ron Paul. On the front end, this system allows users just to get the content they want quickly and easily. But behind the scenes, there is a heady brew of technology and scholarship that allows it to function so well."

LBRY is now in invite-only alpha release. Vine's first major initiative is to recruit a swarm of developers to poke and prod the platform until it's ready for beta and then full release this winter. Meanwhile, he will be speaking to the press and public about a future where Netflix, YouTube, and iTunes are replaced with a decentralized network that puts the power of publishing and consuming media in the hands of the individual.