International Payments Executive & Fintech Counsel Joins Chia Network Board of Directors ~ Chuck Stoops brings significant regulatory and corporate governance experience



Chia Network, Inc. ("Chia" or the "Company"), a state-of-the-art global open-source decentralized blockchain and smart transaction platform, today announced the appointment of Chuck Stoops to its board as a non-executive independent director.



A seasoned executive, Mr. Stoops brings to Chia more than 20 years of experience in global financial services and technology organizations. Previously Mr. Stoops served as Chief Legal Officer of Rakuten Europe, including its European banking subsidiary; in various senior roles at PayPal, including Deputy CFO/Head of Tax in Silicon Valley and later EU Legal Counsel/Chief Data Protection Officer based in Europe. Additionally, Mr. Stoops served as Head of Finance International for Netflix; as a member of Skype’s senior finance leadership team prior to the company’s sale to Microsoft; and also as Associate General Counsel for Ask.com. Mr. Stoops has also served as a member of various corporate Boards of Directors for eBay, PayPal, BlackBerry (RIM) and others and has deep expertise in corporate governance, financial reporting and controls. At present, Mr. Stoops is developing a new challenger banking project in Luxembourg. He holds a BA from Washington and Jefferson College and two law degrees: an LL.M. from Georgetown Law School and a J.D. from Pepperdine.



"We are delighted to welcome Mr. Stoops to Chia Network's Board of Directors," said Bram Cohen, Founder and CEO of the Company. "He brings a strong track record of business leadership, a customer-centric approach to decentralized technology, and a wealth of regulatory, security and data protection experience in the international payments industry. His expertise will be helpful as Chia launches its innovative enterprise-grade digital money platform. We look forward to benefiting from Mr. Stoops' insights and perspectives."



"It is an honor to join the Board of Chia Network at this incredibly exciting time. As the Company prepares for its mainnet launch in Q1 2021, blockchain enabled cryptocurrency is gaining traction with a broader cross section of institutional investors,” said Mr. Stoops. "Since inception, the ‘early internet pioneers’ who founded Chia have already achieved significant milestones in terms of public node count currently estimated at over 1500, ranking Chia Network as a top 15 blockchain. I look forward to contributing my broad organizational experience with leading global disruptors to help Chia grow and further its mission. I am equally excited at the prospect of commercializing Chia’s technology and delivering long-term value to its shareholders."



Mr. Stoops joins Bram Cohen and Gene Hoffman to become the third board member of Chia Network, whose board of directors and officers served as senior executives of BitTorrent, eMusic.com, Vindicia, PGP, Inc., Overstock.com, Razor Gaming, Skullcandy and other innovative companies.



About Chia Network



Chia Network, founded by Bram Cohen who invented the peer-to-peer BitTorrent protocol, is a state-of-the-art open-source decentralized blockchain and smart transaction platform. Using the first new secure Nakamoto consensus algorithm invented since Bitcoin, Chia Network aims to operate an eco-friendly, more secure and user-friendly payment system for cross border payments, issuing financial assets, lending, escrow payments, institutional custody, and distributed identity. Chia’s “Proof of Space and Proof of Time”-based blockchain reduces waste in “Proof of Work”-based blockchains. Built to run Chialisp, the company’s newly developed on-chain smart transaction programming language, Chia’s blockchain allows its users to build and execute smart contracts and enable peer-to-peer applications. Chia believes that “digital money” should be easier to use than cash, harder to lose, and nearly impossible to steal. The Company is funded by leading venture capitalists including Slow Ventures, a16z, Naval Ravikant, Galaxy Digital, Greylock, True Ventures, MetaStable, Stillmark, DCM, and others. The Company’s Advisors include Dr. Dan Boneh, Research Partner at a16z and Applied Cryptography Professor at Stanford University; and Dr. Krzysztof Pietrzak, Cryptography Professor of IST Austria; and Ms. Katie Haun, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Investor Relations Contact: Gretchen Lium. For more information, visit https://chia.net and connect with us on Twitter
(@chia_project), Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.