Personal Details
Filip Roose, born 1982, currently living in Oudenaarde, Belgium
Education
Programmer/analyst
Professional experience and achievement
Filip has mostly worked as a project manager and in technical pre-sales. He is the co-founder of Orillia, a Belgian Bitcoin startup, and the Belgian Bitcoin Association.
Interests
Cryptocurrencies, techno-innovations, fablabs, 3D printing, travelling, alternative sports (paragliding, yacht-sailing, hot-air-ballooning)
First experience with cryptocurrencies
Filip was introduced by a friend in early 2013 and “really fell down the rabbit hole.”
Role in the Bitcoin community
Soon after discovering Bitcoin, Filip became an active member of the local meetup group in Brussels, one of the world’s largest and oldest.
Thereafter, he started Orillia with friends. That company seeks to provide services and products to anyone (private or business) in order to let them use and support Bitcoin. Orillia is BitPay’s certified provider in Belgium. The company is also in the process of releasing its own miners, likely in cooperation with a large mining-equipment producer in the near future. Orillia also offers courses on how to implement Bitcoin.
The Brussels meetup group also sparked the creation of the Belgian Bitcoin Association, which promotes Bitcoin in that country, and Filip notes that their efforts have helped changed local media narratives from sensationalist reporting to sensible, in-depth coverage.
He is also part of the Cryptotrust European advisory board and Lifeboat Foundation group for cryptocurrencies and also a lifetime member of the Bitcoin Foundation.