Michael Bombace is an adjunct fellow with TechFreedom focusing on payment systems, virtual currencies, financial and online privacy, facial recognition technologies, online gambling, and digital games and social networks. Michael works for Booz Allen Hamilton, starting in June of 2012. He worked through his last year of law school on a variety of projects, such as the Global Payments Handbook for Civil and Intelligence Agencies. He focuses on Internet and payment systems at Booz Allen Hamilton with a special focus on Identity Management and Alternative Payments.
Michael graduated law school in May of 2013 from Washington and Lee University School of Law, and obtained a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Colorado. While at Washington and Lee, he focused on virtual currencies, online privacy, virtual worlds, and e-commerce. He created and presented on virtual currencies and social networks for academic conferences on his own and as a close research assistant to Professor Joshua Fairfield. He helped Professor Fairfield on numerous projects, articles, and on the e-commerce practicum each year he was at Washington and Lee.
Michael volunteers for the Bitcoin Foundation, and assisted with the development of the Bitcoin.org website. In addition to his work with Bitcoin, Michael writes on virtual currencies, notably with his recent publication in the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, which deals with the emerging legal landscape for virtual currencies, specifically those in online games, “Blazing Trails: A New Way Forward for Virtual Currencies and Money Laundering”. Michael also presents frequently on virtual currencies, self-regulation by virtual currency operators and game developers, and virtual financial crimes. Examples include the LOGIN conference September 27th in San Francisco and the First Virtual World Conference on Banking and Finance hosted by the University of the West of England on September 4th.
Michael is an avid runner and cyclist, and is also passionate about technology, tinkering with rooted phones, and traveling.