Alan Safahi is an Iranian-American serial entrepreneur with decades of experience in the information technology, telecommunications and fintech /financial services industries. Throughout his career Alan has successfully founded and managed numerous high technology start-ups and has created disruptive innovations in the prepaid card, payment processing, blockchain technologies and global remittances. Alan was an early adopter and leader in the Bitcoin/blockchain community, and has served on the boards of Ripple, a real-time settlement system and Bold Financial Technologies, a corporate payouts platform that was acquired by Airbnb. Alan recently founded ZED Network Inc., an embedded FX and cross border payment platform and is advising several crypto projects including Candle Labs, Inc. Born in Tehran, Iran, Alan earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from California State University, Fullerton and an M.B.A. from the University of Southern California. He currently resides in the Santa Barbara, California region.