One of the earliest thought leaders and influencers in the bitcoin/crypto world, Michael Terpin was pronounced the "Godfather of Crypto" by CNBC for his advisory and marketing efforts for many prominent early projects in crypto, including the launches of Ethereum and Tether. He founded the first decentralized group of bitcoin investors, BitAngels, in early 2013, which in turn funded the very first ICO, Mastercoin. He also cofounded one of the first crypto venture funds, The Dapps Fund, in early 2014 with his BitAngels co-founder, David A. Johnston. Since 2014, he has organized the longest-running investor conference series in crypto, Tokenize (formerly CoinAgenda). He is also well-known for being the first crypto investor to move to Puerto Rico in 2016 to take advantage of its crypto-friendly tax laws, leading a wave of more than 1000 current residents under the program.

Terpin began his research on the bitcoin cycles in 2013 and was among the first to predict in 2015 (when bitcoin was less than $300) that bitcoin prices would reach $10,000 by 2020. This is when he formulated his "Four Seasons of Bitcoin" model, which he has presented to many family offices and conferences worldwide, culminating in a white paper in 2023 predicting the current run-up in price. Terpin keynoted five times at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) on blockchain, where he was honored as a pioneer. He has spoken widely at technology and investor conferences globally, including Bitcoin Conference, Bitcoin Foundation, Coindesk Consensus, North American Bitcoin Conference, Satoshi Roundtable, Future Blockchain Summit (Dubai), Coin Summit, Inside Bitcoins, NFT NYC, Opal Family Office, Family Office Club, 1640 Society, and Campden Wealth conferences.

Prior to his involvement in bitcoin, Terpin was a serial technology entrepreneur with multiple exits, including Marketwire (now Globe Newswire), which he founded and oversaw its early partnership with NASDAQ, which later acquired the company. He is on the board emeritus of Syracuse University's prestigious Newhouse School of Communications, where he received his BA in newspaper journalism and in English. He also holds a master's degree in creative writing from SUNY at Buffalo. Terpin lives in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he runs Transform Ventures, a blockchain advisory firm and venture studio.