San Francisco, Nov. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AirTM is pleased to announce that Dr. Steve H. Hanke has joined AirTM’s board of directors. Dr. Hanke is a Professor of Applied Economics at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and a Founder and Co-Director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise. He is also a Senior Fellow and Director of the Troubled Currencies Project at the Cato Institute in Washington, DC. Hanke is one of the world's leading experts on troubled currencies, currency boards, dollarization, and hyperinflation.
“Professor Hanke has measured and stopped more hyperinflations than any living economist,” commented Tim Parsa, AirTM Co-Founder and Executive Chairman. “Since 2015, AirTM has been committed to a related mission: helping consumers and businesses in emerging markets access stable money and reliable financial services.”
Dr. Hanke served on President Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers, has been an adviser to five foreign heads of state and five foreign cabinet ministers, and held a cabinet-level rank in both Lithuania and Montenegro. He has been awarded seven honorary doctorate degrees, and is an Honorary Professor at three foreign universities. Hanke was President of Toronto Trust Argentina in Buenos Aires in 1995, when it was the world’s best-performing mutual fund. In 1998, he was named one of the twenty-five most influential people in the world by World Trade Magazine.
“Thanks to AirTM’s team and technology, AirTM has developed an innovative clearing house for foreign exchange transactions. As a result, AirTM is the most reliable source for free-market exchange rate data between the U.S. dollar and Venezuelan bolivar,” commented Professor Hanke. “I expect that AirTM’s platform will continue to be of great assistance to the countless people around the world who are crushed under the weight of troubled currencies. Indeed, I’m proud to have an opportunity to participate in AirTM’s efforts to bring freedom, opportunity, and prosperity to those who currently don’t have easy access to stable currencies.”
Professor Hanke and Jason Whitmire, BlueYard Capital partner, will serve as outside board members on AirTM’s five-member board. BlueYard Capital led AirTM’s recently announced $7MM Series A funding round.
“Professor Hanke’s decades of experience will be essential to guiding AirTM’s expansion throughout Latin America and other emerging markets,” commented Ruben Galindo, AirTM Co-Founder and CEO. “He understands the chaos and suffering caused by currency debasement better than almost anyone, and he shares AirTM’s vision of how blockchain technology and cryptocurrency can be deployed to solve those problems.”