Helen Disney

Founder, Unblocked Events & Director, The Realization Group

Helen Disney is a Director and Board Member at The Realization Group, a consultancy-led marketing agency operating at the intersection of Traditional and Decentralised Finance.

She founded Unblocked in 2017 as a hub for strategic insights, education and events on blockchain and frontier technologies. She is now regarded as one of the best-known voices on Blockchain and cryptocurrency in the UK and is in demand as a speaker, moderator, and event host internationally.

Helen believes that blockchain, distributed ledgers and cryptocurrencies are changing our world for the better. Those who don’t understand them will miss out on fundamental opportunities for investment, wealth creation and social impact. And those who are harnessing them can grow much faster by telling their tech stories more effectively and meaningfully.

Helen has chaired and spoken at a wide range of high-level events globally alongside senior decision makers including Presidents, Prime Ministers, MPs, MEPs and CEOs. She is a regular conference speaker, moderator and commentator on Bitcoin, Blockchain and innovation policy. She has worked with a host of global media brands including The Economist, The Times, The Evening Standard, DagensIndustrie and The Fintech Times. She curated and hosted the UK’s first major Blockchain Alternative Investment Conference in London and has spoken at events hosted by the United Nations General Assembly, Chatham House,and the Law Society as well as giving evidence to the inaugural meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Blockchain.

Helen was recently listed as a Top 100 Regtech Influencer and was one of the Financial Technologist's inaugural Fintech Founders 50. In 2016, she was listed in Innovate Finance’s Women in Fintech Powerlist and has been referred to by Barclays as a “Blockchain guru” as well as featured in the Spectator magazine as one of the ‘queens of crypto’.

Previously, Helen set up Blockchain Intelligence, a global platform for news, networking and conferences about Blockchain and Distributed Ledgers and worked on outreach at the Bitcoin Foundation, driving a programme of strategic events to communicate the innovative potential of Bitcoin and Blockchain technology to innovators, entrepreneurs, policymakers and thought leaders.

Prior to moving into fintech, she founded and ran a social enterprise for 15 years, connecting thought leaders and policy experts to create and share best practice in public policy making. The network was made up of over 120 member organisations spanning more than 40 countries.

She is a co-founder of the British Blockchain and Frontier Technologies Association and has been a mentor for the Global Thinkers Forum a non-profit promoting accountable leadership, women empowerment and youth development.