Bitcoin Mania (cryptocurrencies): Should you believe the hype?

Maria Baron is a Client Advisor for J.P. Morgan Private Bank in Birmingham, Michigan. Maria helps families grow, preserve and distribute their wealth to generations to come. She uses Goals Based Wealth Management and financial planning to help clients reach their goals and dreams by providing resources to protect assets, maximize growth, minimize taxes and transfer wealth.

Before joining J.P. Morgan, Maria spent ten years working with domestic and international clients at Merrill Lynch and Citigroup. On the international side, her primary focus was working with families in Latin America, helping them achieve their goals.

Maria holds a Juris Doctor from Trinity Law School and a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature from Westmont College.

Matthew Kluchenek heads the Firm's Global Derivatives and Hedge Fund practice. He regularly advises clients on a broad array of regulatory, transactional and enforcement matters involving the financial markets and financial products, drawing on deep business knowledge to deliver practical advice and explain complex concepts. Mr. Kluchenek serves as a subject matter expert in printed media and industry events, has published numerous articles and has spoken at many industry events. He is an adjunct professor at a local law school, where he teaches a course on derivatives law. Prior to joining Baker McKenzie, Mr. Kluchenek served as the general counsel of a large proprietary trading firm and as an associate general counsel of a major futures exchange, as well as other positions. In addition to his law practice, Mr. Kluchenek is the founder and owner of Mind’s Eye Winery, LLC, a producer of premium Napa Valley wines. View Matthew's complete bio.

Sam Kramer is a partner in the IT and Communications practice at Baker & McKenzie in Chicago. Mr. Kramer represents customers in managed services, IT procurement, complex licensing, and supply chain agreements. He is a frequent speaker on global outsourcing, cloud services and emerging technologies, including blockchain. He is recognized in Chambers Global and Chambers USA for IT and business process outsourcing, by the Legal 500 USA for technology transactions and Who's Who Legal for Information Technology and FinTech. He serves on Baker & McKenzie's Global FinTech and Communications and Mobility Steering Committees.

Jim Radecki is the Global Head of Business Development at Cumberland, a DRW Company, and one of the largest bitcoin trading desks and liquidity providers in cryptocurrencies across the globe. Prior to joining Cumberland, Jim was Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, where he served as Global Co-Head of GS Global Prime Services Clearing, Global Head of Sales for GS Global Prime Services Clearing, and Midwest Regional Manager for GS Global Prime Services.

Over the course of his career in the financial industry, Jim has held several key leadership positions, including North American Regional Risk Manager for ING Barings, the Global Director of Risk Management for the Global Futures and Options Clearing business, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer at Mercury Trading/ Summit Securities,), and Controller at First Financial Group.

Jim is former member of the Chicago Board of Trade, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe), The Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX), Eurex, and is a CPA. Jim earned a BA in Accounting from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1985.