Charlie Shrem to Attend Tribeca Film Festival Under Surveillance

Alleged with money laundering charges, bitcoin community member and former CEO of BitInstant, Charlie Shrem, could possibly be put away for up to 20 years if convicted.

Shrem at the Tribeca Film Festival

Shrem has been granted permission to attend the Tribeca Film Festival two weeks after his indictment hearing. He will be part of the panel discussing his bitcoin documentary.

The documentary is titled, The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin, following the digital coin’s growth from obscurity, to becoming a well-known financial instrument.

Though Shrem is under house arrest at his parent’s Brooklyn, NY home, he got permission to attend the event. He has been ordered to wear a court-monitored ankle bracelet during the event, which will be held at the SVA Theater in Manhattan.

In a phone interview about the film, Shrem said that the documentary will be a major influence in bitcoin history, and that the filmmakers were able to get everything about the digital currency just right.

Bitcoin enthusiasts and entrepreneurs like Shrem and Daniel Mross, share their thoughts and experiences with the digital currency in the 95 minute documentary. Mross is a bitcoin miner, and his brother Nickolas directed the project. The film began production two years ago.

The 35-year-old Daniel Mross stated:

“We expected it to just still be a fringe thing when we were done that we could help explain to everybody, and it just kind of went crazy. It was kind of a roller-coaster ride.”

Both bitcoin’s highs and lows are portrayed in the film, from its involvement in illegal black market site Silk Road, to businesses and investments getting behind the digital monetary payment system. (Shrem’s trouble with the law derived from his involvement with Silk Road).

Nicholas Mross added that he wasn’t sure when to end the documentary, as more headlines surrounding bitcoin continued popping up.

Shrem’s role in the film takes a look back at his experience in jail. He reflects on his time behind bars and says:

“It’s super terrifying. I don’t want to go to jail and I don’t want to become a martyr either I am not dead, I am not in prison but I am definitely taking a hit. A lot of the information that they are using against me I voluntarily gave them. The case against me is very weak and will probably never even see a courtroom, but it is just the fact that I am a young kid and I am easily scare-able, and I am scared, frankly.”

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