Bitcoin entrepreneur Charlie Shrem will gain temporary reprieve from months of house arrest this week as he attends a premiere at New York City’s Tribeca Film Festival.
Although he wasn’t able to provide specific details surrounding his release or attendance at the event, Shrem confirmed to CoinDesk that he would attend the launch of the documentary ‘The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin‘, in which he appears.
Arrested publicly over money laundering allegations in January, Shrem has protested his treatment, saying he had been cooperating with authorities in their investigations into bitcoin’s shadier uses.
Since then, Shrem has been under house arrest at his parents’ property in Brooklyn. Although free to talk to the media, he has not been allowed out to attend or speak at events – including the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) hearings into digital currencies at which he was due to testify on the day after his arrest.
Exchange pioneer
In 2013, Shrem ran BitInstant, an early bitcoin exchange that raised $1.5m in seed funding led by Winklevoss Capital in May that year, before it ceased online operations two months later. BitInstant was not mentioned in Shrem’s initial indictment in January.
He has been accused of facilitating purchases on the now-defunct Silk Road marketplace for advising customers on how to exchange currency for bitcoins, and was indicted on federal money laundering charges on 15th April.
“The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin” by programmer and filmmaker Nicholas Mross follows bitcoin’s progress over its short history, and features interviews with various bitcoin personalities from the period, including Mt. Gox’s Mark Karpeles.
The film’s first screening will take place at the SVA Theater on Manhattan’s W 23rd St at 5.30pm (Eastern time) on Wednesday 23rd April.