{{Short description|Israeli-Canadian investor (born 1985)}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Roy Sebag | honorific_suffix = | image_size = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|mf=yes|1985|6|28}} | alt = | caption = | occupation = Entrepreneur, investor | known_for = GoldMoney Inc (formerly BitGold), Menē | years_active = 2008–present }}
'''Roy Sebag''' (born June 28, 1985) is an Israeli-Canadian contrarian investor, entrepreneur and author.<ref name=globes1>{{cite web|url=https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-roy-sebag-exits-cryptocurrency-market-1001277275 |title=Roy Sebag exits cryptocurrency market |website=Globes |date=10 March 2019 |accessdate=4 June 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title = Executive Profile Roy Sebag|url = https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=225833892&privcapId=280530098&previousCapId=280530098&previousTitle=BitGold%20Inc.|publisher =Bloomberg|accessdate = 14 December 2015}}</ref> He is the founder of precious metal savings and payments platform GoldMoney Inc, and is Chief Executive Officer.<ref>{{cite web|title = You Want to Buy Art. Is It About Love or Money?|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/15/your-money/art-investing.html|work = The New York Times|accessdate = 15 February 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author = Waddell, Nick|title = GoldMoney Announces Graduation to the Toronto Stock Exchange|url = http://www.cantechletter.com/newswire/goldmoney-announces-graduation-to-the-toronto-stock-exchange/|website = Cantech Letter|accessdate = 12 May 2016}}</ref> He is also the founder of cryptomining company Bitfarms, Ltd. a publicly traded company on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and was its CEO until April 2019.<ref>{{cite web|title = Toronto Stock Exchange Profile: Bitfarms Ltd.|url = https://web.tmxmoney.com/quote.php?qm_symbol=BITF|publisher = TASE Site|accessdate = 2 August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title = Blockchain merger to make Natural Resource NIS 2b co|url = http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-blockchain-merger-to-make-natural-resources-nis-2b-co-1001214878|publisher = Globes.co.il |accessdate = 26 May 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3758020,00.html |title=Crypto Mining Outfit Bitfarms to Depreciate $19 Million as Founder Denounces Bitcoin |website=Ctech |date=2019-11-03 |accessdate=2020-06-04}}</ref> ==Career==
===Investments===
In 2011, Sebag was a managing partner of Essentia Equity, one of several lenders that invested $43 million of rescue financing into American Apparel helping the company avert bankruptcy, but the company later went bankrupt. In September 2012, Sebag invested in German automotive company Porsche Automobil Holding SE. In an interview with the financial newspaper Barron's, Sebag argued that the legal overhang due to the 2008 short squeeze of Volkswagen provided a unique opportunity to purchase shares of Porsche at a discount.<ref>{{cite web|title = Porsche Preferred Shares Merit a Faster Track|url =http://www.barrons.com/articles/SB50001424053111904706204578002262308707842|publisher =Barons|accessdate = 20 December 2015}}</ref>
===Natural Resource Holdings=== In 2010, Sebag formed Natural Resource Holdings, an asset consolidator of historically delineated natural resource deposits.<ref>{{cite web |title = Global Gold Mine and Deposit Rankings 2013 |url =http://www.visualcapitalist.com/global-gold-mine-and-deposit-rankings-2013/ |publisher =Visual Capitalist |accessdate = 20 December 2015}}</ref>
Since 2011, Sebag and Natural Resource Holdings have been compiling and distributing a database of the world's largest gold mines.<ref>{{cite web|title = Global Gold Mines and Deposits Ranking 2012|url =http://www.visualcapitalist.com/global-gold-mines-deposits-ranking-2012/|publisher =Visual Capitalist|accessdate = 20 December 2015}}</ref>
===Goldmoney Inc.=== Following the 2008 financial crisis, Sebag met Josh Crumb, a senior metals strategist at Goldman Sachs, and the two developed the idea of a full-reserve banking gold-based financial institution. This ultimately led to the formation and launch of BitGold, which subsequently became GoldMoney, after BitGold acquired that company in 2015 as a reverse merger. In May 2016, Sebag won the Canadian Capital Markets Deal of the Year Award for the GoldMoney acquisition.<ref>{{cite web|title = Will gold continue to shine?|url =https://www.cnbc.com/video/2016/09/08/will-gold-continue-to-shine.html|publisher =CNBC|accessdate = 8 September 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title = Gold starts to shine for investors|url =https://www.ft.com/content/cd86ed42-40f9-11e5-b98b-87c7270955cf|publisher = Financial Times|accessdate = 15 August 2015}}</ref> In March 2019, GoldMoney announced it was shutting down its cryptocurrency business.<ref name=globes1/>
=== Menē Inc. === In October 2016, Sebag founded Menē Inc., a luxury online jewelry venture, along with Diana Widmaier Picasso, the granddaughter of Pablo Picasso.<ref>{{cite web|title = Jewelry Worth Its Grams in Gold |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/10/fashion/jewelry-mene-gold-value.html |website=New York Times|date=10 May 2018|accessdate = 4 June 2020}}</ref>
===Industry analysis===
Sebag's economic insights have been covered by CNBC, Bloomberg,<ref>{{cite web|title = The Guy Who Called Bitcoin a Bubble Now Wants to Help You Store It |url =https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-29/the-guy-who-sold-10-million-bitcoin-wants-to-help-you-store-it?sref=Kf0MXoXH|publisher =Bloomberg|accessdate = 29 September 2017}}</ref> ''The Wall Street Journal''<ref>{{cite web|title = Coronavirus Sparks a Global Gold Rush | url =https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-sparks-a-global-gold-rush-11585332624|publisher = Wall Street Journal|accessdate = 31 March 2020}}</ref> and in an article written by him for ''The American Mind''.<ref>https://americanmind.org/memo/a-cure-for-the-money-virus/</ref>
==Author==
Sebag is the author of 'The Natural Order of Money', a book of Economic Theory and Philosophy about the intrinsic relationship between people, money, and nature.<ref>https://booklife.com/booklife-review/9781399934206</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sebag, Roy}} Category:1985 births Category:Living people Category:Canadian investors Category:Businesspeople from Toronto Category:Canadian people of Israeli descent