I started 2018 by leaving a cushy job at the Cognizant Accelerator to go all-in on crypto. The Colorado Blockchain community is amazing, and I wanted to be building full time.
What Is This?
This is a pragmatic thing. I found myself with 5 hackathon application tabs open, all asking similar questions. So I wrote it all down in one place. A single destination for hackathon applications. If you’re an organizer, here’s everything you need to know.
Who Am I? What Is My Background?
I’m Brian Ethier, a software engineer with a computer engineering degree from the University of Florida. I cut my teeth in San Francisco working at startups where you learn fast or you sink. I helped build companies from their early days through to acquisition. Eventually I set off to travel and carve my own path.
I’m drawn to the intersection of game design, math, programming, and economics — which is exactly why crypto has me hooked. The design space is enormous and the problems are fascinating.
What Have I Built in Crypto?
Amazonbitcoins.com
I found Bitcoin in 2012 from a Hacker News post and went down the rabbit hole. At the time, the only way to buy Bitcoin was through Mt. Gox, which meant a month-plus wait. So I built a service that let people buy Amazon gift cards with Bitcoin.
The highlights:
- Hit the front page of Hacker News
- Hit the front page of Reddit
- Got copied by Russian scammers (a badge of honor)
- Did $30k+ in transactions in the first month
- Was one of the first Coinbase API integrations
Eth.rip
I built eth.rip: a way to provably burn ETH while attaching an immortal message to the blockchain. The process of building it taught me a ton about smart contract development, and I wrote about how easy it is to scam people in Ethereum along the way.
Why You Want Me
I’m an idealist who’s interested in building the future. We’re still a long ways off from where this technology needs to be, but that’s exactly what makes it exciting. I left a comfortable career because I believe the best way to predict the future is to build it.
Let’s build the future together.