introduction

hi there - disaffected finite-tape turing machine reporting in

if you're a recruiter, please click away now: not currently interested in engaging (just too busy)

interested in: {type,category,information} theory, crypto{graphy,currency}, {contract,company,cyber} law, mev, insane shitposting

in a past life i focused on compilers and computation:

stack-based languages for intermediate representation parameterised by source language effect support
identifying and offloading heavily numerical computation to appropriate hardware
implementing automata via macro tree transducers, and so on

brief life bio rundown:

places lived: cambridge uk, johannesburg za, nottingham uk, portland or/us, glasgow uk, singapore sg, leeds uk
education: maths+compsci bsc jt hons, theoretical compsci phd, financial engineering msc, law llb [ongoing]
worked at: uni. nottingham, intel labs, standard chartered bank, arboreum, plow tech

i sling haskell, solidity, python, ocaml, {java/type}script - poorly in all cases

you're not going to see much on my github, it's mostly private tinkering - oss work (and spicy tweets) primarily done under various pseudonyms

rotating from defi dev to super shadowy advocate with stops along the way for law school and public policy chat

current projects

here are the things i currently spend non-trivial effort working on or preparing for

wildcat finance

*real* on-chain undercollateralised credit has never been tried

euler finance

i'm a special advisor here (i explain why things won't work)

law school

i'm in my final year of law school at leeds - we need more crypto-native legal minds in the uk

talks/appearances

recordings/slides of my talks, podcast appearances or places i've spoken at relevant to crypto

token2049 dubai [mainstage panel, moderator]; 19 april 2024

defi summer 2.0? catalysts for revitalising decentralised finance

ethdenver [mainstage panel, panelist]; 1 march 2024

how modularity drives the next wave of defi lending

ethdenver [presentation]; 1 march 2024

on-chain undercollateralised credit: banking but worse

london school of economics [guest lecture]; 27 november 2023

a walk through the dark forest: smart contracts, security, privacy, and you

the chopping block [podcast]; 3 august 2023

episode 526: who's to blame for the curve hack?

the scoop [podcast]; 25 july 2023

episode 68; season 5 - wildcat protocol, court interventions in defi, and grey hat hackers

ethcc6 [talk]; 20 july 2023

kanav my money back?: the rise of "counter-exploits" and court interventions in defi

crypto' critics corner [podcast]; 1 march 2023

episode 109; satire in cryptocurrency [w/ josh cincinnati]

ethcc5 [talk]; 20 july 2022

never send to know for whom the bell tolls

the dojima futures exchange [podcast]; 10 april 2022

episode 5 - "laurence"

ethcc4 [talk]; 20 july 2021

indexed we trust: automated index portfolio management

papers

pieces of research that i've either had published or thrown up online myself

for all intents and purposes: on the agency and duties of solvers

llb dissertation @leeds, 2024 [link]

the wildcat protocol: banking but worse

personal (for wildcat), 2023 [link]

nirn: a compositional, permissionless, extensible yield aggregator

personal (for indexed finance), 2021 [link]

quantitative refinements to value investment strategies in emerging market economies

masters dissertation @worldquant, 2021 [link]

an analysis of the icelandic banking crisis

personal, 2020 [link]

a proposal for risk distribution over intelligent credit networks

personal (for arboreum), 2020 [link]

the modular compilation of effects

doctoral thesis @nottingham, 2015 [link]

native offload of haskell repa programs to integrated gpus

in: functional high-performance computing, 2014 [link]

pick’n’fix: capturing control flow in modular compilers

in: trends in functional programming, 2014 [link]

compilation à la carte

in: implementation and application of functional languages, 2013 [link]

programming macro tree transducers

in: workshop on generic programming, 2013 [link]

towards modular compilers for effects

in: trends in functional programming, 2011 [link]

implementing a propositional logic theorem prover

honours dissertation @nottingham, 2010 [link]

disclosures

my extant financial relationships (interpret any biases in light of these)

fileverse

angel investor [outbound]

capswan

angel investor [outbound]

wintermute

pre-seed investor [inbound, wildcat]

euler

advisory contract, hold eul tokens

monad

angel investor [outbound]