Ryan X. Charles

Alamere Falls

Ryan X. Charles at Alamere Falls, California, 2020

Brief Bio

Astrophysicist, engineer, product designer, entrepreneur, and poet. Enthusiastic about the Andromeda galaxy, artificial intelligence, web 4.0, product design, and coffee.

Interests

Software engineering. The web, node.js, TypeScript, distributed systems, cryptography, Python, high performance computing, VS Code, GitHub Copilot, iTerm 2, Kagi, Microsoft Edge, Macbook Pro, Apple Pro Display XDR, Spotify.
Product design. User experience is key. Photoshop, Midjourney, pacing, beardstroking.
Physics research. Quantum mechanics, general relativity, probability theory, information theory, statistical mechanics, artificial intelligence, and old school pencil and paper computer technology.

Work Experience

Founder & CEO of Astrohacker. 2022 - today. A social network for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Founder & CEO of HeartMail. 2022. "Email 2.0" based on Bitcoin. Node.js, Amazon Keyspaces, SPV, Wolf Pup, and Brazil.
Founder & CEO of Coasian. 2021 - 2022. A series of research projects pertaining to Bitcoin. Ronald Coase, meditation, and skiing. Folded into HeartMail.
Founder & CEO of Money Button. 2018 - 2021. Bitcoin Wallet-as-a-Service (WaaS) and consumer payment system. Node.js, PostgreSQL, AWS, Argentina, and the UK. Built a team, launched products, and ultimately sold the company. Acquired by The Bayesian Group in 2020.
Founder & CEO of Yours. 2015 - 2018. A social network with Bitcoin micropayments for content. Node.js, PostgreSQL, AWS, and Germany. Invented technologies, built a product, raised money, hired a team, and pivoted to Money Button. Acquired by The Bayesian Group in 2020.
Software Engineer at BitGo. 2015. Bitcoin WaaS company. Palo Alto is always slightly warmer than San Francisco.
Cryptocurrency Engineer at reddit. 2014 - 2015. Early experiments in cryptocurrency at a large social network. Yishan, Ellen Pao, Alexis Ohanian, Sam Altman, and HRD Coffee Shop (RIP).
Software Engineer at BitPay. 2013 - 2014. A Bitcoin payment company. Open source Bitcoin tools, chicken, and waffles. Not much salt, not many road plows.
Research Assistant at Wash U. 2007 - 2013. Researched experimental high energy astrophysics. Dark matter, cosmology, and observations at VERITAS, Whipple Observatory, Southern Arizona. Python, C, C++, and heterogenous computing architectures.
Freelance web developer. 2000 - 2005. PHP, HTML/CSS, MySQL, and Photoshop. Copy+pasted javascript code.

Educational background

PhD Candidate in Physics at Washington University in St. Louis. 2007 - 2013. I finished all the qualifications for a PhD except writing and defending my thesis, meaning I am all-but-dissertation (ABD) at Wash U. I'm still writing it and plan to finish it soon. Ultimate frisbee, weight lifting, paleo, Linux, telescopes.
BS in Physics and BS in Mathematics at University of Missouri-Columbia. 2002 - 2007. Double major in physics and mathematics at Mizzou. Jimmy Johns, hoodies, Stankowski, and dual CRTs.

Life history

Born in St. Charles, MO, USA in 1984. Grew up in the ~ 250 mile radius around St. Louis, MO, mostly in West County. Lived in Missouri, Illinois, Georgia, California and Texas. Traveled to 15 countries. Lives in New Braunfels, TX in the Austin / San Antonio corridor of the Texas Triangle.

#NBTX