Early Life, Education & First Steps

I was born in the USSR and spent my early years in a small village a few kilometres from today's border between Ukraine and Russia. In the 1980's, while my parents studied engineering in Lugansk, my twin brother and I lived with our grandparents—years that sparked a lasting fascination with the spiritual: ancient wisdom, the unexplained, the mysterious.

My family was highly technical. I was introduced early to computers and computer architecture, and I developed strong mathematical skills years before I started school. After the collapse of the USSR, my parents emigrated to Spain, where I attended a German school. I later studied finance in Madrid and joined Deutsche Bank S.A.E. in roles spanning trade finance, trading, and B2B/B2C account management. In 2008—at the onset of the financial crisis—I declined a branch manager offer to pursue a career in technology.

Pivot to Technology

Alongside finance, I returned to my core passion—software. I built trading bots and signal systems (some performed well for a time), then branched out. An online-gaming bot sold at volume, and an Android music search/scraping app briefly reached the top-3 charts with 3M+ users, generating revenue that funded my move into IT consulting.

Computer Science

I earned my first Computer Science degree while still in college (pre-university). Later, while living in Mainz, I completed a second Computer Science degree at TU Darmstadt. Around that time I delivered full-time projects for prominent companies—first on Android and then Samsung's Bada devices. Together with my brother, we launched the largest independent Bada developer community, won Samsung's Developer Challenge, and attracted further work.

After Darmstadt, I stepped away from institutional education. I lost faith in credential-chasing and chose to learn at my own pace, building the things I needed without “backing” them with paper. My work should speak for itself. I became a generalist and dove into a wide range of technologies—from mobile and full-stack cloud to distributed systems.

Consulting & Leadership

Over the next 15+ years I worked across startups and blue-chips, evolving from individual contributor to leadership roles—Lead Developer, Head of Engineering, and CTO—while also launching my own ventures.

DLT Leadership

In my initial years in DLT (2016–2017), I was deeply involved with IOTA, gaining a prominent status as an independent developer. My work on a Go (Golang) node—at one point sustaining ~80% of the IOTA network—later inspired the official node implementation. As the broader DLT space turned chaotic, I welcomed the EU's MiCA framework and contributed as an industry-side independent consultant. I then served as CTO on two projects I'm proud of:

1. Clinq.Gold

I designed a multi-issuer, gold-backed digital currency for African markets—interoperable by design, with robust checks and balances, suitable for a currency union without a central bank. During this work, the team behind “Unit”—pitched publicly as a backbone for a future BRICS digital currency—approached us to acquire our technology. We also held ministerial-level discussions with multiple African governments; momentum was real, but governance complexity and funding gaps made progress challenging. The technology and know-how later helped Clinq secure a Bolivian government contract to design a gold-backed currency to accompany their planned CBDC.

2. Schuman Financial

In 2024 I joined Schuman Financial as CTO to launch the first MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin. It was a world-class team. Market signals—intense competition and limited euro-stablecoin demand—showed the product needed a sharper niche. Though I moved on, the work deepened my understanding of system-level digital finance, banking-rail integrations, and cross-border payments.

AI research

My trading and gaming bots were early baby steps in applied AI—long before PyTorch or TensorFlow. In the 2010s, I built AI-powered market-research tools and book-recommendation engines for several companies. Most recently, I've designed arbitrage bots for v2 and v3 DEX pools.

Today, I'm reorienting fully toward AI—with a focus on Transformers (the tech behind LLMs), RAG systems, and autonomous/assisted agents.

My startups

I've launched several startups; most failed—in different ways—and I learned from all of them. One social-network venture exited profitably. Another, a DLT/GameFi startup funded by Binance Labs (investment + program), ultimately failed amid the FTX shock; we hadn't planned enough runway for market-level stress.

My most successful venture remains the IT consultancy I co-founded with my twin brother. Over a decade we earned loyal clients across Web2/Web3, and we're now pivoting the business fully into AI.

Mind and Motion

I have practiced yoga for over 15 years. Initially, it was a way to balance my running (I'm ranked in the top 3% of my age group), but it gradually developed into a comprehensive personal practice.

Over time, I complemented yoga with breathwork and cold training. As a certified Wim Hof instructor, I participated in various expeditions, including climbing mountains in just my shorts in -25°C wind chill. These experiences demonstrated just how much the mind and body are capable of when supported by the right mindset and practice.

Early on, I recognized the importance of tending to one's “inner garden.” Maintaining inner balance—the “wa”—and being mindful of what you let in and out is crucial. Meditation and journaling were invaluable, as was studying philosophy, symbolism, and Jungian psychology. Through this, I moved away from the news, social media, and most contemporary entertainment, choosing instead timeless classics and information that aligned with my values, all of which fit naturally into my reality.

The Creative Process

I believe that all innovative ideas, insights, and true art originate from the unconscious. My role is simply to remain open and attuned, trusting that ideas will come when the time is right. In this way, creativity—whether in art or innovation—means being able to “tune in” and listen.

This requires an empty, receptive mind and a strong connection with the unconscious, which is what makes humans unique and irreplaceable by AI.

My creative expression includes coding experiments, drawing, photography, gardening, and making music—anything that maintains that connection and keeps my creative energy flowing!