Kieren James-Lubin

Kieren James-Lubin is an American entrepreneur and software developer who founded BlockApps, an enterprise blockchain company, and contributed to Ethereum’s development before its launch. At BlockApps, he helped develop the company’s STRATO platform and served as its president and chief executive officer (CEO).^[1]​^[2]​

Early Life and Education

James-Lubin studied mathematics at Princeton University from 2007 to 2011, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree. While at Princeton, he wrote a senior thesis and worked for one of his professors for a year after graduation. He then pursued a Ph.D. in theoretical and mathematical physics at the University of California, Berkeley, from 2012 to 2015.^[3]​^[1]​

From September 2011 to June 2012, he worked as a scientific programmer at Princeton’s Lewis-Sigler Institute. Before entering graduate school, he had also worked in web and mobile startups, experience he later drew on while developing software for Ethereum.^[1]​^[2]​

Career

Ethereum

James-Lubin joined Ethereum’s early development in 2014. In January of that year, his father, Joe Lubin, sent him articles about the project from Miami during the Bitcoin conference at which Vitalik Buterin first publicly announced Ethereum. James-Lubin decided to join the project on March 22, 2014, and spoke with Buterin two days later.^[2] That summer, James-Lubin traveled with his father to Zug, Switzerland, where he witnessed a leadership dispute later called the “Red Wedding.” He recalled that the conflict involved internal political maneuvering and serious legal issues; during it, Buterin decided to remove Charles Hoskinson and Amir Chetrit from leadership positions.^[2]​

Beginning in September 2014, James-Lubin worked with Jim Hormuzdiar on a Haskell-language Ethereum client. James-Lubin brought experience from web and mobile startups and advocated for a REST API—an interface that would let developers build applications using Ethereum. He recalled that some developers in the cypherpunk-oriented community were wary of server-based approaches, and that the proposal met with suspicion.^[2]​

BlockApps

James-Lubin is the founder and CEO of BlockApps which developed STRATO, an Ethereum-based enterprise blockchain platform. Before moving full time to the business side, James-Lubin architected and implemented major parts of the product, including its RESTful API, authorization framework, peer-to-peer networking code, Node.js client, and third-party integrations. His responsibilities also included maintaining and growing the company’s business.^[3]​^[1]​