The story of Stu’s transition into the world of Bitcoin is a compelling one, reflecting both personal growth and professional evolution. Initially, Stu’s career was firmly rooted in the world of tech, specifically as a Windows System Administrator and IT support specialist. His days were filled with routine tasks like system maintenance and password resets, leaving little room for engaging challenges. More often than not, he found himself yearning for meaningful puzzles to solve but spent most of his downtime browsing Reddit, waiting for something to break the monotony.
Fate took an interesting turn around 2017, when Stu stumbled upon Bitcoin during his Reddit explorations. Like many at the time, he was swept up by the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) and altcoin mania, experiencing both the thrill of potential gain and the sting of financial losses from risky investments in obscure projects. Yet, despite these setbacks, Bitcoin’s deep magnetism drew him in further.
By 2021, with a much deeper understanding of Bitcoin, Stu decided to leap into the industry as the cryptocurrency market surged. Recognizing the growing significance of the Rust programming language in numerous Bitcoin projects, he dedicated himself to mastering it, which eventually paved his way to contributing to the Bitcoin ecosystem.
His efforts bore fruit towards the end of 2022 when he joined ZBD, thanks to an opportunity provided by Michael Tildwell. ZBD, known for integrating bitcoin payments into video games via the Lightning Network, benefited from Stu’s expertise in DevOps. Alongside his main role, he pursued personal projects using Rust, crafting games that incorporated bitcoin, such as rain.run—a multiplayer web game where players collect lightning bolts for rewards in satoshis.
Moreover, Stu developed a simple connect4 game utilizing the Nostr protocol, which offered him a hands-on opportunity to understand its workings better. His quest for knowledge took him to btc++ in Austin in 2024, a conference dense with discussions about Bitcoin script improvements and covenants—a subject Stu found increasingly fascinating.
At TABConf 2024 in Atlanta, a hub for developers, Stu was drawn into debates dominated by covenants. Participating in a hackathon, he employed Discreet Log Contracts (DLCs) to build a project allowing users to bet on chess matches, confronting the complexities of pre-signing numerous transactions. This exploration led him to CHECKTEMPLATEVERIFY (CTV), which simplified his work significantly. Eager to explore its potential further, he constructed a proof-of-concept Payment Pool using CTV, advocating for it as a scalable, non-centralized solution for bitcoin transactions, complementing layer 2 systems like Lightning or Ark.
Covenants continue to be a hot topic within Bitcoin’s developmental conversations, with diverse opinions from different developers. Stu is enthusiastic about using covenants to replace pre-signed transactions, citing reduced friction and improved user experience as compelling advantages. He found CTV particularly attractive due to its simplicity, which dramatically streamlined the functionality he sought to implement.
Stu believes there’s a strong consensus among protocol developers regarding the safety of CTV’s implementation. The debate now seems to center around user demand, but with many applications already benefiting from CTV, he argues it should be prioritized for the next soft fork. Reflecting on the contentious nature of Bitcoin developments, he suggests increasing face-to-face interactions could alleviate the political bottlenecks hindering technical progress.
Looking ahead, Stu recently engaged with Chaincode Labs’ Bitcoin Open Source Software (BOSS) program—an initiative designed to fast-track developers’ immersion in Bitcoin technology. He plans to contribute to the Char Network, a budding bitcoin staking platform led by Jeremy Rubin, the creator of CTV. Stu is committed to his side projects and aims to leave a mark on Bitcoin Core itself.
For Stu, the future of Bitcoin hinges on improving self-custody solutions, emphasizing the need to simplify the process beyond merely memorizing 12-word backups. Addressing this fundamental challenge, he believes, will pave the way for broader adoption and more robust security.
