Amir Taaki | |
---|---|
![]() Taaki in
Bratislava, 2012 | |
Born | |
Nationality | British |
Occupation | Programmer |
Military career | |
Allegiance | Rojava |
Service/ | YPG |
Years of service | 2015 |
Battles/wars | Syrian Civil War |
Amir Taaki ( Persian: امیر تاکی; born 6 February 1988) is a British-Iranian anarchist revolutionary, hacktivist, and programmer who is known for his leading role in the Bitcoin project, and for pioneering many open source projects. [1] [2] Forbes listed Taaki in their 30 Under 30 listing of 2014. [3] [4] Driven by the political philosophy of the Rojava revolution, Taaki traveled to Syria, served in the YPG military, and worked in Rojava's civil society on various economic projects for a year and a half. [5]
Amir Taaki was born 6 February 1988 [6] in London, the eldest of three children of a Scottish-English [7] mother and an Iranian father who is a property developer. Taaki grew up in nearby Kent. [8] From an early age Taaki took an interest in computer technology, teaching himself computer programming. [9]
After briefly attending two British universities, [7] Taaki gravitated to the free software movement. Taaki assisted in the creation of SDL Collide, an extension of Simple DirectMedia Layer, an open source library used by video game developers. [10]
In 2009 and 2010, Taaki made his living as a professional poker player. [9] His experience with online gambling attracted him to the Bitcoin project. [11] At one point, he was listed among Bitcoin's main developers. [12] He founded the first UK Bitcoin exchange, "Britcoin", which was succeeded in 2011 by a new British exchange called Intersango, in which he was a principal developer. [13] [8] Intersango has since closed. [14]
In 2012, Taaki organized the first Bitcoin conference in London. [15]
In 2014, together with Cody Wilson, he launched the Dark Wallet project after a crowdfunding run on IndieGoGo which raised over $50,000. [16] [17] [18] Taaki, along with other developers from Airbitz, a Bitcoin software company, created a prototype for a decentralised marketplace called "DarkMarket" in 2014, at a hackathon in Toronto, which was forked into the OpenBazaar project. [19]
As of 2013, he resided in an anarchist squat in the former anti- G8 HQ building in London, England. [20] [21]
In 2015, Taaki went to Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan) to offer his skills to the revolution and served the YPG military. [22] He had no training but spent three and a half months in the YPG military fighting on the front. He was then discharged and worked in the civil society for over a year on various projects for Rojava's economics committee.
In February 2018, Taaki created a group in Catalonia dedicated to leveraging blockchain technology to help national liberation causes such as the Catalan independence movement. [23]
In 2023, Politico reported that Taaki was working on an anarchist project called DarkFi that aimed to allow people to form organizations that collectively raise and distribute money in complete secrecy. [24]
{{
cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)
Amir Taaki | |
---|---|
![]() Taaki in
Bratislava, 2012 | |
Born | |
Nationality | British |
Occupation | Programmer |
Military career | |
Allegiance | Rojava |
Service/ | YPG |
Years of service | 2015 |
Battles/wars | Syrian Civil War |
Amir Taaki ( Persian: امیر تاکی; born 6 February 1988) is a British-Iranian anarchist revolutionary, hacktivist, and programmer who is known for his leading role in the Bitcoin project, and for pioneering many open source projects. [1] [2] Forbes listed Taaki in their 30 Under 30 listing of 2014. [3] [4] Driven by the political philosophy of the Rojava revolution, Taaki traveled to Syria, served in the YPG military, and worked in Rojava's civil society on various economic projects for a year and a half. [5]
Amir Taaki was born 6 February 1988 [6] in London, the eldest of three children of a Scottish-English [7] mother and an Iranian father who is a property developer. Taaki grew up in nearby Kent. [8] From an early age Taaki took an interest in computer technology, teaching himself computer programming. [9]
After briefly attending two British universities, [7] Taaki gravitated to the free software movement. Taaki assisted in the creation of SDL Collide, an extension of Simple DirectMedia Layer, an open source library used by video game developers. [10]
In 2009 and 2010, Taaki made his living as a professional poker player. [9] His experience with online gambling attracted him to the Bitcoin project. [11] At one point, he was listed among Bitcoin's main developers. [12] He founded the first UK Bitcoin exchange, "Britcoin", which was succeeded in 2011 by a new British exchange called Intersango, in which he was a principal developer. [13] [8] Intersango has since closed. [14]
In 2012, Taaki organized the first Bitcoin conference in London. [15]
In 2014, together with Cody Wilson, he launched the Dark Wallet project after a crowdfunding run on IndieGoGo which raised over $50,000. [16] [17] [18] Taaki, along with other developers from Airbitz, a Bitcoin software company, created a prototype for a decentralised marketplace called "DarkMarket" in 2014, at a hackathon in Toronto, which was forked into the OpenBazaar project. [19]
As of 2013, he resided in an anarchist squat in the former anti- G8 HQ building in London, England. [20] [21]
In 2015, Taaki went to Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan) to offer his skills to the revolution and served the YPG military. [22] He had no training but spent three and a half months in the YPG military fighting on the front. He was then discharged and worked in the civil society for over a year on various projects for Rojava's economics committee.
In February 2018, Taaki created a group in Catalonia dedicated to leveraging blockchain technology to help national liberation causes such as the Catalan independence movement. [23]
In 2023, Politico reported that Taaki was working on an anarchist project called DarkFi that aimed to allow people to form organizations that collectively raise and distribute money in complete secrecy. [24]
{{
cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)