# David Rugendyke

> David Rugendyke is the CTO and Founder of Rocket Pool, a Senior Ethereum Solidity Developer, and an alumnus of Southern Cross University.

- Canonical URL: https://iq.wiki/wiki/david-rugendyke
- Categories: People in crypto
- Tags: Developer, Founder
- Created: 2023-05-22T13:53:26.698Z
- Last updated: 2023-06-01T01:29:12.782Z
- Source: IQ.wiki — the world's largest blockchain and crypto encyclopedia (https://iq.wiki)

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**David Rugendyke** is the CTO and Founder of [Rocket Pool](https://iq.wiki/wiki/rocket-pool), a decentralized [Ethereum](https://iq.wiki/wiki/ethereum) [staking](https://iq.wiki/wiki/staking) platform. He is also a Senior [Ethereum](https://iq.wiki/wiki/ethereum) Solidity Developer. [\[1\]](#cite-id-gm4o9gpjs1w)  
  
  
# Education  
  
David Rugendyke attended Southern Cross University in 1998 and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science in 2001. [\[1\]](#cite-id-gm4o9gpjs1w)  
  
# Career  
  
David Rugendyke began his career in 2006 as a Senior Programmer at **Clemenger BBDO** Brisbane until 2011. In 2013 he became a Senior Digital Developer at George Patterson Y&R until 2017. [\[1\]](#cite-id-gm4o9gpjs1w)  
  
## Rocket Pool  
  
David Rugendyke founded [Rocket Pool](https://iq.wiki/wiki/rocket-pool) in 2017 where he serves as the CTO of the company. Rocket Pool is a decentralized [Ethereum](https://iq.wiki/wiki/ethereum) [staking](https://iq.wiki/wiki/staking) platform. It offers two methods of staking Ethereum staking and running a node which requires a minimum of 16 [ETH](https://iq.wiki/wiki/ether-eth) half the amount needed to run a node or just staking which requires a minimum of only 0.01 ETH. [\[3\]](#cite-id-5acc9ynr8f)  
  
Rocket Pool's [smart contracts](https://iq.wiki/wiki/smart-contract) have been audited by Sigma Prime, Consensys Diligence, Trail of Bits, and Immunefi Bug Bounty.  
  
> "The problem [Rocket Pool](https://iq.wiki/wiki/rocket-pool) is trying to solve is the barrier to entry for [staking](https://iq.wiki/wiki/staking) in ethereum and  
> also the ability to stake without running a node with the [rETH](https://iq.wiki/wiki/reth) token"[\[2\]](#cite-id-dtrh6io095)  
  
On November 9, 2022, Rocket Pool celebrated its first [mainnet](https://iq.wiki/wiki/mainnet) birthday and made a recap of the highlights made during the previous year. Some of these include the development of the [rETH](https://iq.wiki/wiki/reth) token of the protocol, Node operators, a [TVL](https://iq.wiki/wiki/tvl) (total value locked) of 300,000 [ETH](https://iq.wiki/wiki/ether-eth) staked and 7,600,000 [RPL](https://iq.wiki/wiki/rpl) staked, etc. [\[4\]](#cite-id-ymc2h6kkl3s)  
  
> "It’s been a journey and one that we’re extremely proud to have undertaken alongside our great community and all others who’ve helped decentralised staking become a real option against a multitude of centralised choices." - David Rugendyke [\[4\]](#cite-id-ymc2h6kkl3s)  
  
On March 3, 2023, Rocket Pool announced the protocol’s next major upgrade, **Atlas.** Atlas is Rocket Pool’s second major upgrade since launching to [mainnet](https://iq.wiki/wiki/mainnet). The significant upgrade makes the protocol compatible with [Ethereum’s](https://iq.wiki/wiki/ethereum) Shanghai upgrade which will permit validators to initiate withdrawals of their staked [ETH](https://iq.wiki/wiki/ether-eth) on the Beacon Chain. It also introduces improvements ranging from simple gas optimizations to major architecture changes aimed at scaling [Rocket Pool](https://iq.wiki/wiki/rocket-pool). [\[5\]](#cite-id-awk10hct6j7)