Evan Duffield is an American software developer, and the founder of X11 mining algorithm and Dash, a cryptocurrency focused on making instant transactions and with support for anonymous transactions.^[7]

In 2017, Evan became the former CEO of the Dash Core Project. He was succeeded by Ryan Taylor who was formerly the Director of Finance.

Early Years and Career

Evan Duffield was born in 1980 and grew up in a town in Arizona. By the age of 15, he began exploring computer programming. In interviews with media outlets, Evan mentioned that this was the period he started getting involved in the digital world. He found coding engaging and began receiving job offers in high school. This influenced his decision to pursue a career in the tech industry.^[1]

By 20, Evan was working in the tech sector, contributing to various firms such as Warped AI, iAcquire, Wells Fargo, and Verizon Wireless, mainly as a software developer. In 2014, he was part of the team that established the Hawk Financial Group, taking on the role of lead Software Developer.^[12]

In addition, Duffield had a deep interest in analyzing data streams. He would set up large-scale computers to help in analyzing such immense amounts of data. He also came in machine learning, developing algorithms capable of performing complex data analysis tasks. His work with complex AI protocols opened up new opportunities for him by the mid to late 2000s. He got the opportunity to work for many firms that provided social media services. His major area of specialization in these firms was technology improvement. He developed protocols that enabled these companies to manage large data sets, aiming to enhance their social media service offerings.^[2]

Series 65 Certification

In 2010, Evan began to develop a significant interest in the world of finance. In order to pursue this new-found interest, he studied to complete his series 65 certification, to become a licensed investment advisor, a role that came in handy in his later life. It was while studying for the exam that he came across Bitcoin.^[3]

When Evan first came across Bitcoin, it didn’t immediately interest him. In an interview with CoinGecko, in September 2015, Evan admitted to having initially ignored it. It wasn’t until a few months later that he came across it again, where his interest in web3 was much higher.

Crypto Career

Evan read the Bitcoin whitepaper written by Satoshi Nakamoto. This inspired him to conduct in-depth research into the technology. His background in computer programming for many years enabled him to deeply understand the foundational premises of Bitcoin.

Then, I went to read the white paper, started doing some research and I thought "Wow this is earth shattering." ^[10]

Then, Evan put his money into Bitcoin and got involved with blockchain technology.

By 2013, Evan had begun to follow Andreas Antonopoulos and a few other prominent Bitcoin figures on the online forum 'Let’s Talk Bitcoin'. Evan describes that period as being the days when the Bitcoin discourse was all about core network issues. One of the main issues that was being regularly discussed was the network stability and currency fungibility trade-off.

XCoin

Evan was particularly interested in this issue of network stability and currency fungibility trade-off, as it had been a cause for concern for him as far as the Bitcoin blockchain was concerned. With his background in coding and finance, he perhaps had a great knowledge of those two concepts. After months of waiting for a workable solution to the fungibility issue, he decided to act. From the onset, he assumed the Bitcoin community wouldn’t take to his proposed solution so he straightaway set out to develop his own altcoin.

On January 18, 2014, Evan launched XCoin with the currency designation 'XCO'. Its X11 algorithm and the ability to make anonymous transactions surpass Bitcoin's pseudo-anonymity ability.^[4]

Obstacles

In a matter of days after the launch of XCoin, just under 2 million coins had been mined. This had the potential to become a serious issue for the cryptocurrency as this number amounted to about 10% of the cryptocurrency’s total supply cap. The problem came about as a result of an issue with the Litecoin source code from which XCoin was forked.

The problem was later resolved and the project was able to shake off that initial glitch by using the presence of the X11 algorithm. This method uses chaining of hashing algorithms to provide greater security to the cryptocurrency mining process. The process after this is simple, X11 uses 11 different hashing algorithms so that the end result is as safe and efficient as possible. If any flaw is discovered in an algorithm in the chain, this does not affect the final result, as there will be other algorithms that will correct this vulnerability. With this algorithm, Evan sought to maximize security and prevent the ASIC(Application-Specific Integrated Circuits), so they could mine X11 with ease. ^[8]

Less than a week after the launch of XCoin, the cryptocurrency's name was changed to Darkcoin. This new name created a bit of an unwanted reputation for the project as an enabler of illicit transactions on the dark web. This situation wasn't improved by the fact that Darkcoin prioritized privacy and anonymity, with its transactions being untraceable. Wired UK even once referred to Darkcoin as 'Bitcoin's nefarious cousin.^[5]

Dash

In March 2015, the name of Darkcoin was once again changed to Dash, a combination of 'digital' and 'cash'. The objective of the project is to replace cash with digital cash. Dash was regarded as being the first successful Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) based on the budgeting framework and the way the cryptocurrency is governed.

After the success of Dash, two more pillars of the Dash DAO were launched - Dash Force and Dash Labs. Dash force is responsible for all the community management activities of the Dash DAO. Dash Labs aims to promote the creation of open-source projects so as to prevent the centralization of blockchain technology development.

Duffield regularly appears in Interviews as well as crypto talk forums, conferences, seminars, and webinars where he explains the core Dash protocols.^[6][13]

Evan Quits as Dash CEO

With the success of his project, Evan left his CEO position at Dash Core in 2017 and focused on Dash Labs, where he has maintained a less public profile. From there he runs free software projects in order to maintain Dash's decentralization at all times.^[9]

He said that he would instead be focusing on a new branch of the organization called Dash Labs, which uses open-source hardware in order to find a long-term solution for the scaling of the network.

Evan said,

I myself will be heading up the new office in Hong Kong, called Dash Labs. We will immediately begin building proof-of-concepts of custom masternode hardware. Our existing offices in Arizona will be used for academic research. This research will be aimed at proving our ideas work and proactively searching for any problems before they crop up. Dash Labs aims to create the first open-source versions of many different types of hardware. Our goal is to help the digital currency space to remain open and transparent, while reducing the economic advantages of closed-source proprietary technology.^[11][14]