# William Entriken

> William Entriken is a software architect and blockchain standards contributor known as the lead author of Ethereum’s ERC-721 non-fungible token standard.

- Canonical URL: https://iq.wiki/wiki/william-entriken
- Categories: People in crypto
- Tags: Advisor, Developer, Founder, Speaker
- Created: 2026-10-30T11:07:55.625Z
- Last updated: 2026-10-30T11:07:55.625Z
- Source: IQ.wiki — the world's largest blockchain and crypto encyclopedia (https://iq.wiki)

---

**William “Will” Entriken**, also known online as Fulldecent, is an American software architect and civic hacker best known as the lead author of [ERC-721](https://iq.wiki/wiki/erc-721), the [Ethereum](https://iq.wiki/wiki/ethereum) standard for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Developed in 2017 and published in 2018, the standard established a common way for [Ethereum](https://iq.wiki/wiki/ethereum) [smart contracts](https://iq.wiki/wiki/smart-contract) to represent and manage distinct digital assets.[[1]](#cite-id-ude2et3wvh)[[2]](#cite-id-nwi4sv4vrx)

## Early Life and Education

Entriken’s father, Bill, has said that William began learning and using computers at age three and supported his son’s public speaking and development work.[[3]](#cite-id-xa9fg4pka1)

Entriken earned a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering and mathematics from Villanova University in 2006. He later earned a master’s degree in finance and an MBA in investment management and international business from Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business.[[4]](#cite-id-wuv05neu7s)[[5]](#cite-id-l2fxr0gfar)

## Career

#### Early Technical and Financial Experience

William Entriken began his professional career as an engineering apprentice at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Philadelphia, where he worked from June 2002 to September 2004. His duties included programming and testing supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems using Ada and VMEbus. According to his professional profile, these systems were deployed on Ticonderoga-class warships. He also developed documentation tools for Ada code and updated ship systems to support maintenance and auditing, which served as a foundation for his later work with [blockchain](https://iq.wiki/wiki/blockchain).

In 2006, Entriken participated in Google Summer of Code as an independent contractor. He implemented session-state management features for the KDE graphical interface for Linux and established a mentoring and onboarding program for technical contributors.

From June to November 2007, he worked as an insurance sales assistant at Delaware Valley Financial Group LLC. He prepared an operating procedure manual intended to reduce legal exposure and handled general office administration.

Between April 2008 and June 2010, Entriken worked as a financial analyst at Discovery Semiconductors. He obtained and managed research contracts from DARPA, NIST, the U.S. Army, and NASA. Products resulting from this work were used in space missions, defense systems, and atomic-clock calibration. His technical responsibilities included designing a 10-gigabit-per-second Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET) system with commercial components and Cisco equipment, as well as working in an optical communications laboratory supporting Ethernet and SONET services.

From September 2010 to January 2013, Entriken was a senior financial analyst at Tata Consulting Engineers, formerly identified in his profile as CDI Corporation. He led the implementation of an IBM Cognos and Oracle enterprise resource planning system for planning and forecasting, coordinating the migration of 700 operating units from Excel. He also conducted valuation modeling, competitive analysis, and financial reporting, and supported two acquisitions and a corporate reorganization.

#### Business Management and Software Systems

Entriken became vice president and general manager of Pacific Medical Training in December 2012. The company provides certification courses in Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS), Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), and Basic Life Support (BLS). His profile states that the courses have been licensed under contracts with the U.S. Department of the Army and NASA.

He also assumed the role of vice president and general manager at Modern Training Solutions in December 2012. His responsibilities included managing the company's software-as-a-service learning platform, which reached peak revenue of $2 million after growing from $750,000 and recorded more than 180,000 lifetime enrollments. He secured more than $600,000 in statewide government contracts through the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and the Child Care and Development Block Grant program.

At Modern Training Solutions, Entriken developed a learning system integrating Moodle with an Eleventy web frontend. Its data infrastructure connected Moodle to Freshdesk, Slack, timesheets, and Google Sheets through webhooks and SQL. His profile reports course completion rates above 98% and learner satisfaction above 90%.

Beginning in 2020, he incorporated agentic artificial intelligence into routine staff operations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he led the transition to virtual skills testing and expanded the remote team from one member to more than 20. His work also involved Department of Defense SECRET clearances and the application of Section 508 and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines requirements.

In February 2014, Entriken established Phor Tech Growth Lab. Through the company, he has worked on artificial intelligence and blockchain products for clients including Airbus, EY, Microsoft, Arianee, and Merck. Projects have involved large language model (LLM) agents, peer-to-peer inference networks, and supply-chain tracking systems.

One of the products associated with his work is tbone.ai, a tool for creating customized LLM assistants and automated workflows through templates. He also advised Distributed Intelligence/Datamall on a peer-to-peer artificial intelligence inference and file-storage service. The project expanded to more than 4,000 compute nodes, including NVIDIA systems, Mac Minis, and custom Pico-ITX devices. Its technical infrastructure used libp2p networking, Docker orchestration, and Ethereum token economics. According to his profile, the service processed workloads for NetEase, Tencent, and Ant Financial.

His other projects have included LLM-agent systems connected to Moodle, Freshdesk, Slack, Google Sheets, and data-lake infrastructure. These systems were used in enterprise and government contracts with reported course completion rates above 98%. His responsibilities have also included product planning, technical reviews, operations, and enterprise and government adoption.

#### Blockchain Consulting and Enterprise Development

Entriken began advising Arianee, a company headquartered in Paris, in June 2018. His work has involved [blockchain](https://iq.wiki/wiki/blockchain) applications for luxury-product authentication and [real-world asset](https://iq.wiki/wiki/real-world-assets-rwas) tracking, including white-paper reviews, product architecture, and enterprise adoption. From 2020, he also supported Breitling's blockchain program for its watches.

From February to December 2019, Entriken worked as a global innovation contractor at EY. He contributed to EY Nightfall, a protocol for supply-chain tracking that used [zero-knowledge proofs](https://iq.wiki/wiki/zero-knowledge-proofs-zkps) to support private transactions on Ethereum. He also co-organized the Chain 76 industry workshop with EY and Merck Animal Health.

His work with industry organizations included liaising with the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering's GAMP Blockchain Special Interest Group and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on pharmaceutical serialization approval pathways and compliance with the Drug Supply Chain Security Act.

His consulting activities have included evaluating business plans and product feasibility, reviewing code and [smart contracts](https://iq.wiki/wiki/smart-contract), and advising on team structure, product planning, and customer onboarding. He has also conducted developer workshops in the United States and other countries, including sessions in English and Mandarin. According to his Phor Tech Growth Lab profile, workshops organized for TRON DAO's Hackatron included exercises in which participants without programming experience deployed a smart contract.

#### ERC-721 and ERC-165 Development

Entriken became involved in the development of [ERC-721](https://iq.wiki/wiki/erc-721) after identifying applications for [non-fungible tokens](https://iq.wiki/wiki/non-fungible-token-nft) (NFTs) beyond digital collectibles. [NFT.NYC](https://iq.wiki/wiki/nft-nyc) reported that he sought to help establish a common standard supporting uses such as product traceability and authenticity verification.

Dieter Shirley, then chief technology officer of [CryptoKitties](https://iq.wiki/wiki/cryptokitties), initiated the [ERC-721](https://iq.wiki/wiki/erc-721) effort. Entriken contributed to the process of organizing different approaches to on-chain asset ownership, consolidating proposals, and advancing the specification through the [Ethereum](https://iq.wiki/wiki/ethereum) Improvement Proposal process. Development took place in 2017, and the standard was published in 2018, with Entriken as lead author and Shirley among the co-authors.

​[ERC-721](https://iq.wiki/wiki/erc-721) defines an interface for [smart contracts](https://iq.wiki/wiki/smart-contract) that represent individually distinguishable tokens on [Ethereum](https://iq.wiki/wiki/ethereum) and manage their ownership and transfer. Entriken's website attributes the formalization of the term "[Non-Fungible Token](https://iq.wiki/wiki/non-fungible-token-nft)" in [blockchain](https://iq.wiki/wiki/blockchain) terminology to the specification. [NFT.NYC](https://iq.wiki/wiki/nft-nyc) describes ERC-721 as a standard for creating, transferring, and selling NFTs.

In 2018, Entriken also co-authored ERC-165, which enables [smart contracts](https://iq.wiki/wiki/smart-contract) to declare and detect the interfaces they implement. The standard supports interoperability between smart contracts and decentralized applications. RitoVision identifies ERC-165 as a technical component used by [ERC-721](https://iq.wiki/wiki/erc-721).

#### Su Squares and NFT Applications

Entriken and his wife, Su, created Su Squares, a digital canvas composed of individually owned squares that can display images, text, and links. The project drew inspiration from The Million Dollar Homepage and provided an application of [ERC-721](https://iq.wiki/wiki/erc-721) for [digital assets](https://iq.wiki/wiki/digital-assets) with separate ownership. Entriken's website describes Su Squares as the first successful test of ERC-721, while RitoVision characterizes it as the standard's first complete reference implementation.

​[CryptoKitties](https://iq.wiki/wiki/cryptokitties), a [blockchain](https://iq.wiki/wiki/blockchain) game featuring collectible characters with distinct traits, launched before Su Squares. The game generated millions of dollars in transactions and contributed to congestion on Ethereum as its popularity increased. Entriken's website distinguishes CryptoKitties' experimental implementation from a contract that complied technically with [ERC-721](https://iq.wiki/wiki/erc-721).

His website also discusses later [NFT](https://iq.wiki/wiki/non-fungible-token-nft) projects and transactions associated with the standard. These include Beeple's 2021 sale of Everydays: The First 5000 Days at Christie's for $69 million and the [Bored Ape Yacht Club](https://iq.wiki/wiki/bored-ape-yacht-club) (BAYC), launched in 2021. According to the website, BAYC generated more than $1 billion in sales in 2022 and offered holders access to private events and online channels. The same source states that Entriken owns Bored Ape #1294.

Entriken's website identifies Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and Oracle as companies that developed infrastructure supporting [ERC-721](https://iq.wiki/wiki/erc-721). It also lists OpenSea, Sorare, and [The Sandbox](https://iq.wiki/wiki/the-sandbox) among businesses using the standard. Other projects cited involve Warner Music Group, Adidas, Ubisoft, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, and the Premier League.

Citing [Chainalysis](https://iq.wiki/wiki/chainalysis), the website reports that users transferred at least $44.2 billion in cryptocurrency to [ERC-721](https://iq.wiki/wiki/erc-721) and [ERC-1155](https://iq.wiki/wiki/erc-1155) contracts in 2021. RitoVision discusses the standard's use in art, gaming, finance, and cultural projects, as well as its influence on subsequent blockchain proposals and academic publications.

#### Civic Technology and Cybersecurity

Entriken has identified himself as a civic hacker, referring to his use of technology and public information in community projects. One of his early projects involved SEPTA, the public transportation system serving the Philadelphia area. According to his website, he developed an independent train-schedule application that provided an alternative source of train information and operated for approximately a decade. RitoVision describes an associated real-time tracking algorithm designed in response to unreliable train schedules.

His civic activities have also included Freedom of Information Act requests and open-source software development. His website states that SEPTA and local media responded positively to his train-information project. RitoVision reports that the project received early media coverage, including from NBC.

His cybersecurity work includes penetration testing, secure-code reviews, and responsible vulnerability disclosure. RitoVision reports that he has identified and helped address software vulnerabilities, including zero-day vulnerabilities, and has worked on cybersecurity matters involving the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. His professional profile lists a U.S. Department of Defense security clearance.

According to his GitHub profile, Entriken writes and maintains open-source software used in hundreds of published Apple App Store applications and thousands of other software projects.

#### Public Speaking, Workshops, and Community Activities

Entriken has participated in [blockchain](https://iq.wiki/wiki/blockchain) conferences and developer workshops, including [NFT.NYC](https://iq.wiki/wiki/nft-nyc). He attended the event annually from its first edition in 2019 through 2022. At the June 2022 conference, he served as master of ceremonies for the Developer Track and demonstrated smart-contract creation. His activities at the event also included a beginner workshop in 2019, along with discussions, interviews, and community-service programming in later editions.

RitoVision describes him as a recurring honorary speaker at [NFT.NYC](https://iq.wiki/wiki/nft-nyc) and as a host and speaker at Chain 76, an event in Philadelphia focused on [blockchain](https://iq.wiki/wiki/blockchain) applications in the pharmaceutical sector. He has also led developer workshops in Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Slovenia, Argentina, and Estonia.

Entriken hosts Community Service Hour, a podcast and community broadcast featuring discussions, interviews, workshops, and advice on technology-related subjects. According to RitoVision, the program is distributed through platforms including Apple Podcasts and YouTube. Its format allows participants to ask questions, present projects, and review code.

He also wrote Nineteen Eighty-Five, a reinterpretation of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. RitoVision reports that Entriken used a Perl script to replace selected terms and concepts in Orwell's novel with references to contemporary political and social subjects, including hashtags, surveillance culture, and cancel culture.

On October 26, 2026, Entriken stated on X that he had access to a Pennsylvania mail-ballot voter list containing personal information. He also said that he had shared ballot-status reports organized by email domain. [\[1\]](#cite-id-ude2et3wvh)  [\[2\]](#cite-id-nwi4sv4vrx)  [\[3\]](#cite-id-xa9fg4pka1)  [\[4\]](#cite-id-wuv05neu7s)  [\[5\]](#cite-id-l2fxr0gfar)  [\[6\]](#cite-id-cngnzq7a2m)  [\[7\]](#cite-id-l7904vfd0v) 
## Interviews

#### NFTs and Blockchain Applications #01

On March 14, 2025, William Entriken participated in an episode of theCUBE + NYSE Wired: Crypto Trailblazers, published by SiliconANGLE theCUBE. The discussion covered [NFT](https://iq.wiki/wiki/non-fungible-token-nft) applications, [blockchain](https://iq.wiki/wiki/blockchain) infrastructure, financial services, and digital ownership. According to Entriken, NFTs are not limited to digital artwork and collectibles but can also represent information about physical assets. He referred to the use of blockchain for cattle age and origin verification, as well as the authentication of luxury goods, as examples of applications beyond digital art.

[YOUTUBE@VID](N1nq1a2Lreg)

Entriken discussed the role of [blockchain](https://iq.wiki/wiki/blockchain) composability, which enables applications and protocols to interact with one another. He contrasted the process of developing financial services through existing blockchain protocols with the requirements for integrating services into traditional payment networks. He also addressed the use of programmable money and verifiable digital payment records in commercial transactions and payroll. According to his account, implementing these systems involves regulatory requirements, including money transmission licensing and anti-money laundering compliance, as well as technical and usability considerations.

The interview also covered self-custody and the risks associated with application design. Entriken stated that self-custody tools require adequate funding and interface improvements to reduce user errors and prevent the loss of assets. He discussed regulatory exemptions for [NFTs](https://iq.wiki/wiki/non-fungible-token-nft) in the European Union and the United States, noting that these exemptions could allow some activities to operate outside existing regulatory frameworks. He also identified the [tokenization](https://iq.wiki/wiki/tokenization) of private company equity and other business assets as a potential area of development, linking its adoption to changes in investment regulations and the use of [blockchain](https://iq.wiki/wiki/blockchain) infrastructure for asset transactions. [\[8\]](#cite-id-F7nfLBEqPBAHNCBD) 

#### ERC-721 and NFT Applications #02

In an interview published on January 17, 2022, on Constantin Kogan’s YouTube channel, William Entriken, lead author of the [ERC-721](https://iq.wiki/wiki/erc-721) standard and creator of Su Squares, discussed [NFT](https://iq.wiki/wiki/non-fungible-token-nft) standards, implementation challenges, and potential applications.

[YOUTUBE@VID](TH-cNKeUbf0)

Entriken explained that his involvement in NFTs began after he observed the popularity of [CryptoKitties](https://iq.wiki/wiki/cryptokitties) in 2017. He described [ERC-721](https://iq.wiki/wiki/erc-721) as an effort to consolidate competing technical proposals into a common standard, allowing [NFT](https://iq.wiki/wiki/non-fungible-token-nft) projects to operate across compatible platforms. He compared ERC-721 with [ERC-1155](https://iq.wiki/wiki/erc-1155), recommending the former for unique assets whose individual identities and histories matter, while describing the latter as suitable for interchangeable and consumable items, particularly in games.

The interview addressed technical and operational obstacles to NFT adoption, including [Ethereum](https://iq.wiki/wiki/ethereum) [transaction fees,](https://iq.wiki/wiki/transaction-fee) wallet usability, and the complexity of acquiring and managing [digital assets](https://iq.wiki/wiki/digital-assets). Entriken argued that applications intended for users unfamiliar with cryptocurrency would require simpler interfaces, accessible payment methods, and customer support. He also discussed cross-chain transfers, noting differences in [blockchain](https://iq.wiki/wiki/blockchain) security and the risks associated with third-party services used to move assets between networks.

Regarding future applications, Entriken discussed the use of [NFTs](https://iq.wiki/wiki/non-fungible-token-nft) in fashion, music, advertising, and supply chain processes. He cited advertising and the verification of product authenticity as examples of applications that do not necessarily depend on speculative trading. He also suggested that adoption would increasingly involve audiences outside the [cryptocurrency](https://iq.wiki/wiki/cryptocurrency) sector, while the expansion of media coverage would face practical limits.

The conversation also covered Su Squares, an [NFT](https://iq.wiki/wiki/non-fungible-token-nft) project that Entriken developed to demonstrate the implementation and scalability of [ERC-721](https://iq.wiki/wiki/erc-721). The project allows users to acquire individual pixels within a digital grid and was created partly to provide a working example of the standard. Entriken discussed the project's source code and its commitment to maintaining the associated website. He also explained his approach to classifying revenue from Su Squares, stating that he regarded the sale of advertising space as business revenue rather than investment income. [\[9\]](#cite-id-U0bPVThth9kziMKz)