Darren Kellenschwiler’s long BSV history runs from the tumultuous days of the BCH-BSV split to his current role as a technical lead at the BSV Blockchain Association.
On this week’s CoinGeek Conversations, Darren takes a trip down memory lane with Charles Miller, recalling the end of 2018 when he hosted Bitcoin meet-ups in London. It was during this period that the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Bitcoin SV (BSV) split occurred, resulting in heated debates and ideological divisions within the community. Darren recalled the atmosphere, when "everything was a little tumultuous, and people were taking different ideological stances. There were very strong arguments - over a beer! That's the sort of atmosphere at that time. It was the hash wars era."
Darren was on the Bitcoin SV side of the divide, firmly believing in Dr Craig Wright as the inventor of Bitcoin. As he explained, "I had made my mind up years before that this chap, Dr Wright is the inventor of Bitcoin. So I didn't really waste my time with the crowd that were somehow rebelling against him."
As Bitcoin SV emerged, Darren took “a leap of faith” despite the ongoing debates about Dr Craig Wright. As he says, “there wasn't a lot of public detail with respect to the evidence for Dr Craig Wright having invented Bitcoin." This period also marked the birth of the "Bitcoin protocol is set in stone" campaign.
One of Darren's notable contributions to the BSV community was Baemail, an email application integrated with micropayments. He explained his motivation behind it: "I don't like spam. I hate reading emails that are not relevant to me. So I thought, attach some value to it. We'll create ‘inbox economics’, where the highest in the inbox is the person who paid you the most for you to read it." While Baemail gained quick adoption within the BSV community, it faced challenges in achieving widespread usage due to limitations in BSV wallet adoption.
Darren's journey continued when he met Brendan Lee from ELAS Digital at a conference in London. Brendan bought Baemail and hired Darren, making him a co-founder of the company. Together, they delved into building Metanet applications and experimenting with hosting entire websites on the Metanet, a concept that was both groundbreaking and esoteric at the time.
Today, Darren serves as the technical lead of the utilization value stream at the BSV Blockchain Association. He described his role as multifaceted, involving contributions to various aspects of the BSV ecosystem. He also emphasized the Association's responsibility to ensure that the user experience and businesses built on BSV remain intact and thrive.
Darren also highlighted his passion for tackling complex challenges and his role in documenting, analyzing, and improving wallet architectures within the BSV ecosystem. He mentioned the importance of effective communication and collaboration with developers, including discussions with Dr Craig Wright, to advance the ecosystem's growth and development.
Darren Kellenschwiler's journey in the Bitcoin SV ecosystem exemplifies the resilience and dedication of individuals committed to the vision of a stable, scalable, and innovative blockchain. As Bitcoin SV continues to evolve, Darren and others like him play a pivotal role in shaping its future.