Matt Brassey
Engineering Manager, Staking — Blockchain Infrastructure Architect
Commanding 50+ validators across 25+ protocols with $500M+ staked AUM. Building the decentralized future from bare-metal to smart contracts.
Engineering Manager of Staking at Blueprint, a Hivemind Capital venture. I operate high-performance validator fleets across Solana, Ethereum, Avalanche, Algorand, Audius, Canton, Tezos, Polkadot, XDC, and NEAR — plus Rocket Pool and Lido CSM on the Ethereum side — 50+ nodes with $500M+ staked AUM on hybrid bare-metal and cloud infrastructure I built from the ground up. I designed a unified blockchain gateway aggregating live and historical data across 25+ protocols through a custom OpenAPI specification, and built the deploy, upgrade, and identity primitives that power AI-driven validator operations.
Infrastructure Command
Real-time validator and node operations across multiple blockchain networks. Deploying, monitoring, upgrading & maintaining high-performance mainnet validators and data RPC nodes.
Solana Jito Validator
High-performance bare-metal validator on the DoubleZero network, running a Jito BAM configuration with zero-downtime upgrades. Receiving stake delegations from Jito, DoubleZero, JPool, Marinade, The Vault, and the Solana Foundation.
Ethereum Max Whale Validator
Enterprise-grade beacon chain validator at the 2048 ETH maximum effective balance (EIP-7251) with MEV boost.
Avalanche Validators
Fleet of 8 Avalanche validators under infrastructure contract with Hivemind Capital Partners. Operating and maintaining all validators that the AVAX One treasury stakes to for rewards. Supporting 13.9M+ AVAX holdings.
Audius Validators
17-node validator fleet supporting the decentralized music platform. Hosting media content and earning 13,000+ AUDIO tokens weekly.
Algorand Participation Nodes
Four participation nodes contributing to Algorand's Pure Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism and network security.
Canton Validator
Personal project — a Canton Network validator supporting the enterprise-grade blockchain for synchronized financial markets. Hosts the full-genesis Canton Coin indexing pipeline and scan endpoint powering ccscan (ccscan.xyz).
One Layer Runs the Fleet
One automation layer deploys, upgrades, and disaster-recovers the entire validator fleet — 15 protocols, each a plug-in behind three battle-tested primitives. Add a chain, scale capacity, or recover from an outage in minutes with the same audited, repeatable ops — never another bespoke setup. Pick any chain: the choreography never changes.
The 1000x Developer
16 years of battle-tested engineering provides the wisdom and architectural judgment that transforms AI from a tool into a force multiplier. As an elite AI operator and cutting-edge technology adopter, I combine deep infrastructure expertise with 1000x development velocity — the experience to know what to build, and the AI mastery to ship it in days instead of months.
AI-Orchestrated Engineering
As operator and commander of elite AI agent fleets, I orchestrate specialized agents across every layer of the stack — infrastructure provisioning, smart contract development, frontend engineering, API design, security auditing, and automated testing. I practice compound engineering where every code review, bug fix, and deployment compounds into persistent rules that apply to all future work. I build custom MCP servers and author agent-facing runbooks that encode operational knowledge, and design deterministic workflows where agents execute against well-defined specifications rather than open-ended prompts.
Experience + Velocity = Elite Operator
16 years of engineering — from managing 900+ servers at IBM to maintaining 200+ wallets at Bittrex to running $500M+ in staked validator infrastructure — provides the experience that separates an elite AI operator from someone just prompting. Cloud-to-bare-metal migrations, custom Grafana monitoring pipelines, automated node provisioning with AWS launch templates, and Dockerized blockchain deployments from source — all encoded into persistent agent rules and deterministic runbooks so every deployment compounds on the last. Experience is the compass; AI is the engine.
Solana DeFi Wallet
Non-custodial, browser-native, passkey-secured — live market data.
Total value
Demo
7RzkQ3mBv9TcgquWKehyxpU5ZMjfQVtNBix8s4rrqwXeSwap
Any asset, any time · JupiterSwaps settle on Solana with a small network fee in SOL. 0.5% max slippage.
Balances
Recent activity
- Received USDC2m ago+12.00 USDC
- Saved to gold52m ago+0.0613 PAXG
- Invoice paid3h ago+5.00 USDC
- Staked SOL6h ago+2.42 jitoSOL
Collectibles portfolio
Security architecture
Non-custodial wallet engineering — self-custody key management on Solana with WebAuthn. The private key never leaves the user's device and the server can never spend or decrypt it, with recoverability and cross-device portability layered on without breaking that guarantee.
Passkey-bound key storage
The ed25519 wallet seed is AES-GCM-encrypted under a wrapping key derived from a WebAuthn passkey's PRF extension and persisted in IndexedDB, so every signature requires a live hardware or biometric passkey gesture — only your passkey can spend. Keys are decrypted only inside a scoped withKeypair() boundary and zeroed from memory immediately after use.
BIP39 recovery
24-word mnemonic backup as a direct 32-byte-entropy encoding of the wallet seed (seed ↔ mnemonic, then Keypair.fromSeed), plus an optional user recovery passphrase that encrypts a second in-browser backup — two independent recovery paths, neither of which exposes the key to any server.
Portable vault, hard non-custodial invariant
A passkey-encrypted server-side vault lets a user restore their wallet on a new device or browser. The invariant is enforced server-side: only PRF-mode-wrapped blobs are ever accepted for upload, so the platform stores only ciphertext it structurally cannot open — portability without custody.
Rotation & step-up
Authenticated key rotation with takeover protection — a stale or compromised session elsewhere can't survive a security change — and a step-up recovery and re-enrollment ceremony for the passphrase-vault path.
Envelope-encryption discipline
Per-item data-encryption keys wrapped by a master key (AES-GCM with HKDF-derived subkeys), versioned so the decrypt path is never removed under key rotation.
Security-audited
The full wallet surface has been through repeated fresh-eyes security audits — key exposure, fund loss, rotation-takeover, vault-overwrite — with findings triaged and closed. No path to key disclosure or unauthorized spend.
The distinctive engineering: reconciling three normally-conflicting requirements — true self-custody, real recoverability, and seamless cross-device use — by making the server a store of opaque, passkey-wrapped ciphertext rather than a custodian.
Real-Time Consumer AI Platform
Personal project — solo architect and full-stack/ML engineer on an end-to-end system spanning GPU inference infrastructure, generative-media pipelines, an autonomous LLM agent, and real-time WebRTC — from containerized model workers through the production web app.
Autonomous LLM Agent
- Stateful, long-lived agent with a multi-facet cognition loop — deliberation before response, structured memory extraction, reflection, and proactive self-scheduling — unified by a single prompt kernel with per-task model routing across a fleet of inference endpoints.
- Typed, persistent, envelope-encrypted memory store with streaming token responses. Self-initiated behavior runs on cron jobs guarded by idempotency, rate limiting, and compare-and-set claims, so autonomous actions never duplicate or race.
- Every model-generated output hardened with layered prompt-injection defense and fail-closed content classifiers — deterministic screens plus LLM — with strict egress isolation between users.
GPU Infrastructure & MLOps
- Serverless GPU inference platform (RunPod): min-0 pay-per-use autoscaling, network-volume weight caching for fast cold starts, per-endpoint execution ceilings, and a dispatch layer with bounded retries, exponential backoff, stall detection, and orphaned-job reconciliation with automatic refund.
- Containerized model workers built and published by CI to a private registry — SHA-pinned, canary-then-fleet rollout with documented rollback.
- Custom training on ephemeral GPU pods spun per-run and torn down after: 4-bit QLoRA fine-tuning of a 70B LLM from a synthetically generated corpus, LoRA adapters for the diffusion stack, network-volume checkpointing, and blind-A/B rollout.
- VRAM discipline on shared 80 GB cards: sequential load/release, subprocess isolation for conflicting CUDA stacks, allocator tuning, and race-safe self-healing model-asset fetch on shared volumes.
Generative-Media Pipelines
- img2img diffusion with multi-ControlNet structure guidance (edge · depth · pose) and IP-Adapter face embeddings for face-consistent output; scene understanding → prompt synthesis, plus super-resolution upscaling.
- Image-to-video diffusion and real-time GLSL/Canvas video stylization applied client-side.
Real-Time Communications
- Peer-to-peer WebRTC calling with TURN relay behind short-lived HMAC credentials and relay-first ICE; signaling over a per-user SSE pub/sub bus with connection caps, heartbeats, and lifecycle cleanup.
- Live media-track transforms via canvas capture.
Security, Data & Reliability
- Envelope encryption (AES-GCM) for data at rest, end-to-end-encrypted messaging (X25519), and auth with BIP39 recovery backed by a non-custodial key vault.
- Postgres schema and migrations, idempotent atomic SQL state machines (RETURNING-based CAS), and Redis-backed payment verification.
- Zero-downtime deploy pipeline with graceful degradation, formal verification (Kani) in CI, and headless WebRTC end-to-end test harnesses.
Experience
16+ years of engineering — from founding a hosting company to managing $500M+ in blockchain staking infrastructure.
Engineering Manager
Blueprint, Inc
Remote | NYC, NY
Lead for blockchain infrastructure and staking operations at Blueprint, a Hivemind Capital venture. Operating and maintaining high-performance validator fleets across Solana, Ethereum, Avalanche, Cardano, Cosmos, Polkadot, Kusama, NEAR, Polygon, Stacks, Sui, XDC, Tezos, Algorand, Audius, Canton, Story, and Babylon — plus Rocket Pool and Lido CSM — monitoring consensus health, responding to network events, and ensuring maximum uptime across 50+ nodes.
- Operating high-performance mainnet validator fleets across 8 distinct L1s with $500M+ staked AUM — Solana (Jito), Ethereum (MEV-boosted), Avalanche (8-node fleet for AVAX One treasury), Algorand, Audius (17 nodes), Canton, XDC, and Babylon (Bitcoin staking)
- Architected the fleet's plug-in automation layer — 15 protocols deployed, upgraded, and disaster-recovered the exact same way through three battle-tested primitives: one-command deploy standing up the full node (compute, IAM, networking, monitoring, alerts) with snapshot-accelerated sync live in under an hour; version-pinned, health-gated upgrades that auto-roll-back on failure; and KMS-encrypted signing-key identity migration with old-node quarantine so two nodes never run the same key
- Exposed the same deploy, upgrade, and identity primitives to AI tooling — enabling Claude Code and OpenClaw agents to manage validator lifecycle operations
- Designed and implemented microservice architecture with unified blockchain gateway aggregating data across 25+ protocols via custom OpenAPI specification
- Built hybrid infrastructure from the ground up: on-premises bare-metal servers, cloud instances, and third-party RPC providers — driving substantial cost savings by migrating Solana and archival nodes from cloud to bare-metal
- Developed custom Node Exporter and Grafana metrics for real-time monitoring of peer count, block height, validator version, uptime, skip rate, and resource utilization across all fleets
- Built Solentic (solentic.theblueprint.xyz) — the first agentic Solana staking infrastructure — exposing 30 REST endpoints and 26 MCP tools for programmatic stake/unstake, real-time APY breakdowns including Jito MEV, on-chain memo attribution, SHA-256 source verification, and zero-custody unsigned transaction flow
- Built ccscan (ccscan.xyz) — full-history Canton Network explorer and chain API: a custom indexer ingesting the Super Validator Scan API global feed into a 324M+ row per-party PostgreSQL index on Blueprint validator infrastructure, orchestrated behind 20 public REST endpoints with metered, Stripe-billed API key tiers and an OpenAPI 3.1 spec
- Built ccledger (14 REST endpoints, 14 MCP tools for Canton)
Senior Wallet Operations Engineer
Bittrex, Inc
Remote | Seattle, WA
Highly performant Wallet Operations Engineer responsible for maintaining wallet uptime within one of the world's largest cryptocurrency wallet infrastructures. Operating within a CI/CD pipeline, contributed code deployed to production daily.
- Maintained over 200 cryptocurrency wallets — managed deposits, withdrawals, and address functionalities
- Integrated native blockchains with multiple asset support, onboarded dependent assets across 250+ cryptocurrency projects
- Closely monitored and prepared various blockchain components for hard-forks and network updates
- Wrote custom Alpine & Ubuntu Dockerfiles to install node/wallet software from source
- Created specifications around fee structures and methods of interacting with blockchains
- Performed funds swaps for tokens moving to mainnet or between various blockchains
- Worked directly with coin dev teams and stakeholders to ensure key performance and uphold profitable business relationships
Operations Center Administrator
IBM
Remote | Culver City, CA
Lead Systems Administrator at IBM. Responsible for the automation and success of monthly patching for over 900 Windows and Linux systems.
- Effective contributor to Ansible codebase via GitHub Enterprise for daily continuous integration
- Maintained 98+% security compliance across over 900 Windows/Unix systems
- Utilized automation technologies to deploy, patch, and configure VMs and instances
- Developed script-based solutions to simplify and automate administrative tasks
- Recognized by staff as a key component in the retainment of the term contract
Systems Engineer
FLEXTECHS
On Site | Boise, ID
Configured and installed web servers, domain controllers, desktop nodes, and network equipment for various endpoint locations. Headed physical bare-metal datacenter deployments.
- Led a team of technicians, triaging tasks and delegating work on a daily basis
- Developed menu-driven bash scripts to automate spreadsheet and config file generation
- Created Docker containers to containerize web applications and setup auto-deployments
- Maintained and upgraded physical server and network equipment at on-site locations
Founder & CEO
EcoServer, LLC
Remote | Romoland, CA
Established a directly solar-powered website hosting platform by colocating server equipment in a solar-powered data center facility. Integrated WHMCS & cPanel for VPS hosting deployment. Later sold entity to Viridio.
- Deployed physical bare-metal server, security, and networking infrastructure
- Maintained full-stack client applications utilizing HTML/CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL
- Developed Docker containers for automated deployments via DockerHub, GitHub, and Jenkins
- Scripted automatic application backups and handled client applications from wireframing to production
Technical Expertise
Specialized knowledge across the full blockchain infrastructure stack.
Backend & Infrastructure
Multi-Chain Protocols
Validator ops: Solana, Ethereum, Avalanche, Algorand, Audius, Canton, Tezos, Polkadot/Kusama. Wallet integration across L2s (Optimism, Base, Arbitrum), 100+ ERC-20/SPL/BEP tokens, Bitcoin, Cardano, Cosmos, NEAR, Aptos, Hedera, ZK chains (Aleo, zkSync).
API & Microservices
Node.js, Express, Python (Flask + waitress), OpenAPI specification, RESTful design, metered API-key tiers with Stripe billing, GraphQL, WebSockets, JWT authentication, Infura, Alchemy, QuickNode, RapidAPI.
Data Engineering
On-chain data extraction, full-genesis Canton Coin indexer (324M+ row normalized per-party PostgreSQL, keyset pagination, pg_trgm search), custom ETH2 indexer with Redis, MongoDB/MySQL/MsSQL, time-series analytics, chain data snapshots, archival & structured historical data.
Systems & CLI Tooling
Rust, Ratatui TUI, Cargo, sysinfo, /proc parsing, native FFI (libSystem dylib on macOS, NtQuerySystemInformation on Windows), cross-platform packaging via Homebrew, AUR, apt, winget, FreeBSD pkg, and npm shims.
Frontend & Web3
Smart Contracts & Web3
Solidity, Daml (Canton), Hardhat, Truffle, Ethers.js, Web3.js, Wagmi, Alchemy SDK, OnchainKit, WalletConnect, MetaMask SDK, IPFS/Filecoin, Chainlink VRF, gRPC. DeFi: AAVE, Uniswap, SushiSwap.
Modern Stack
Next.js, React, TypeScript, Spring Boot, Java 21, Node.js, React Hook Form, TanStack Query, Vite, Server Components, OpenAPI 3.1, MCP servers, A2A agent cards, C#.
UI/UX & Tooling
Tailwind CSS, ShadCN UI, Radix UI, Framer Motion, Recharts, responsive layouts, dark mode theming, Flyway migrations, PostgreSQL, v0.dev, Vercel, Remix IDE.
AI Agent Integration
MCP server design (stdio & HTTP transports), A2A agent cards with declared skills, zero-custody unsigned transaction flows, tool-call schema design for Claude / LangChain / CrewAI / ElizaOS / OpenClaw, on-chain memo attribution, SHA-256 source verification.
DevOps & Operations
Infrastructure
Bare-metal servers, cloud provisioning, Proxmox virtualization, Docker, Ansible, AWS launch templates, physical datacenter deployments, networking.
Blockchain Operations
Full-node deployment, validator setup, network upgrades, RPC endpoints, consensus monitoring, archival nodes, snapshot automation, checkpoint & genesis sync.
Observability
Custom Grafana dashboards, Prometheus metrics, custom Node Exporter metrics, alert management, CI/CD pipelines, AWS (EC2, RDS, S3, SSM, CloudWatch, CLI), Git, Vim, VS Code.
Release Engineering
GitHub Actions CI matrices, multi-arch prebuilt binaries (linux x86_64/aarch64, macOS Intel/Apple Silicon, Windows), package distribution via crates.io, Homebrew tap, AUR, signed apt repo (GPG dearmor), winget, FreeBSD pkg, npm shims with SHA256SUMS verification, semantic versioning, conventional commits.
Featured Projects
Decentralized applications and blockchain platforms built with cutting-edge technology.
Certifications
Professional credentials and industry certifications.
Colleague Feedback
What colleagues and collaborators have to say.
Matt has been an integral part of the Wallet Operations team for the last two years and has consistently demonstrated his ability to efficiently manage and maintain complex wallet infrastructure and integrate new blockchain projects. His strong technical knowledge allows him to implement innovative solutions and significantly improve our operational processes.
Lead Engineer
I worked with Matt for two years and it was an absolute pleasure. His work ethic set the bar for the team. He is an outstanding Blockchain Wallet Engineer. He knocked all of his assigned projects out of the park. He is excellent at writing clear and precise technical documentation. Last, but not least, he was always available to troubleshoot issues with fellow engineers no matter what his workload was like at the time.
Linux Operations Engineer
Matt is a hard worker and was able to produce great code in a neat and timely manner. His contributions to our projects were beyond valuable, he shows a great understanding of the technologies we used within our full stack web app.
Full Stack Web Developer
It was awesome to watch the project come together thanks to Matt's ability to translate wireframed concepts into reality, and deep knowledge of the technologies our app is built upon.
Full Stack Web Developer
Coding Activity
Development activity tracked in real-time.