hey, i'mjude.
I build software in the reinsurance and insurance-linked securities (ILS) space.
I believe in the democratisation of access to financial returns, and that decentralised finance offers a real route to getting there. A kid on a laptop should have access to the same opportunities as some guy at a trading desk.
When I'm not striving to make this a reality, you'll find me trying to perfect my espresso.
currently seeking high upside exposure.
interests
- startups
- computer science
- economics
- decentralised finance
- (re)insurance
- artificial intelligence
- espresso
- watches
A rotating list with some staples...
education
BSc Computer Science, University of Edinburgh
- From Onchain Capital to Onchain Risk: ILWs as a Starting Point23 July 202601
- Edivotes — Facemash for Edinburgh students11 January 202102
- Can a Catastrophe Model Become an Oracle?coming soon03
A slice of what I've been reading. The full library lives over here.
- EdivotesPython · Flask
Inspired by Mark Zuckerberg's FaceMash, built for Edinburgh students. Made in a few hours to learn Flask; received 30k+ votes from students worldwide.
- Guess the Stock
A little browser game — you're shown an anonymised price chart and have to guess the company behind it. Reached #8 Product of the Day on Product Hunt.
- A Community-run Decentralised Loan Liquidation Scheme Based on an Ethereum-enabled DeFi SystemEthereum · Solidity · DeFi
My undergraduate honours dissertation. It's deliberately rudimentary and built on a slightly contrived scenario that glosses over the parts that would make it genuinely useful — but it was interesting to dig into, and almost engineered to let me write about DeFi within the bounds of my degree.
- A Decentralised Loan Liquidation Scheme Based on an Ethereum-enabled DeFi SystemEthereum · DeFi · paper
A short paper (UKPEW 2022) spun out of the same idea. It necessarily brushes over the harder parts — chiefly that the mechanism is basically just a DAO, and the real challenge is finding liquidation opportunities — but it was a good excuse to write the approach up properly.
“Pessimists sound smart. Optimists make money.”
A handful of things — essays, podcasts, and the odd rabbit hole — that I think are worth your time.
- Patrick CollisonStripe co-founder — his bookshelf inspired mine.
- Marginal RevolutionTyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok's daily economics blog — assorted links, big ideas, and relentless curiosity.
- Paul Graham — EssaysThe essays that made me want to write essays.
- GwernLong-form, obsessively researched, beautifully built. A bar to aim at.