Matthew

I served 17 years in the United States Air Force, assigned to the National Security Agency as an intelligence and cybersecurity analyst. I filled senior leadership positions inside the Intelligence Community, fighting the war on terror and leading the build-up of our cyber defense operations. I spent more than 12,000 hours teaching the next generation of warfighter.

My service taught me integrity, loyalty, teamwork, and leadership. It was an honor and a privilege to serve my country.

As a lifelong tech nerd, I discovered Bitcoin in early 2011 and was immediately enamored by the idea of immutability and decentralization. In 2014 I co-founded Crypti, the first layer 1 blockchain built from scratch in JavaScript. In 2016 I joined the founding team at ARK — an evolution of the technology we built at Crypti, still fully open source and powering over a dozen networks today. In 2022 I co-founded Ardent, a boutique development firm focused on financial technology, literacy, and education, to help merge my passion for decentralization with my love of teaching.

Building cutting-edge technology taught me business, finance, product and marketing strategy, design, and how to grow not just a company, but a community.

In 2023, my partners and I launched a private equity firm built on years of work in emerging technology. The portfolio spans blockchain, security, gaming, DeFi, digital media, and artificial intelligence, with over $200M in assets under management. We don't just invest — we work alongside founders to build the operations, strategy, and teams that turn good ideas into real businesses.

Private equity has taught me how to grow companies from startup to exit, and how to mentor founders into better managers and build their businesses into commercial successes.

Financial and commercial success bring a lot of opportunity, but they also bring a lot of self-reflection. Anyone who says money doesn't buy happiness is only half right. Not having to worry about it is a freeing feeling. But that freedom also makes you realize that life is moving faster than you can catch it, and you're missing the moments that actually matter.

My wife and I made a decision to slow down. We moved to rural Missouri and bought a farm. We're raising our kids alongside their cousins on our homestead, getting our hands dirty just like my grandpa.

I have no idea where this next chapter leads, but I'm more excited than I've been in a long time.