Christopher Allen

Christopher Allen Email and Phone Number

Decentralized Trust Architect & Strategic Advisor @ Rebooting the Web of Trust
Christopher Allen's Location
Berkeley, California, United States, United States
About Christopher Allen

Christopher Allen is a world-renowned authority on decentralized digital trust, online collaboration, identity management, digital assets, smart contracts, and human-rights privacy. Recognized as a “Top 100 Influencer in Identity,” Christopher provides strategic advice to governments worldwide, including the Wyoming legislature, successfully championing laws to uphold digital civil liberties and human rights.He also shares his knowledge as a trusted advisor to CEOs, CTOs, and visionary leaders of tech-driven enterprises looking to venture into these domains. He has recently collaborated with industry-leading companies like: Crossbar/Cramium, who specialize in open & secure semiconductor designs; Proxy, maker of secure wellness wearables (recently acquired by Oura); and various blockchain and digital asset wallet startups.The co-author of the IETF TLS standard, foundational to secure online commerce, Christopher still remains actively involved in the IETF, with ongoing security and privacy-focused internet-draft proposals. At the W3C, he co-authored international standards for the Decentralized Identifiers standard and serves as an invited expert on Verifiable Credentials.As the Founder of Blockchain Commons, Christopher advocates for solutions for open & interoperable, secure & compassionate digital infrastructure to enable people to control their own digital destiny and maintain their human dignity online. His book, “#SmartCustody,” offers groundbreaking perspectives on cryptographic tools for the resilience of digital assets.As chairman of the 501c4 "Rebooting the Web of Trust" workshops, Christopher has been a driving force in fostering collaborative spaces for innovation. The workshop has been pivotal in shaping decentralized identity technologies for a decade. Christopher also hosts the "Silicon Salon", a forum for open & secure semiconductors.With a rich entrepreneurial background, Christopher has held roles such as Principal Architect at Blockstream, Vice President at Blackphone, and CTO of Certicom. His commitment to knowledge-sharing spans cryptocurrency workshops, teaching at Pinchot University, and his blog, 'Life With Alacrity.'In the rapidly evolving tech landscape, guidance is the bridge between innovation and obsolescence. Christopher's expertise ensures your enterprise remains relevant at the forefront. Beneficiaries of his counsel have streamlined pivots and transformations, enhanced security, and harnessed decentralized technologies. Engage with Christopher to ensure a secure, innovative, and human-centric digital future.

Christopher Allen's Current Company Details
Rebooting the Web of Trust

Rebooting The Web Of Trust

View
Decentralized Trust Architect & Strategic Advisor
Christopher Allen Work Experience Details
  • Blockchain Commons
    Founder, Executive Director, Principal Architect
    Blockchain Commons Mar 2018 - Present
    Blockchain Commons was founded with the goal of supporting blockchain infrastructure and the broader security industry through cryptographic research, cryptographic & privacy protocol implementations, architecture & code reviews, industry standards, etc. In particular, we seek to improve the blockchain ecosystem by focusing on infrastructure and solutions that are decentralized, platform & blockchain neutral and vendor-independent. Blockchain Commons is a “not-for-profit” benefit corporation, with a strong commitment to open source and a defensive patent strategy.Projects in process include: supporting best-practices and standards for digital asset custody known as #SmartCustody, human rights decentralized identity #RebootingWebOfTrust, developing an open source identity wallet reference implementation; expanding social key-recovery techniques; creating new zero-knowledge curve-operation proofs; security review of sidechain pegging and merge mining; supporting cross-chain atomic transfers; and establishing multi- and cross-blockchain standards.
  • Rebooting The Web Of Trust
    Founder, Chair, And Executive Producer
    Rebooting The Web Of Trust Nov 2015 - Present
    As the founder and chair of Rebooting Web of Trust (RWOT), and executive producer of our innovative design workshops, I have led the development and hosting of 11 major in-person events around the world since November 2015. Our mission is to empower individuals to co-create decentralized systems for lasting mutual benefit. Under my stewardship, RWOT has become a registered US nonprofit with strong fiscal management, successfully navigating a multi-year COVID hiatus.In my role, I have created and continuously update our methodology to encourage collaboration among a diverse and dynamic community of experts, innovators, thought leaders, policymakers, and other key stakeholders. I oversee all aspects of event planning and execution, from curating topics to recruiting top-tier participants, ensuring a seamless and inclusive environment. Each event is designed to facilitate deep, meaningful discussions and produce actionable collaborative papers and code, contributing to advancements in digital identity and decentralized technology. RWOT has published foundational work that is now the W3C Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) & Verifiable Credentials (VCs) international standards. Our events have significantly shaped the discourse and direction of the digital identity and decentralized technology industries, building a robust network of professionals dedicated to advancing the future of decentralized systems. Through our events, Rebooting Web of Trust has catalyzed numerous innovative projects and standards. Our collaborative papers and reports have become essential resources for those working on the cutting edge of technology and policy. I am proud of the impact they have had on the industry and remain committed to driving forward the conversations and innovations that will define the next generation of decentralized trust frameworks.
  • Alacrity Management
    Blockchain Security & Decentralized Identity Standards Architect & Advisor
    Alacrity Management Mar 2015 - Present
    Mitchell, Act, Au
    Privacy, security, and identity are increasingly critical issues on the internet. Christopher’s expertise with these issues and with decentralized blockchain technologies has led to advisory roles at a variety of institutions. His term self-sovereign identity, detailing a set of ten identity principles, has been broadly adopted and is the heart of a new architecture for human-rights digital identity. He has also advocated for privacy in works like “The Four Kinds of Privacy”. Christopher is a co-chair of the W3C Credentials CG, where new decentralized identity standards are emerging, and the host and founder of the #RebootingWebOfTrust Design Workshop, where leaders in the blockchain community meet to design the future of identity. He was elected to the steering committee for the Financial Crypto Conference and was the 2017 program chair of the IEEE Security & Privacy on the Blockchain Workshop at Euro S&P. As an advisor to two different startups, each has received two rounds of Homeland Security SBIR research grants to develop decentralized identity standards. He is a civil liberties advisor to United For Iran, to a number of anonymous human-rights advocates, and to privacy-oriented internet startups. He is also a security advisor to the ID2020 alliance on digital identity, where he is helping to organize United Nation and developer events and workshops.
  • Alacrity Management
    Speaker, Consultant, Advisor
    Alacrity Management Aug 2003 - Present
    Mitchell, Act, Au
    I have been a keynote speaker or panelist at numerous tech conferences on the the topics of entrepreneurship, social software, social networks, online security, and collaboration. I also provide consulting on these topics to a number of entrepreneurial companies for a combination of cash and stock.
  • Alacrity Management
    Writer, Columnist
    Alacrity Management Jul 2003 - Present
    Mitchell, Act, Au
    Life with Alacrity is my professional blog, covering a variety of topics including social software, collaboration, groupware, online communities, facilitation, wiki, entrepreneuring, internet security, trust, cryptography, privacy, interface design, internet media, internet tools, and other topics that I am passionate about.
  • Alacrity Management
    Social Web & Blog Coach
    Alacrity Management Sep 2007 - Sep 2014
    Mitchell, Act, Au
    Offer social web & blog coaching services for executives and entrepreneurs. This includes helping them focus and develop their own personal brand and teaching them how to get involved in conversational communities such as blogs and social networks. A particular emphasis on teaching the scanning and focusing skills required to manage time so that participation on the social web doesn't overwhelm their professional and personal lives.
  • Alacrity Management
    Founder & General Manager
    Alacrity Management Feb 1999 - Jun 2006
    Mitchell, Act, Au
    Manage and perform technical due-diligence for a $6M portfolio of investments in approximately a dozen seed stage or angel round companies, including business-to-business software, Internet games, robotics, and high-tech industrial material creation. To date, portfolio has shown considerable resilience and strength, despite the down-turn of the stock market over the same period. Offered advice and mentorship to these companies as they moved forward through their business cycle. Judge for the Haas School of Business/UCB 2001 Business Plan Competition. All stock held by Alacrity Ventures was distributed to the general partners as of December 2005, and the partnership closed in June of 2006.
  • Skotos Tech Inc.
    Founder & Chairman Of The Board
    Skotos Tech Inc. Jul 1999 - Present
    Us
    Founded online game company and gathered staff of game-industry professionals. Oversaw development and release of company's first game, release of game-building toolkit, a 24/7/365 customer support, subscription billing infrastructure with multiply redundant Internet connectivity. Initiated acquisitions of and partnerships with several other online games and companies. Evolved the game production company into a multi-partner affiliated online gaming channel with 17 games to date.
  • Blockstream
    Principal Architect
    Blockstream Mar 2016 - Mar 2018
    Montreal, Quebec, Ca
    Blockstream is a leader in Bitcoin and blockchain technology, specializing in crypto currencies, open assets, and smart contracts. As Principal Architect, Christopher offered his expertise on a variety of information security technology projects. He developed strategies related to industry standards and supported cross-company collaboration. Christopher also architected projects focusing on decentralized identity and specified and prototyped engines of trust such as smart signatures and smart contracts.
  • Blockchain University
    Instructional Designer, Faculty
    Blockchain University May 2015 - Mar 2016
    Mountain View, Ca, Us
    Blockchain University offers weekend courses on the topic of Bitcoin & Blockchain Technology. Christopher is working with the faculty team to create courses and course materials to more effectively teach the diverse students who participate in this program. Christopher Allen also is co-teaching in a number of these courses and other offerings.
  • Reorient Media
    Co-Founder, Interim Cto
    Reorient Media Jan 2012 - Dec 2015
    Christopher led strategy, technology & product development, and user experience for this lean startup.The mission of ReOrient Media is to create tools for people to communicate effectively about complexity. Our products help people use visual and audio, show the big picture, engage through story, and adapt to different audiences and circumstances. We remove the barriers between spectators and creators to enable participation in the problems of the larger world.We published Infinite PDF, an elegant and intuitive iPad app for authoring and sharing. With it you can adapt your presentations into engaging interactive conversations, navigate with grace by creating hyperlinks and pathways for different audiences, add elegant transitions to lend a polished look. Infinite PDF complements any software that can export a PDF, including visual presentation tools such as PowerPoint or Keynote. A number of other PDF tools and utilities have also been released.
  • Bgi At Pinchot University For The Common Good
    Associate Faculty
    Bgi At Pinchot University For The Common Good Sep 2009 - Aug 2015
    Seattle, Washington, Us
    Christopher engaged with teaching the next generation of business and entrepreneurial executives. He taught Technology Leadership and was Adjunct Faculty and Entrepreneur in Residence in the MBA in Sustainable Systems program at Bainbridge Graduate Institute at BGI.edu. There he was part of the BGI faculty team that designed a totally integrated first-year sustainable business curriculum. His popular classes "Using the Social Web for Social Change" and "Digital Influence" taught how to use 21st-century internet design approaches to effect change and to influence the world. Christopher further acted as part-time Director of Collaborative Strategy, where he established standards for digital content, ebooks, flipped classrooms, and online teaching platforms and toward creating a 21st-century cognitive and social pedagogy for hybrid higher education.
  • Iosdevcamp (Was Iphonedevcamp & Ipaddevcamp)
    Co-Founder, Organizer, Hackaton Coordinator
    Iosdevcamp (Was Iphonedevcamp & Ipaddevcamp) Jul 2007 - Jul 2015
    Co-founded one of the most influential iOS (iPhone, iPad, iWatch) and hosted it's hackathon for 7 years. Formed just one week after the original iPhone was released in the July 2007, iPhoneDevCamp is a yearly 3-day developer event. At the main event site in the Bay Area and with satellite locations all over the world, this BarCamp-style unconference has attracted over a thousand of developers and has resulted in collaborations that have created hundreds of new iPhone applications, each developed in less then 48 hours.As one of the co-founders, my particular responsibility was the coordination and hosting of the Hackathon. I helped matchmake the formation of teams, facilitate and find solutions for their coding challenges, and act as one of the Judges and Hosts of the Hackathon Contest on the last day. Winners are judged on their contribution to the commons, their sharing of code or expertise, by their openness, and by demonstrating a “Can Do” attitude.
  • Blackphone
    Vp Developer Relations
    Blackphone Sep 2014 - Mar 2015
    Blackphone is the world's first smartphone which places privacy and control directly in the hands of its users. I was responsible for mobile app developer relations, and leading the strategy team to launch in 2015 the world's first privacy-focused mobile app store, a curated marketplace for not only security related apps, but also for apps that demonstrate best safe practices for the privacy of the user.
  • Iphone In Action: Introduction To Web And Sdk Development
    Co-Author
    Iphone In Action: Introduction To Web And Sdk Development Dec 2008 - Dec 2014
    iPhone in Action, published by Manning Publications, offers a complete introduction to web and native SDK programming for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The book is co-authored with Shannon Appelcline.
  • Areae, Inc.
    Advisor
    Areae, Inc. May 2006 - Jul 2010
    Advisor to Raph Koster, CEO of Areae, Inc., a San Diego based privately-held virtual world developer. First alpha-tester of Metaplace.com. Areae sold to Playdom, which then sold to Disney in 2010.
  • Magnatune
    Advisor
    Magnatune Oct 2003 - Jun 2004
    Advisor to John Buckman, CEO of Magnatune, the open music record label. Mentored John on the creation of his personal Magnatune blog. Assisted with outreach and evangelism to technology influencers that are the initial market of Magnatune. Assisted with technical issues regarding ID3 and XML meta-tagging of music.
  • Mg Taylor Corporation
    Advisor, Investor, Former Board Member
    Mg Taylor Corporation Feb 1984 - Jan 2004
    Us
    MG Taylor Corporation is a management consulting organization that specializes in architecting physical spaces for collaboration, as well as delivering tools, processes that facilitate individuals and organizations. I have been an advisor to the company for many years in the area of collaboration and groupware technology, was a board member for two years.
  • Certicom Corp.
    Chief Technology Officer
    Certicom Corp. Jun 1998 - Sep 1999
    Mississauga, Ontario, Ca
    Oversaw integration of Certicom Corp with previous company, Consensus Development. Coordinated overseas development, export strategy, and management of extensive patent portfolio. Active leadership role in the $2M dollar acquisition of Uptronics, a security consulting house, and also led investigations into other acquisition possibilities.
  • Consensus Development
    Founder, Ceo & President
    Consensus Development Jun 1988 - Jun 1998
    Founded e-commerce pioneer and online security company. Led it successfully through growth and eventual merger with the publicly-traded Certicom Corp as part of $25M deal, with a compounded internal rate of return for investors in excess of 125%. Orchestrated development with Netscape of the SSL encryption standard, which has since become the security standard on the Internet. Co-authored next-generation SSL protocol, TLS. Led team to develop the commercial SSL-Plus toolkit, which is used by numerous industry leaders such as Lucent, Oracle, Sun, Sybase, and Wells Fargo for online security, including use in Lotus Notes and Quicken.
  • America Online
    Mac Developers Forum Leader
    America Online Jan 1989 - Dec 1995
    New York, Ny, Us
    Under contract to AOL, launched the the Mac Developers Forum, an online developer community. Grew the MDV Forum to one of the largest Mac developers communities online, with a staff of over two dozen volunteers. Over the years many of my staff became Forum Leaders of other AOL Forums online, making the Mac Developers Forum a essential part of the success of AOL commmunities in the Macintosh market.
  • Dreams Of The Phoenix
    Founder, Ceo & President
    Dreams Of The Phoenix Jan 1984 - Jan 1988
    Dreams of the Phoenix was a leading publisher in the early Macintosh software industry. It published seven award-winning retail software products. These included the first bulletin board system for the Macintosh, the first MacBinary terminal emulator, and one of the first 3D CAD packages for the Macintosh. Dreams of the Phoenix products have since been sold off to other publishers.

Christopher Allen Education Details

  • Georgia Institute Of Technology
    Georgia Institute Of Technology
    Computer Science

Frequently Asked Questions about Christopher Allen

What company does Christopher Allen work for?

Christopher Allen works for Rebooting The Web Of Trust

What is Christopher Allen's role at the current company?

Christopher Allen's current role is Decentralized Trust Architect & Strategic Advisor.

What schools did Christopher Allen attend?

Christopher Allen attended Georgia Institute Of Technology.

Free Chrome Extension

Find emails, phones & company data instantly

Find verified emails from LinkedIn profiles
Get direct phone numbers & mobile contacts
Access company data & employee information
Works directly on LinkedIn - no copy/paste needed
Get Chrome Extension - Free

Aero Online

Your AI prospecting assistant

Download 750 million emails and 100 million phone numbers

Access emails and phone numbers of over 750 million business users. Instantly download verified profiles using 20+ filters, including location, job title, company, function, and industry.