BRIAN CARTMELL’S INTEREST IN EXPLORING COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY BEGAN IN 1982 WHEN HE OBTAINED A
COMMODORE PET COMPUTER DURING HIS EARLY TEENAGE YEARS. AFTER GAINING ACCESS TO
ARPANET A FEW YEARS LATER, IT SPARKED A VISION OF A DIGITALLY CONNECTED FUTURE, INSPIRING HIM TO LEARN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES, SUCH AS
C ON A DEC VAX RUNNING BSD UNIX.
BRIAN’S BUSINESS CAREER BEGAN IN 1987, BUILDING DESKTOP COMPUTERS FOR SEATTLE'S
BALLARD COMPUTER. BY 1993, HE HELPED THE FOUNDING OF CYBERSPACE.COM, ONE OF SEATTLE’S FIRST ISPS, AND LATER CONTRIBUTED TO EARLY LIVE-STREAMING INNOVATIONS WHILE WORKING AT IEG.
IN 1996, HE WAS EMPLOYED TO OPTIMIZE TELECOM BILLING SYSTEMS IN FRANCE AND HONG KONG, AND BY 1997, BRIAN FOUNDED CREDITREPORTS.COM AND AUTHORIZE.COM, SOME OF THE FIRST ONLINE CREDIT REPORTING AND PAYMENT PROCESSING SITES.
RECOGNIZING THE UNTAPPED POTENTIAL OF INTERNET DOMAINS, HE SECURED THE
.CC TLD REGISTRY FROM IANA, SCALING IT TO OVER 500,000 DOMAINS BEFORE
SELLING IT TO VERISIGN IN 2001. BECAUSE OF HIS EARLY INVOLVEMENT IN THE INTERNET DOMAIN BUSINESS, BRIAN WAS INVITED TO
TESTIFY BEFORE THE U.S. SENATE ON INTERNET GOVERNANCE, HELPING SHAPE THE FUTURE OF THE DIGITAL GOVERNANCE SPACE.
HE THEN LAUNCHED SPAM ARREST, DEVELOPING ANTI-SPAM TECHNOLOGIES AND
SUCCESSFULLY DEFENDING ITS TRADEMARK BEFORE THE TTAB (THE TRADEMARK TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD) AGAINST THE HORMEL FOODS CORPORATION, WHICH THEN OPENED THE DOORS FOR THE WORD “SPAM” TO BE LEGALLY UTILISED IN BUSINESS AND PRODUCT NAMES WHEN REFERRING TO UNWANTED DIGITAL MESSAGES.
IN 2010, BRIAN GRASPED THE TRANSFORMATIVE POTENTIAL OF BITCOIN, INVESTING IN EARLY PROJECTS LIKE BITCOIN MAGAZINE, COINBASE, AND
KRAKEN THAT HELPED LAY THE FOUNDATION FOR A BROADER AND DECENTRALIZED ECONOMY.
AFTER ARRIVING IN NEW ZEALAND IN LATE 2010 AND BUILDING A NEW HOME BASE IN
QUEENSTOWN, BRIAN CONTINUES TO BELIEVE IN THE POTENTIAL FOR TECHNOLOGY TO SHAPE A BETTER HUMAN FUTURE AND ACTIVELY
SUPPORTS FORWARD-THINKING INDIVIDUALS, BUSINESSES AND INNOVATIONS.