Experience
- Current
Minister of Development
Finite Computer
Open-source AI agent platform spanning chat, private compute, hosted sites, search, and skills.
- From
Senior Software Engineer
Fedi
Building a community focused super app and developer tooling for fedimint
- From
Full Stack Engineer
Zion
Building applications involving Decentralized Identity
- From
Full Stack Engineer
BlockSpaces
My first exposure to the start-up world
- From
Software Engineer
NCR Corporation, Software Innovation Lab
Hackathon wins
9 wins: 6 first places, 2 second places and 1 prize.
1st Stringer Safety
App that helps protect journalists in high-risk places: a trusted contact network, location and status sharing, and a one-click SOS that triggers AI response recommendations.
Team captain: journalist Anjan Sundaram. First-place prize: 0.5 BTC.
1st overall Lightning Welder
Helps legacy Lightning wallets pay BOLT12 offers.
Built with Super Testnet. He also ran this hackathon and took no part in the judging. He has not competed in his own hackathons since.
Prize winner: Bitcoin Education Track BitDevs Upgrade
A project to improve the UX of BitDevs websites and add AI generated summaries to help new attendees.
Announced as “BitDevs Upgraded”
1st Auntie LN
Proof of concept for verifiable communication between Lightning nodes over Nostr; an alternative transport layer for the Lightning Network.
2nd Last Pay Wins
A game: “Reddit’s r/thebutton but with sats. Last one to pay when the timer hits zero wins.” Shows off Lightning’s instant settlement.
Collected and paid out more than 2.5 million sats in its first week.
1st Pleb FM
Lightning-powered jukebox and radio station: a running auction for the next song.
Later raised over 2 million sats at TABConf 2023.
1st Arion Parking
Parking app that takes payment over the Lightning Network.
2nd (tied) TreePay UX
A user experience for congestion-controlled bitcoin transactions using CTV.
1st Team Eth Heads
With Bryan W. Nonni, Sam (Abdulwahab) Jarkas, Christian McDaniel, Stefan Bjelcevic and Jay Arcement.
Hackathons organized
16 hackathons in 8 countries (USA, Canada, Kenya, Brazil, Taiwan, Germany, Türkiye, Latvia) plus online.
The 12 events with a public head count add up to 1,471 participants.
The 14 events with a public prize figure add up to $263,525 in prizes.
AI Hack for Freedom III
bitcoin++ consensus edition
bitcoin++ open source edition
AI Hack for Freedom II
bitcoin++ exploits edition
bitcoin++ sovereignty edition
Lightning++ 2025
bitcoin++ scaling edition
bitcoin++ privacy edition
bitcoin++ mempool (“pool”) edition
Bitcoin 2025 Official Hackathon
bitcoin++ AI Turbo Hackathon
bitcoin++ beach edition
bitcoin++ ecash edition
AuburnHacks 2021
AuburnHacks 2020
Upcoming
Not yet held, so not counted in the totals above.
AI Hack for Freedom IV
Talks, workshops and panels
The Alex Lewin Experience
Livestream from TABConf 8, Part 1
Teaching AI As a Tool for Freedom
Broadcast on X: Teaching AI As a Tool for Freedom · Event page: Teaching AI As a Tool for Freedom
Elevating the User Experience of Self-Custody
Lightning + Ecash: An Atomic Match Made in Heaven?
Building Sovereign Banks with Fedi
Also listed as “Building Sovereign Banks with Fedimint”
Scaling Lightning
How to Win Every Hackathon
Fedimint SDK workshop
How to build a Fedimint wallet in 20 minutes (without Rust)
Also listed as “Fedimint SDK Deep Dive”
Video on YouTube: How to build a Fedimint wallet in 20 minutes (without Rust)
How eCash Works with Alex Lewin
Fun with Lightning: How to Win Every Bitcoin Hackathon
Extending Bitcoin with Zero-knowledge Proofs
Event page on Meetup: Extending Bitcoin with Zero-knowledge Proofs
The Dark Side of Ai with Alex Lewin
Big Dev Energy with Alex Lewin
- Ongoing
BitDevs Radio Hour
Playlist on YouTube: BitDevs Radio Hour · Apple Podcasts: BitDevs Radio Hour
bitcoin++
bitcoin++ community member since 2023: 13 editions attended and 51 stage sessions.
- Austin 2023
- Buenos Aires 2024
- Berlin 2024
- Florianópolis 2025
- Austin 2025
- Riga 2025
- Istanbul 2025
- Berlin 2025
- Taipei 2025
- Florianópolis 2026
- Las Vegas 2026
- Nairobi 2026
- Toronto 2026
Projects
Cargo Leaderboard
A Rust competition for the biggest builds, biggest cleans, and longest compile times.
Finite Computer
Open-source AI agent platform spanning chat, private compute, hosted sites, search, and skills.
His employer.
Web to SVG Extension
Chromium extension to capture any DOM element as PNG, JPEG, or SVG.
BitcoinRamps
Compare fees, spreads, privacy, and KYC requirements across top Bitcoin exchanges.
Last Pay Wins
A game: “Reddit’s r/thebutton but with sats. Last one to pay when the timer hits zero wins.” Shows off Lightning’s instant settlement.
Pleb FM
Lightning-powered jukebox and radio station: a running auction for the next song.
Rough Consensus
Oxford-style debate voting platform. Used for live debates at bitcoin++ mempool edition 2025.
Arion Parking
Parking app that takes payment over the Lightning Network.
Site: Arion Parking · Code: Arion Parking · Video: Arion Parking
Auntie LN
Proof of concept for verifiable communication between Lightning nodes over Nostr; an alternative transport layer for the Lightning Network.
Project page: Auntie LN · Code: Auntie LN · Video: Auntie LN
TreePay UX
A user experience for congestion-controlled bitcoin transactions using CTV.
Stringer Safety
App that helps protect journalists in high-risk places: a trusted contact network, location and status sharing, and a one-click SOS that triggers AI response recommendations.
Patents
Named inventor on 4 patent filings.
- Filed
Methods and a system for in-store navigation
Google Patents: Methods and a system for in-store navigation
- Filed
Self-sovereign identity structured messaging for cross channel authentication
Google Patents: Self-sovereign identity structured messaging for cross channel authentication
- Filed
Self-Sovereign Identity Verifiable Credentials for Consent Processing
Google Patents: Self-Sovereign Identity Verifiable Credentials for Consent Processing
- Filed
Methods and a system for managing and integrating non-fungible tokens (NFTs)
Google Patents: Methods and a system for managing and integrating non-fungible tokens (NFTs)
Press
NPR, All Things Considered
Human rights activists look to harness AI for the greater good
Coverage of AI Hack for Freedom III in Washington, DC, a hackathon he helped organize.
Human Rights Foundation
Announcement of the AI Hack for Freedom I winners, with Stringer Safety placed 1st.
AI Hack for Freedom
Education
Auburn University
Undergraduate, Software Engineering