Long Overdue: Welcoming Eric Bravick- Coral Protocol’s CTO & Lead Blockchain Architect

Coral is over-the-moon (pun intended) with the addition of our CTO, Eric Bravick. The man’s brain is beyond out of this world and he comes to us with an incredibly robust background in the technology industry with decades spent in the blockchain and security spaces.

Where did it all begin?

A native of Roseville, Michigan, Eric enjoyed experimenting with technology from an early age, programming his first computer at the ripe old age of 9. Eric created his first income-generating startup at the age of 14 on a souped-up Commodore VIC 20 (does anyone remember those?)

Eric was a prime mover-and-shaker in multiple early Internet companies, including plays in security, encryption, VPN, firewalls, and active intrusion detection and prevention. As a very early adopter and proponent of Linux, Eric ran a premier Linux integration company and advocated for the technology across a swath of Enterprise companies across the globe. Eric’s efforts helped pave the way for the global adoption of Linux as the defacto standard for Internet facing systems.

Also an early adopter of machine learning technologies, Eric led the creation of early systems in neural modeling, sentiment analysis, and the detection of fake news and viral information campaigns in social media.

He started companies and was notably the CTO of ZOS Communications (building location-based services that service large carriers like AT&T and Verizon) in addition to being a consistently sought after consultant in security, cloud technology, fundraising and operations. (We can’t name all the names, but let’s just say Eric advised quite a number of heavy-hitting startups in Silicon Valley — rescuing some in the most pivotal of moments and helping others accelerate massively.)

Entering the crypto scene in 2010 as a Bitcoin miner and enthusiast, Eric quickly started testing the limits of the technology, working with dozens of teams to make blockchain projects a reality. This included platforms in crypto banking, supply chain and logistics, credit issuance, tokenized assets, medical logistics, and scientific research. (Let’s just say, Eric has built more than a few blockchains in his day.)

So how did Eric fatefully find his way to Coral?

Eric was introduced to Indisputable Labs’ CEO David Kuchar from a mutual friend. Eric had heard about the first project of Indisputable Labs, the Coral Protocol, and appreciated the market need — this was a solution to a massive problem in the blockchain ecosystem (Fraud!) and working on this would have a huge impact. One visit to meet the team at our office in the Mission and it all clicked right off the bat…Inspired by this particular team and combined with the product, it all just made sense!

We are honored to be Eric’s chosen company for this next chapter of his career. He believes this project, while highly challenging, is also extremely necessary for the crypto space to continue to grow.

“In order for Crypto to take steps forward as a global payment engine and store of value, the Fraud issue has to be dealt with. There’s no way financial services can become mature in the Crypto universe until something like Coral is widely adopted. People need assurance against fraud. Companies in the space need to understand and quantify risk. Coral solves this.”

With Eric’s leadership, Coral takes a giant step forward to making this vision a reality.

Other Fun Factoids About Eric:

• Originally trained as a psychoneuropharmachologist (yeah, go ahead and Google that- what a word!)
• Lost money at Mt. Gox! (a true blockchain OG right there)
• Has built 20+ cryptocurrency mining operations all over the world
• Has been involved in bitcoin and blockchain since 2010
• Is a passionate viral information buff, and has been battling the “fake news” phenomenon since 2012
• Works on veterans issues whenever possible. From helping get veterans back on their feet with retraining programs to participating in hackathons for veterans’ issues.
• Loves Greyhounds
• Has an incredible t-shirt collection
• Obsessed with building Lego sets (and yes, he keeps all the original boxes!)