Robert A. Küfner (15 May 1988) is a German entrepreneur, author and investor. He is mentioned as a pioneer in the field of

Bitcoin Bitcoin ( abbreviation: BTC; sign: ₿) is a decentralized digital currency that can be transferred on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network. Bitcoin transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public di ...

and

blockchain A blockchain is a type of distributed ledger technology (DLT) that consists of growing lists of records, called ''blocks'', that are securely linked together using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, ...

technology.

Early life

Küfner was born in

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; "'' Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and to ...

and raised in

Remscheid Remscheid () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is, after Wuppertal and Solingen, the third-largest municipality in Bergisches Land, being located on the northern edge of the region, on the south side of the Ruhr area. Remsche ...

. He studied Business Administration in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

for three terms.Sebastian Leber: Berliner Bitcoin-Experten im Höhenrausch, Tagesspiegel, 3rd. January 2018, retrieved 17 April 2019
/ref>

Career

In 2010, Küfner read an article in '' ''Vice'''' about Bitcoin and saw the potential of the new technology. Fascinated by the possibilities of the blockchain he started mining. He installed a power line in his basement, bought high-performance servers and offered computing power for the mining process, earning many Bitcoins. In 2014, he invested in the

Ethereum Ethereum is a decentralized, open-source blockchain with smart contract functionality. Ether ( Abbreviation: ETH; sign: Ξ) is the native cryptocurrency of the platform. Among cryptocurrencies, ether is second only to bitcoin in market cap ...

cryptocurrency. Küfner changed his focus to the technology behind Bitcoin, Distributed Ledger Technology. He met Till Wendler and Florian Reike at a gathering of Bitcoin enthusiasts in Berlin and together they founded nakamo.to in 2017, company for researching and developing DLT. The company was named after

Satoshi Nakamoto Satoshi Nakamoto is the name used by the presumed pseudonymous person or persons who developed bitcoin, authored the bitcoin white paper, and created and deployed bitcoin's original reference implementation. As part of the implementation, Nakam ...

, the supposed creator of Bitcoin. Since 2018, nakamo.to is part of the Advanced Blockchain AG. The main aim is to develop DLT further to use it as a solution to decentralize tasks, for example in manufacturing or the automotive industry. The new project ''peaq'', cofounded by Küfner, is focusing on further development of

directed acyclic graph In mathematics, particularly graph theory, and computer science, a directed acyclic graph (DAG) is a directed graph with no directed cycles. That is, it consists of vertices and edges (also called ''arcs''), with each edge directed from one v ...

s. Through the project the ''Dagchain'' was invented as an alternative approach to reach consensus within directed acyclic graphs. In 2017, ''

Manager Magazin ''Manager Magazin'' (stylized as ''manager magazin'') is a German monthly business magazine focusing on business, finance and management based in Hamburg, Germany. History and profile ''Manager Magazin'' was first published on 1 November 1971. ...

'' sent a photographer to Küfner's Florida villa, where he held a bootcamp for nakamo.to. The magazine published a long article focusing mostly on cryptocurrency and the wealth of the group members. The magazine ''Maize'' printed an article by Küfner about the possibilities of DLT, in which he criticises the focus on earning money through Bitcoins instead of understanding the underlying technology. The magazine ''eins'' put more emphasis on Küfner's position as DLT and blockchain expert.Sarah Sommer: Vertraut den Daten!, brand eins, 2018-06-06 In 2018 Küfner published ''Das Krypto-Jahrzehnt'' to explain the history of cryptocurrencies from 2008 until 2018. He wanted to give an overview of the story as one of the few who had been involved from the beginning.

Publications

* ''Das Krypto-Jahrzehnt: Was seit dem ersten Bitcoin alles geschehen ist - und wie digitales Geld die Welt verändern wird'' Börsenbuchverlag, Kulmbach 2018,

Documentaries

''Die Bitcoin-Millionäre: Mit vollem Einsatz ins Risiko''

Arte Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, pl ...

(broadcaster Der Spiegel), German documentary, 2017.
''Reset - The Blockchain Revolution''

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

, German documentary, 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kufner, Robert A. 1988 births Living people German founders Businesspeople from Wuppertal