Daniel Patrick Hughes (born July, 1979), also known by his forum pseudonym ‘fuserleer’, is a British software engineer, veteran of the gaming industry, founder of Radix and Founder / Director of RDX Works.
Early Life
Hughes was born in July 1979 and raised in Stoke-on-Trent, an area known for its history of economic innovation and adversity.
“I’m proud to be from Stoke-on-Trent, my roots are here and it provides a peaceful and calm environment to focus in on developing the technology and coding that will ensure DLT is scalable and sustainable.” - Link
In 1984, Hughes’ father bought him a Spectrum Zx81 computer, which sparked his interest in coding.
Career
Hughes opted not to go to university and instead worked for several software, gaming and mobile development companies after finishing school.
Hughes began his career in the gaming industry, working on PC and console titles. His experiences in game development honed his skills in thinking astutely and out-of-the-box, attributes that would later prove crucial in his blockchain endeavors.
In the early 2000s, Hughes pivoted to freelance work, focusing on mobile SKUs. A couple of years later, he started his own company, KDB Technology, which specialized in Near Field Communication (NFC) technology and contactless payment services. Under Hughes's leadership, KDB Technology provided services for major mobile OEMs and operators such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson, T-Mobile, and Samsung.
Position | Company | Business | Start Date | Finish Date |
Senior Developer | Console games. | November, 1996 | April, 1998 | |
Director of Technology | Camel 28 | PC & console games. | April, 1998 | October, 2000 |
Senior Developer, Architect & Team Leader | Video gambling machines. | October, 2000 | July, 2003 | |
Freelance Consultancy, Development & Team Management | Mobile development. | August, 2003 | April, 2005 | |
Owner | Mobile technology. | July, 2005 | November, 2012 | |
Founder / CTO | Radix DLT (Unincorporated) | Radix core development | November, 2012 | September, 2017 |
Co-Founder / CTO | Insurance tooling. | November, 2016 | - | |
Founder / CTO | Radix core development | September, 2017 | - |
Blackhat Controversy
“Way back in 2010ish I helped a friend start an ad network as I was in between previous company and crypto it was promoted on various forums and I ran point on some of them for him if you know anything about online advertising you'll know that fraudulent clicks are a daily thing and he was getting a lot of them A particularly big batch was from a user who had an account on blackhat. Payment was refused and he kicked up a shit storm on there,. And that's it, nothing more exciting than that.” - Dan Hughes, Telegram, 12/12/2023
Radix
Main article: History of Radix
Hughes heard about Bitcoin in 2011, read the Bitcoin whitepaper in 2012 and forked the Bitcoin code in 2013 identifying limitations in its blockchain architecture. Hughes worked on the development of Radix as a sole trader until the incorporation of Radix DLT in September, 2017.
For six years, Hughes worked on his solution from his home in Stoke-on-Trent, dedicating his dining room to servers, whiteboards, and a desktop setup reminiscent of a NASA launch center. Hughes initially developed a protocol called ‘Tempo’, but after 18 months, he had to scrap the project due to identified issues. Undeterred, he began anew, eventually giving birth to ‘Cerberus’, the consensus protocol that underpins Radix.
Hughes has denied being a perfectionist, referring to some of his code as ‘janky’.
Dan Hughes as Satoshi Nakamoto?
A post on Radnode's blog presents a theory linking Hughes to the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto. The theory hinges on various elements such as Hughes's interest in racing (particularly Nissan GTRs), his geographical location in the United Kingdom (potentially matching Satoshi's alleged time zone), and the similarities in their technical backgrounds and writing styles. While the theory is speculative and humorous in nature, it underscores the depth of Hughes's contributions to the crypto space.