DAN BARUKA Blockchain Protocol Engineer | Cosmos SDK, Go, IBC, CosmWasm | CTO & Co-founder, Safrochain Nairobi, Kenya (remote, UTC+3) +254 740 860 373 | danbaruka01@gmail.com github.com/danbaruka | linkedin.com/in/danbaruka | x.com/danamphred | baruka.me SUMMARY ------- Blockchain engineer with 7 years in software development and 5 years in blockchain, including the design, launch and ongoing maintenance of a production Cosmos SDK Layer 1. As CTO and co-founder of Safrochain, I built the chain, its custom modules, its genesis and validator coordination, its indexer, explorer and multisig tooling, and I ship the core upgrades that keep it running. I also lead Zunia, a self-custody multi-chain Cosmos wallet covering 262 chains, and serve as a Developer Advocate at Intersect for the Cardano ecosystem. I work best in small, senior, remote teams that own a chain end to end. CORE EXPERTISE -------------- Chain engineering - Cosmos SDK v0.47 and v0.50 (app wiring, keepers, msg servers, ante handlers, params, upgrades) - CometBFT consensus, genesis design, gentx coordination, validator operations - IBC: ICS-20 transfers, channels and relayer operations - CosmWasm (Rust) contracts and wasmbindings, Token Factory denoms - protobuf and buf, gRPC and REST, interchaintest end-to-end suites - Chain data: Callisto indexer, PostgreSQL, block explorers Languages and tooling - Go (primary), Rust, TypeScript, Dart and Flutter, Haskell (Plutus), Python - CosmJS and InterchainJS, Keplr and Leap, WalletConnect v2, Ledger and Keystone - Legacy Amino multisig, ADR-036 wallet auth, SignDoc verification - Docker, GitHub Actions, goreleaser, Linux servers, AWS, Kubernetes - React and Next.js, Node.js, NestJS EXPERIENCE ---------- CTO & Co-founder, Safrochain | Remote | 2025 to present Community-first Cosmos SDK Layer 1 built for African and global builders. Native token SAF, chain ID safrochain-1, mainnet live since June 2026, Apache 2.0. - Architected and launched Safrochain from the Juno codebase to a live mainnet: Cosmos SDK v0.50, CometBFT, IBC, CosmWasm, governance, staking and oracle integration. (Go, Cosmos SDK, CometBFT, IBC, CosmWasm) - Run the live network day to day (61 active validators, upgrades, ecosystem), now serving 100,000+ wallets and millions of transactions. (validator ops, monitoring) - Designed and shipped custom application modules: Likelemba (rotating savings), XPoints (on-chain points), USAF Faucet, plus Osmosis Token Factory and Gaia GlobalFee integration and CosmWasm bindings. (x/ modules, keepers, protobuf, wasmbindings) - Own the release process: coordinated genesis and gentx submissions for mainnet launch, onboard and support validators, and plan and execute on-chain software upgrades of the core node. (genesis, upgrades, goreleaser) - Built the production indexing stack: Callisto (Go) syncing chain state into PostgreSQL, with a NestJS REST API serving explorers and apps. (Go, PostgreSQL, NestJS) - Built SafroExplorer, the network block explorer (blocks, transactions, validators, governance, CosmWasm contracts), and maintain a ping.pub deployment. (Next.js, TypeScript, RPC, gRPC) - Built SMultisig, a non-custodial K-of-N threshold multisig for teams: Legacy Amino multisig pubkeys, ADR-036 wallet sign-in, canonical SignDoc verification before storage or broadcast, role-based access and realtime signer sync. (Cosmos SDK multisig, Amino, Next.js) - Built WinSaf, a provably fair on-chain lottery inside Telegram: open-source CosmWasm contracts, beacon-backed draws, MPC 2-of-3 wallets and on-chain verification of every round. (CosmWasm, Rust, Telegram) - Shipped ecosystem dApps and SDKs: Safrimba (safrimba.safrochain.com), decentralized savings circles that bring Likelemba (ROSCA) on-chain with SAF or USDC payouts, and SAFHANDLE (name and phone number resolution to addresses, with Dart and TypeScript SDKs). (Rust, CosmWasm, Dart, TypeScript) - Maintain the ecosystem registries, docs and GitHub organization (25 repositories, external PR review, CI, security policy), and the chain listings in cosmos/chain-registry, keplr-chain-registry and Mintscan. Led the SAF listings on Coinstore (SAFUSDT) and CoinGecko. Founder & Lead Engineer, Zunia Lab | Remote | 2025 to present Self-custody multi-chain wallet for the Cosmos ecosystem. Browser extension and mobile app on the same keys, IBC-native, Apache 2.0, 1.0 release candidate. - Lead a team of four developers and one community manager; own architecture, security model and release process. (TypeScript, Rust, Dart) - Shipped the Chrome extension (Manifest V3) with plain-language transaction decoding before signing, per-site permissions, Amino and Direct signing, and runtime chain suggestion. (TypeScript, CosmJS, InterchainJS) - Built the Flutter mobile wallet with biometric unlock, QR air-gapped approval of desktop transactions and WalletConnect v2 for dApp sessions. (Flutter, Dart, WalletConnect) - Designed the Zunia chain registry: 262 chains (218 Cosmos, 43 EVM, 1 Solana) read at runtime, so new chains need no app release. - Implemented one-step IBC transfers with channel, route and fees resolved before signing; median end-to-end transfer of 4.2 s measured from Cosmos Hub to Safrochain. (IBC, ICS-20) - Integrated Ledger (Nano S Plus, Nano X, Stax) and Keystone 3 hardware signing, BIP39 and BIP44 derivation, AES-256 storage in the OS keystore, zero server-side key material. - Published developer SDKs (web, React, Flutter), a standard Cosmos wallet interface for drop-in dApp support, a live IBC map (ibcmap.zunialab.com) and a security disclosure policy. Co-founder, Dyma | Remote | 2024 to present Task-to-earn application for the Cosmos ecosystem with an on-chain reputation system. - Designed the reputation layer as a portable, verifiable signal usable by other Cosmos projects, with IBC multi-hop routing and signed, timestamped proofs consumable through an SDK. - Designed DYMA liquidity on Osmosis (weighted pool configuration, Token Factory denom registration). Developer Advocate, Cohort 2, Intersect (Cardano) | Remote | 2025 to 2026 Selected for Cohort 2 of the Intersect Developer Advocate Program, run by the Open Source Office. - Co-lead the Developer Experience Working Group (weekly sessions, a 12-week onboarding roadmap, a target of 15 to 30 new developers with working Cardano environments) and act as the focal point for developers in East and Central Africa. Community Maintainer, Intersect Maintainer Retainer Program | Remote | 2025 to present - Funded maintainer and top contributor (150+ commits) of IntersectMBO/developer-experience: backlog triage, release support, documentation and governance compliance under the Open Source Committee. Co-founder & Project Manager, Uptodate Developers | Goma, DR Congo, and remote | 2019 to present Software studio and developer community. - Frontend developer on Adaex, a decentralized exchange on Cardano (React, Node.js API integration, 2023 to 2025). - Project manager on Ekival, a P2P crypto application (AWS and Linux infrastructure, 2021 to 2022), and on ProWorkspace, a CRM platform (2023 to 2024). - Led the deployment of Dev Community (devcommunity.io), the studio’s developer platform, growing it to 2,000+ users. - Mentored 15+ junior developers in frontend and UI/UX (2021 to 2022). SELECTED PROJECTS AND OPEN SOURCE --------------------------------- - Safrochain: A community-first Cosmos SDK Layer 1, live on mainnet since June 2026. safrochain.com - Zunia Wallet: A self-custody, IBC-native Cosmos wallet. Extension and mobile on the same keys, 262 chains. zunialab.com - SMultisig: A non-custodial K-of-N threshold multisig for teams on Safrochain. smultisig.safrochain.com - SafroExplorer: The block explorer of the Safrochain network. explorer.safrochain.com - Safrochain Indexer: The production indexing stack: Callisto (Go), PostgreSQL and a NestJS API. github.com/Safrochain-Org/safrochain_indexer - WinSaf: A provably fair on-chain lottery that lives inside Telegram. winsaf.xyz - Safrimba: Decentralized savings circles on Safrochain: Likelemba, the rotating tontine, on-chain. safrimba.safrochain.com - SAFHANDLE: Send to a short name or a phone number, resolved on-chain to an address. github.com/Safrochain-Org/safhandle-contract - COTS: Cardano Offline Transaction Simulator: test transactions and Plutus scripts without a node. github.com/danbaruka/COTS - Dyma: Task-to-earn for Cosmos, with a portable on-chain reputation. - Cardano DevEx: Top contributor to IntersectMBO/developer-experience, onboarding developers to Cardano. github.com/IntersectMBO/developer-experience - Contributions to cosmos/chain-registry, chainapsis/keplr-chain-registry, CosmosLabsKR/chainlist, ping-pub/mainnet, IntersectMBO/developer-experience, IntersectMBO/evolution-sdk, IntersectMBO/cardano-ledger, cardano-foundation/cardano-token-registry. COMMUNITY AND ECOSYSTEM ROLES ----------------------------- - Developer Advocate, Intersect (Cardano) (Cohort 2 of the Developer Advocate Program, 2025–2026). - Maintainer, IntersectMBO/developer-experience (Maintainer Retainer Program, top contributor, 2025). - Mentor and speaker, Cardano Africa Tech Summit (CATS 2026, 2026). - Host, Cardano Summit community event (Goma, DR Congo, 2024). - Guest speaker, Cardano Summit masterclass (Dubai: “Decentralized exchanges in Africa” (100+ attendees), 2023). - Co-founder, Dev Community (Developer platform, 2,000+ members; 15+ juniors mentored, 2019–). EDUCATION AND CERTIFICATIONS ---------------------------- - Licence (five-year programme, Bac+5) in Computer Science and Management, Institut Supérieur de l’Informatique et de Gestion (ISIG), Goma, DR Congo, 2020. Thesis: AI-powered recommendation system for supermarket sales prediction. - Graduat (three-year degree) in Computer Science and Management, ISIG, Goma, DR Congo, 2018. - Cardano Blockchain Certified Associate (CBCA), Cardano Foundation, 2022. LANGUAGES --------- - French: Native. - Swahili: Native. - English: Professional working proficiency.