I was the lead hardware designer for the 21.co Bitcoin Computer. The product was envisioned as an all-in-one crypto developers kit, with hardware and software support for developers. In the box, users received a copy of the blockchain, a hardware mining add-on board for the Raspberry Pi, and all necessary accessories for quick setup.

In addition to the hardware design, I created native apps for the 21 Bitcoin Computer platform, and managed supply chain and manufacturing logistics.

Users of the 21.co Bitcoin Computer were part of a shared mining pool. Those who mined continuously through 2018 and sold made a profit on the device, given the appreciation of the bitcoin price during that time. Most users generated a small amount of bitcoin, which was intended for use in microtransactions supported by the 21.co network. Users could sell their own API endpoints for bitcoin.

To support the hardware design, I led the development of two native apps for the 21 Bitcoin Computer, Ping21 and Sensor21. Both apps were designed as API endpoints for sale on the 21.co Marketplace.

Ping21 rented network access for a small amount of bitcoin, querying N number of available endpoints to determine whether or not a website responded to a ping request. Each ping request cost a small amount of bitcoin, facilitated with the 21.co Marketplace.

Sensor21 sold access to a hardware sensor for a small amount of bitcoin. In this application, I wrote python code to allow a user to sell data from an I2C hardware sensor. Sensor data was gathered through the hardware interface on the 21 Bitcoin Computer, then written to a local database, and sold on request through the 21.co Marketplace.

Soon after the launch of the product, 21.co pivoted to software, when I transitioned to developing the mobile app for the new product / new company.

21.co evolved into Earn.com, which was acquired by Coinbase in 2018.