William Entriken

William "Will" Entriken, also known by the online moniker Fulldecent, is a solutions architect, cybersecurity specialist, financial analyst, general manager, and civic hacker best known for his contributions in blockchain technology and open sourced solutions.

He later continued his education at Drexel University, earning an M.S. in Finance and an MBA in Investment Management in 2008.

He is also a member of Mensa and is fluent in Mandarin with an HSK level 4 certification.

Entriken is currently the general manager at Pacific Medical Training which provides online medical training.

His diverse career spans various roles across business, finance and technology including work as a solutions architect, a software developer at Google, a financial analyst for CDI Corp completing Mergers & Acquisitions, a consultant for Big Four's Ernest & Young, and a cybersecurity specialist collaborating with Apple and protecting retail investors' accounts with FINRA, SEC and the FBI.

Civic hackers are persons who essentially utilize or improve on technologies for public good, whether at local, municipal, national or international scales.

Entriken has been noted for his contributions as a civic hacker in the Greater Philadelphia area, focusing on projects that aim to enhance public access to data and improve government accountability.

In 2008, Entriken developed a web application that compared the actual arrival times of SEPTA trains in Montgomery County to their scheduled times.

He was quoted by NBC Philadelphia News as saying that the trains’ lateness was “every day and usually by 15 minutes or more.” The application was updated in 2012 to collect real-time data for 13 SEPTA regional rail lines.

While SEPTA's Chief Control Center Officer acknowledged the app as "a nice little tool," he also cautioned how tracking real-time train times was “a very delicate balancing act.” Another official at SEPTA was also quoted as saying “it's good for guidance, but that it should not be your only source for train information.”

In 2014, Entriken sought to investigate Philadelphia traffic court cases concerning "3111 violations."

He was provided a quote of $11,200 by Xerox, the firm responsible for managing the court's data, as the cost to develop a program that could scan and identify all relevant cases within the database.

In an attempt to cover this expense, Entriken initiated a Kickstarter campaign, but it ultimately fell short of its financial target.

He is recognized as the lead author of the landmark Ethereum paper ERC-721: Non-Fungible Token Standard, published in 2018.

This paper is recognized for pioneering the foundation of the digital collectibles eco-system by establishing a programming standard called "ERC-721" to create NFTs (a type of digital “deed” to prove ownership of assets) via smart contracts on Ethereum.

It also first formalized and defined the term Non-Fungible Token (NFT) into blockchain nomenclature which was made popular by the blockchain game CryptoKitties; the CTO of that game, Dieter Shirley, is also a fellow co-author of the published paper.

His contributions as a civic hacker local to his community in Philadelphia has earned him recognition including from an open source project supporting the SEPTA train system.

As a cybersecurity professional, he has actively collaborated with Apple, FINRA, SEC and the FBI and currently holds an active Department of Defense Security Clearance.

William Entriken was born in the Greater Philadelphia area where he resides today.

He is married to Su Entriken, and together they run a boudoir photography studio in the Philadelphia area.

Entriken earned a BS in Computer Science with Dean’s List honors from Villanova University.

At Villanova he was the top scorer in the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition and worked in an apprenticeship where he programmed control modules for U.S. Navy Warships.

After incurring $300 in “V-toll” charges from the Pennsylvania Turnpike in 2019, Entriken developed a web application to simplify the appeals process for such charges and made it publicly available for others to use.

The application fills in the necessary appeal forms automatically.

“It's one line of code that works on Safari and Chrome.

It took me a half hour to write.

It fills in the entire five pages” he was quoted as saying in the PhillyVoice.

Entriken also filed Freedom of Information Act requests to analyze V-tolls over several years but was ultimately denied access to the data.

In 2020, Inc Magazine reported that William Entriken broke a non-disclosure agreement to bring attention to a cybersecurity vulnerability he allegedly discovered in 2008 at stock-trading firm Zecco (now TradeKing).

Entriken claimed unauthorized trades could be initiated from accounts without the proper credentials via certain URLs.

He publicly stated the firm did not address the vulnerability despite him reporting the issue.

Entriken has participated in the authorship of five papers known as EIP's (Ethereum Improvement Proposals), also called "ERCs" (Ethereum Request for Comment).

He is most notably the lead author of ERC-721: Non-Fungible Token Standard that pioneered the foundation of NFTs and catalyzed the digital collectibles eco-system.

Entriken is also among only two other authors including Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin to have successfully published an EIP in the "Informational" category via EIP-2228 and EIP-2982, respectively.

Through EIP-2228, Entriken proposed a formalization of the term "Mainnet" in regards to Ethereum's "network ID 1 and chain ID 1" that had been referred to inconsistently by other names such main chain, main-net, main net and Ethereum's Main Network.

As a public speaker, he has taken the stage at conferences such as NFT.nyc, NFT Tallinn and Chain76 (which he hosted).

When the United Kingdom announced plans of introducing NFTs a year prior, in response Entriken publicly offered commentary around the tax considerations involved.

In regards to environmental concerns, Entriken has advocated for the cryptocurrency industry to address its carbon footprint issues to avert going down a "destructive" path.

According to the New Scientist, he expressed the need at one point for the Ethereum blockchain to switch to a consensus protocol that is much less energy demanding, known as "Proof of stake" and stated that "Proof of work should be illegal" considering its significant energy consumption.

Entriken has publicly insisted that NFT use-cases ought to pivot more towards identity and healthcare.