Ethan Heilman
Research Scientist at cloudflare
Summary
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RockstarEthan Heilman is a research scientist and seasoned network security/cryptography researcher with 14 years of experience focused on Bitcoin and Internet routing security (RPKI). He has a strong track record of hardening core cryptocurrency clients—contributing test-driven fixes and deterministic unit tests to high-profile projects including Bitcoin Core and Zcash—where his work on addrman and deserialization bugs improved peer discovery and prevented data corruption. Combining backend engineering with QA and test automation, he specializes in making distributed, peer-to-peer networking components more reliable and auditable. Notably, he introduced “feeler” connections and deterministic testing strategies that reduced non-determinism in address management across multiple crypto projects.
13 years of coding experience
Github Skills (27)
unit-testing10
debug10
c-language10
zcash10
boost-test10
testing10
bitcoin10
data-serialization10
bitcoins10
dog10
network-programming10
bitcoin-core10
serialization10
cryptocurrency10
automation10
Programming languages (13)
Github contributions (5)
bitcoin/bitcoin
Jun 2016 - Jan 2021
Bitcoin Core integration/staging tree
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer & QA Engineer / Test Automation Engineer
Back-end Developer & QA Engineer / Test Automation EngineerContributions:21 reviews, 8 commits, 12 PRs in 4 years 8 months
Contributions summary:Ethan primarily focused on enhancing the test coverage and quality of the Bitcoin Core codebase, specifically targeting the `addrman` module. They developed and integrated unit tests, making `addrman` more testable and increasing the overall accuracy of the tests. The user also addressed a critical de-serialization bug that could corrupt the `addrman` data, ensuring its integrity. Furthermore, the user introduced "feeler" connections to improve the freshness of addresses in the tried table.
cryptographyp2pc-plus-pluscryptocurrencybitcoin-core
bitcoinxt/bitcoinxt
Sep 2015 - Oct 2016
Bitcoin XT. Most recent release is K.
Role in this project:Backend & QA Engineer
Backend & QA EngineerContributions:7 commits in 1 year 1 month
Contributions summary:Ethan primarily focused on improving the test coverage and reliability of the Bitcoin XT codebase. They implemented numerous unit tests for the `addrman` module, enhancing the accuracy and determinism of the testing process. Furthermore, the user introduced "feeler connections" to the network to improve address discovery, while also resolving a de-serialization bug to prevent data corruption and ensure Addrman remains in a consistent state. This suggests a strong focus on core network functionality and quality assurance.
bitcoin-xtbitcoin
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