Basil Gorin
Verified Expert in Engineering
JavaScript Developer
Crans-Montana, Switzerland
Toptal member since March 20, 2020
Basil is an enthusiastic, experienced solution architect, tech designer, and software engineer with a strong background in Java, web, and blockchain tech stacks. Since 2005, he has successfully applied technology to create digital solutions in the US, Israel, Hong Kong, Korea, Australia, Germany, and Estonia. Basil has built bridges between stakeholders and tech teams since his professional career. He loves it and is quite successful.
Portfolio
Experience
- JavaScript - 20 years
- Java - 15 years
- REST APIs - 10 years
- Full-stack - 10 years
- Smart Contracts - 9 years
- Solidity - 9 years
- Non-fungible Tokens (NFT) - 5 years
- Spring - 5 years
Preferred Environment
Solidity, TypeScript, Node.js, Java, JavaScript, Rust, Go, SQL, RESTFul APIs, Solana, Claude Code
The most amazing...
...project I've co-developed is a distributed storage solution, featuring advanced security, reliability, and speed.
Work Experience
Blockchain Lead
Alethea AI
- Led the blockchain team, organized teamwork, and set up the development processes to ensure deliverables consistently met exacting quality standards.
- Based on the design patterns for modular on-chain architecture, developed in 2017 – 2018, I created the Intelligent NFT (iNFT) protocol on-chain architecture without the use of proxies.
- Designed the Alethea ERC20 token (ALI), featuring a uniquely rich feature set: meta transactions support (EIP-2612, EIP-3009), ERC-1363 payable token standard support, voting delegation, and unlimited approvals support.
- Designed the “Tiny ERC721” optimization, leveraging the “tiny” 32-bit NFT ID space and allowing for x4 gas savings when minting NFTs. Tiny ERC721 is used as a base for all NFT implementations within the protocol.
- Implemented and released to the Ethereum mainnet the intelligent NFT (iNFT) protocol, including Alethea ERC20 token (ALI), Personality Pod ERC721 token (POD), other auxiliary ERC721 tokens, and helper smart contracts.
- Contributed to the design, implementation, and back-end/front-end integration of the AI economies launcher, enabling users to launch their SPL tokens, attract liquidity, and migrate them to Raydium.
- Contributed to the design, implementation, and back-end/front-end integration of the staking program for SPL tokens.
- Designed and implemented Merkle tree and signature-based airdrop programs, providing efficient and secure mechanisms for distributing SPL tokens to a wide range of users based on verifiable off-chain data.
- Participated in code reviews, wrote deployment and program initialization scripts, and administration and reconfiguration scripts. Created deployment documentation, executed mainnet deployments, and program upgrades.
Blockchain Director
Illuvium.io
- Actively supported the blockchain team in increasing its efficiency and work quality by organizing teamwork, educating team members, contributing to development process policies, and helping to hire new team members.
- Educated team members by means of pair programming sessions, comprehensive code reviews and audits to ensure constant team growth and the highest level of deliverables’ quality.
- Designed, implemented, and launched the Illuvium Land ERC721 token and Land Sale protocol on the Ethereum mainnet.
- Engineered a unique, combined L1/L2 real-time Dutch Auction token sale, enabling token purchases on the L1 Ethereum mainnet and minted on the L2 ImmutableX network, saving about 70% of the gas fees.
- Designed, implemented, and released to the L1 Ethereum mainnet and the L2 ImmutableX network ERC20 and ERC721 tokens, modeling the in-game assets in Illuvium Overworld and Autobattler.
Senior Java Developer
BlueSnap
- Significantly improved the onboarding process for new platform customers and their UX experience, leading to a multifold increase in sales.
- Implemented the onboarding flow for new merchants, including the back end (Java stack) and front end (single-page app in native HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for the fastest possible performance).
- Created and maintained a payment page builder, including the back end (Java stack) and front end (Ember, JavaScript, HTML, and CSS).
- Implemented new features, optimized, renewed old features, troubleshooted production issues, and fixed bugs in existing modules of the powerful, feature-rich eCommerce platform on an ongoing basis.
- Helped other teammates actively with their tasks and mentored them by performing code reviews, providing feedback, and conducting pair programming sessions.
- Collaborated closely with the QA team to ensure thorough testing and timely resolution of issues through clear and concise communication.
Senior Software Engineer
Sphera
- Implemented batching and significantly improved the throughput of the printing module in a Sphera risk management platform.
- Designed the data model for a bowtie diagram and related risk management data and processes.
- Implemented containerized local and CI environments using Docker Compose and Docker to ensure reproducible builds and reduce onboarding time.
Chief Technology Officer
Illuvium.io
- Brought strong leadership, helped to design the technical vision, developed the core on-chain architecture, and helped in hiring core blockchain team members during the earliest stage of the project.
- Helped to design, implement, and release to the Ethereum mainnet Illuvium Staking, Yield Farming, and Vesting protocols.
- Designed, implemented, and released to the Ethereum mainnet the Illuvium ERC20 token (ILV).
- Designed and implemented the ERC20 token with the built-in vesting scheme (linear unlocking mechanism).
Solutions Architect
Paxnet
- Designed a highly scalable blockchain platform featuring distributed transactions, simple non-Turing-complete smart contracts, decentralized storage, and messaging.
- Designed and prototyped a decentralized identity (DID) solution featuring all the key DID concepts like DID subjects, claims, and verifiable credentials.
- Designed a secure messenger, tightly integrated with the blockchain platform, blockchain-based payment system, and decentralized identity solution (DID).
- Designed and prototyped a decentralized messenger platform featuring a dark mode of operation (Post Snowden Web).
- Made a significant contribution to better communication and mutual understanding between stakeholders, product and project managers, developers, and QAs.
- Applied Amazon ECS and Docker to deploy and run application builds in AWS.
- Significantly helped the CTO with research and communication, and influenced the decisions. Was, de facto, the CTO's right hand.
Solutions Architect
Sophophilia Studios
- Developed a flexible technical design approach for a modular on-chain architecture based on a custom-developed access control smart contract. It quickly became a design pattern for modular smart contract-based protocols.
- Designed and implemented the ERC721 game from the ground up. Resolved the technical issues that existed in the field of ERC721-based decentralized games at that time. Created several design patterns for Ethereum-based smart contracts.
- Helped to significantly optimize the development costs by cutting off unnecessary technical complexity, leaving only feature-rich functionalities and maintaining the highest quality of implementation.
Solutions Architect
CML Team LTD
- Successfully mentored teams of two to five people by performing code reviews, providing feedback, and leading pairing coding sessions on various projects for customers worldwide.
- Participated in and significantly improved the talent interviewing process, resulting in a 4x reduction in mis-hires.
- Prototyped and created PoC solutions for several project ideas related to blockchain, chatbots, mobile, and enterprise.
- Played a key role in several negotiations with potential clients, resulting in long-term contracts, CML profitability, and clients' successful achievements.
- Supervised blockchain-related and backend-related (Java) directions in the team.
- Applied Amazon Lambda and Alexa Skills Kit to develop custom skills for an Amazon Alexa integration with a music chatbot.
Technical Consultant
DeedLock
- Finalized and deployed version 1 of Deedlock's protocol on the Ethereum mainnet, enabling on-chain registration and verification of real estate deeds, thereby enhancing transparency in the real estate sector.
- Collaborated with the stakeholders and the team to shape the vision and roadmap for version 2 of the protocol, focusing on adding the ability to execute deeds on-chain, further improving transparency and trust in real estate transactions.
- Designed and implemented the prototype for the deed execution on-chain, where the property was modeled as an NFT, and the deed as a modified ERC721-like transfer operation, requiring several signatures (seller, buyer, notary, county, etc.).
Senior Software Engineer
DataCradle
- Implemented the Reed-Solomon-based information dispersal algorithm (IDA) in Go, Java, JavaScript, and C#.
- Participated in the design and implementation of the distributed storage platform from scratch in Java.
- Redesigned, prototyped, and reimplemented the platform from scratch in Go.
Java Developer
Schering-Plough
- Significantly improved the platform performance and user experience by developing new features and improving existing ones.
- Streamlined and optimized the development process by working on-site with the client to gather requirements, estimate development efforts, and orchestrate the work of the offshore team.
- Contributed extensively to the project by participating in resource management, development, and delivery, providing production support.
Experience
CryptoMiner World: ERC721-based Decentralized Game by Sophophilia Studios
Helped to significantly optimize the development costs by cutting off unnecessary technical complexity, leaving only feature-rich items, and maintaining the highest quality of implementation.
My responsibilities in CryptoMiner World included:
* Technical design, prototyping
* Smart contracts design, prototyping, and implementation
* Web3 integration (during the initial phase of the project)
* Code review
Deedlock
I was in charge of modeling a property as an ERC721 token with its transition from seller to buyer with off-chain participation of a notary and Courtney clerk. ERC721 token implementation allowed to perform the entire operation with four signatures in a single transaction.
HODL.st
https://twitter.com/hodlstI participated in the technical design of the blockchain portion, smart contract design and implementation, and web3 integration (Java), REST API (Java, Spring).
CM2 Cockpit
https://cm2-cockpit.wildstrubel.net/Weather came first because it is the hardest. MeteoSwiss publishes a 1×1 km grid and the vertical levels above it; I use both in full, at a detail nobody else has drawn — a GPU shader renders cloud, precipitation, and real-feel over the terrain, and a probe cuts a vertical slice through the atmosphere at any point, which is what mountains need. I built it solo, end-to-end: desktop web, responsive web, and native Android, with one shared behavior.
Most of the work went into UX: buttons and widgets aligned to the pixel, a palette kept simple and minimal, and every control behaving at any size. The mobile build carried the hardest constraint — it is a one-handed app: one thumb reaches everything, and nothing ever asks for a second finger. The most enjoyable problem in the project.
The build itself was agentic, written under minimal supervision, which made the real question where my judgment beats the agent's: taste, thresholds, and scope.
Education
Master's Degree in Applied Mathematics and Physics
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (State University) (MIPT) - Moscow, Russian Federation
Certifications
Cryptography I by DAN BONEH – Statement of Accomplishment with Distinction
Stanford University
Skills
Libraries/APIs
jQuery, Web3.js, REST APIs, OpenZeppelin, Node.js, JAX-RS, JDBC, Java Servlets, Google Maps, Telegram Messenger API, AWT, SAX, Java Native Access (JNA), Java Message Service (JMS), Google Geocoding API, Azure Cognitive Services, Telegram Bot API, Facebook Messenger API, ODBC, Liquibase, Facebook API, JasperReports, WebGL
Tools
IntelliJ IDEA, Apache Maven, Ganache, Apache HTTP Server, Apache Tomcat, Subversion (SVN), Git, Mercurial, GitHub, Trello, Jira, RabbitMQ, Gradle, Microsoft Excel, Claude Code, InstallAnywhere, IBM Watson, Flyway, Visual Studio, Xcode, Interactive Disassembler (IDA), Hopper Disassembler, Sublime Text, Toad, CVS, bzr, GitLab, Bitbucket, Confluence, Slack, WildFly, Docker Compose, GIS
Languages
Java, JavaScript, Solidity, XML, HTML, CSS, SQL, CSS3, HTML5, TypeScript, ECMAScript (ES6), UML, Go, C, Kotlin, Swift, Assembly, ANSI C, C++, C#, Pascal, OCaml, YAML, XSLT, XPath, Active Server Pages (ASP), Transact-SQL (T-SQL), Rust, Java EE 8, Python, GLSL
Frameworks
Jakarta Server Pages (JSP), Truffle, Hardhat, Spring, Spring Boot, JUnit, Flutter, Hibernate, Spring MVC, Swing, Spring JDBC, JSF, Apache Struts, Ant Design, Mockito, Netty, JNI, JPA, Windows PowerShell, Spring Microservice, JSON Web Tokens (JWT), Anchor, Angular, Spring Security, React Native
Paradigms
RESTful Development, Concurrent Programming, Object-oriented Programming (OOP), Imperative Programming, Pair Programming, API Architecture, Role-based Access Control (RBAC), Procedural Programming, Microservices, Event-driven Architecture, DevOps, Automated Testing, Agile Software Development, Waterfall Development, REST, Microservices Architecture, B2C
Platforms
Blockchain, Ethereum, J2SE, Jakarta EE (Java EE or J2EE), Windows, MS-DOS, MacOS, Blockchain Platforms, Chainlink, JVM, Unix, Ubuntu, Java EE (Jakarta EE), AWS Lambda, Amazon Alexa, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Oracle Database, Linux, Eclipse, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), Amazon EC2, Docker, Azure
Storage
JSON, Databases, Relational Databases, MySQL, Database Integration, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, SQLite, H2, PL/SQL, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), RDBMS, Oracle RDBMS, Amazon DynamoDB, Spring Data JPA, Oracle 12c
Other
APIs, Ethereum Smart Contracts, Smart Contracts, Prototyping, Full-stack, Architecture, Decentralized Applications, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO), Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), Solution Architecture, Technical Design, Proof of Concept (POC), ERC-20, ERC-721, ERC-221, ERC-1155, ERC-827, Cryptocurrency, Computer Science, Technical Writing, Non-fungible Tokens (NFT), Software Architecture, Code Review, Source Code Review, Interviewing, Technical Hiring, Writing & Editing, Blockchain & Cryptocurrency, NFT Design, Back-end Development, Version Control, Web3, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Web Development, Performance Improvement, CSV, Web Services, Distributed Systems, Technical Architecture, System Architecture, Cryptography, Public-key Cryptography, Cryptocurrency APIs, Cryptocurrency Payments, Cryptocurrency Wallets, Applied Research, Immutable X, Simulations, Leadership, Project Leadership, Technical Leadership, CTO, Task Analysis, RESTFul APIs, Cloud, Solana, Decentralized Finance (DeFi), Tokenization, Telegram Bots, API Integration, System Integration, Financial Systems, Fintech, Data Aggregation, ERC-8004, SQL Server, Scalability, Finance, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Open Source, Amazon Echo, Web 3.0, Applets, DOM, Digital Signatures, RMI, Ajax, Microsoft Azure, WebLogic, Unix Shell Scripting, Chatbots, Enterprise Architecture, RESTful Microservices, Cryptographic Protocols, Applied Cryptography, Cryptocurrency Development, Cryptocurrency Exchanges, Applied Mathematics, Applied Physics, Research, Science, Molecular Biology, Chemistry, Ethers.js, Polygon, Foundry, Security Audits, Team Leadership, Remote Team Leadership, Team Management, Distributed Team Management, Software Project Management, IT Project Management, Game Design, Amazon RDS, Low-latency Software, Squads Multisig, Token-2022, Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), Payment Gateways, PCI DSS, ERP Systems, Multitenancy, Quarkus, Computational Modeling, EIP712, Panache, Jasper, Intranets, Data Engineering, Vite, Protocol Buffers, PWA, Service Workers, Geospatial Data, Cartography, Google Earth, Sentinel-2, Data Visualization
How to Work with Toptal
Toptal matches you directly with global industry experts from our network in hours—not weeks or months.
Share your needs
Choose your talent
Start your risk-free talent trial
Top talent is in high demand.
Start hiring