{"id":"tyler-spalding","title":"Tyler Spalding","content":"**Tyler Spalding** is the President of the Acronym [Foundation](https://iq.wiki/wiki/foundation) and the Co-founder of Flexa, the developer organization behind [Ampera](https://iq.wiki/wiki/ampera), a grassroots payments initiative, anchored by the AMP collateral token. He also serves as Founder and Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of Mendako Group, a technology investment firm. He was appointed President of the Acronym [Foundation](https://iq.wiki/wiki/foundation) in January 2023, focusing on building open-source [Web3](https://iq.wiki/wiki/web3) projects including [Anvil](https://iq.wiki/wiki/anvil) and [Ampera](https://iq.wiki/wiki/ampera).\n$$widget0 [YOUTUBE@VID](Fk9-XbJeIQI)$$\n\n# Education\n\nSpalding attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering and then he got a Master's degree in Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical Engineering from the same university in 2002.\n\nHe earned an MBA, Cross Registration from Harvard Business School in 2010, and afterward, he attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for a Master's Degree in Business Administration (MBA), Entrepreneurship and Innovation.\n\n# Career\n\nTyler Spalding began his career as a Software Engineer at Microsoft and later held engineering and research roles with the United Space Alliance, the United States Air Force, and at NASA on the Space Shuttle Program and the Constellation Program.\n\nIn 2009, Spalding served as the Senior Engineer, NASA Constellation Program / Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle, and then as a Researcher at MIT until 2011.\n\nHe co-founded Tastebud Technologies in May 2011 and served as the CEO leading the company to be acquired by Raise in 2015. After the acquisition, Spalding served as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Raise.com until 2018. He went on to found two additional e-commerce startups (three total across his career), including Tastebud Technologies.\n\nHe co-founded Flexa in 2018 alongside Trevor Filter, [Zachary Kilgore](https://iq.wiki/wiki/zachary-kilgore), and Daniel McCabe (who also served as CEO). He served as Co-Founder of Flexa, which has been described as the largest pure-digital payments network.\n\nHe is based in New York, NY.\n\n## Flexa\n\nFlexa is a platform that offers omnichannel digital asset payments and is the company behind [Ampera](https://iq.wiki/wiki/ampera), a grassroots payments initiative that uses Amp as a digital collateral token. The Flexa Capacity contract is a collateral manager that uses Amp to collateralize the payments of merchant locations across the US and Canada. Users stake Amp in exchange for rewards funded by the merchant fees.\n\nHe has spoken publicly about the importance of strategic partnerships in digital payments, citing Flexa's collaboration with Lightspark as an example.\n$$widget0 [YOUTUBE@VID](nI6YEzs9_X8)$$","summary":"Tyler Spalding is the President of Acronym Foundation, Co-founder of Flexa, and an experienced engineer and entrepreneur with degrees from UIUC, Harvard, and MI...","images":[{"id":"QmeE1ENAwaLQxL92yiRdeBxu3eyVR1Ks8BqS2ywxpwfTzC","type":"image/jpeg, image/png"}],"categories":[{"id":"people","title":"People in crypto"}],"tags":[{"id":"Founder"}],"media":[{"id":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk9-XbJeIQI","size":"0","name":"Fk9-XbJeIQI","type":null,"source":"YOUTUBE"},{"id":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGr4VkR9zFA","size":"0","name":"sGr4VkR9zFA","type":null,"source":"YOUTUBE"},{"id":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS550VS-I14","size":"0","name":"aS550VS-I14","type":null,"source":"YOUTUBE"},{"id":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI6YEzs9_X8","size":"0","name":"nI6YEzs9_X8","type":null,"source":"YOUTUBE"}],"metadata":[{"id":"website","value":"https://acronymfoundation.org/"},{"id":"twitter_profile","value":"https://x.com/trspalding"},{"id":"linkedin_profile","value":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerspalding/"},{"id":"references","value":"[{\"id\":\"e6a03f1d-8b0c-491e-ad1f-9eb7a796dbb9\",\"url\":\"https://events.coindesk.com/speaker/-tyler-spalding\",\"description\":\"CoinDesk Events speaker page for Tyler Spalding\",\"timestamp\":1786521414285},{\"id\":\"dac407e9-bb7f-417b-b828-0cf82c785988\",\"url\":\"https://usethebitcoin.com/crypto-personalities/all-you-need-to-know-about-tyler-spalding-the-co-founder-of-flexa/\",\"description\":\"UseTheBitcoin profile article on Tyler Spalding\",\"timestamp\":1786521414285},{\"id\":\"e61dc5c8-debc-4d74-a4bc-408bc1412f3c\",\"url\":\"https://2023.webx-asia.com/speaker/tyler-spalding/\",\"description\":\"WebX Asia speaker biography for Tyler Spalding\",\"timestamp\":1786521414285},{\"id\":\"077320c5-fec6-41ce-9eb4-4dbd382a8f51\",\"url\":\"https://www.bitget.com/news/detail/12560604543170\",\"description\":\"Bitget article referencing Tyler Spalding and Acronym Foundation\",\"timestamp\":1786521414285},{\"id\":\"10af8ea3-3d70-47bd-87fa-8b31ca57eb2f\",\"url\":\"https://amptoken.substack.com/p/introducing-the-acronym-foundation\",\"description\":\"Acronym Foundation announcement on Substack (Amptoken)\",\"timestamp\":1786521414285}]"},{"id":"previous_cid","value":"\"https://ipfs.everipedia.org/ipfs/QmUXPBKrqbiKDsQBCdisGV79vehx8JqKtbXo9gPHvpm7ei\""},{"id":"commit-message","value":"\"Updated wiki content; replaced tag Founders with Founder; updated media (4 items)\""},{"id":"previous_cid","value":"QmUXPBKrqbiKDsQBCdisGV79vehx8JqKtbXo9gPHvpm7ei"}],"events":[],"user":{"id":"0x8af7a19a26d8fbc48defb35aefb15ec8c407f889"},"author":{"id":"0x212Cb3F4aE6611054637f9f78F18fB628AD258bb"},"operator":{"id":"0x04e4a72e18b46EC55Ba1361CEFcEF0404b520f47"},"language":"en","version":1,"linkedWikis":{"blockchains":[],"founders":[],"speakers":[]},"recentActivity":"{\"items\":[{\"id\":\"6982a4ab-d02b-486d-aa78-04dd19751186\",\"title\":\"Tyler Spalding\",\"description\":\"Tyler Spalding is the President of Acronym Foundation, Co-founder of Flexa, and an experienced engineer and entrepreneur with degrees from UIUC, Harvard, and MI...\",\"timestamp\":\"2026-08-12T07:58:21.387Z\",\"category\":\"People in crypto\",\"status\":{\"icon\":\"RiGlobalLine\",\"label\":\"Wiki Updated\",\"iconClassName\":\"text-green-500\"},\"user\":{\"name\":\"0x212Cb3F4aE6611054637f9f78F18fB628AD258bb\",\"address\":\"0x04e4a72e18b46EC55Ba1361CEFcEF0404b520f47\"},\"button\":{\"label\":\"View Summary\",\"icon\":\"RiFileTextLine\"},\"summarySections\":[{\"title\":\"Content\",\"subtitle\":\"Main article content was updated: lead, Career, Flexa, and other sections reworded and expanded.\",\"variant\":\"modified\",\"changeCount\":7,\"changes\":[\"Lead/intro: Updated to link 'Acronym Foundation' to the Foundation wiki, added that Spalding 'also serves as Founder and Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of Mendako Group, a technology investment firm', and reiterated his appointment as President of the Acronym Foundation in January 2023.\",\"Education: Reworked wording but preserved the same educational details (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign degrees; Harvard Business School cross-registration; MIT MBA).\",\"Career (general): Consolidated and rephrased early career roles (Microsoft, United Space Alliance, United States Air Force, NASA). 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