David Baiye: Making the Crypto World Safer One Line of Code at a Time

In the growing world of cryptocurrency, opportunity and risk often go hand in hand. While crypto may offer innovative financial possibilities to some, it's also become a playground for scammers, with fake coins, fraudulent exchanges, and elaborate schemes lurking around every digital corner.  

Now imagine a single platform brimming with thousands of unbiased cryptocurrency reviews from users worldwide. Newcomers to the crypto space can now have a trusted compass to guide them, allowing them to read reviews from experienced users and determine whether an investment is safe or potentially fraudulent before committing their funds. 

This is the world the isitsafe.io team strives to bring. 

For today’s PluggedIn Blog article, we interviewed David Baiye, a 15-year-old developer from Nigeria and core member of the isitsafe.io team with an ambitious and fierce personality! Glad we got to hear his story! 

The Journey 

David's journey with isitsafe.io began in November 2022 when he was just 13 years old. As a curious teenager exploring web3 development, David stumbled upon message from Aaron Ullal sharing his vision for isitsafe.io in the learnweb3.io Discord server. Despite his young age and limited experience, David's enthusiasm and willingness to learn caught the attention of Aaron, who invited him to help bring this idea to a reality. 

David remarks how he quickly found his place on the team. His first job as a 13-year-old was to build the landing page for isitsafe.io using Next.js, Tailwind CSS, and Ant Design. This was no small feat for a young developer, but David rose to the challenge. He faced difficulties adapting to new technologies and component libraries, but his perseverance paid off. As David recalls, "I felt so good finally having the skills I've been learning for so long actually being really practical." Recently, David has been working on the app and other features to improve the users experience on the website. 

For David, one of the most inspiring aspects of his experience was working with seasoned professionals. As the youngest member of the team, David found immense motivation in collaborating with experienced developers with decades of experience. He shares how they were always patient and welcoming and kept encouraging David through his mistakes and successes.  

His work on isitsafe.io wasn't without its challenges. David was working with a 4GB RAM laptop, which often struggled to run the necessary development tools. But he dealt with the slow speeds and the inability to install certain applications (like Docker) for his work. David focused on finding what he could do for the team given his constraints and gave it his all. 

So far isitsafe.io has found extremely positive support since their launch on Product Hunt, but they have taken a pause due to the lack of traction from investors and personal difficulties of the team lead. They aim to resume soon with a large focus on marketing and getting the word out about isitsafe.io. Now with a new laptop and renewed enthusiasm, David is ready to make up for lost time and contribute even more to the project's development. 

Beyond isitsafe.io 

David's ambitions extend beyond his work on isitsafe.io. As he prepares to enter university, he has set himself an ambitious goal of achieving a 4.96 CGPA. While it may seem impossible, David believes that "believing you can do an impossible thing is the first step to actually achieving that impossible thing." Wise words from a 15-year-old for us all to learn from :). 

David's story shows the power of curiosity, the impact of supportive mentorship in tech, and your age doesn’t need to stop you from trying to make an impact on the world. As he continues to grow and develop his skills, we can't wait to see what he'll achieve next. 

If you’d like to connect with David or would like to support him or the mission at isitsafe.io, you can reach out to him via email at ozerlihashem@gmail.com. 

Stay tuned for more inspiring stories of young innovators shaping the future of technology!