About
I'm James Ball. I live and work in Edinburgh.
I studied Geology and Petroleum Geology at the University of Aberdeen, graduating with First Class Honours. I stayed on as a PhD candidate, researching geological modelling from drone-based photogrammetry — before deciding to leave academia for the internet.
Since then I've worked in product and ventures across crypto and DLT — at Monolith, Alongside Finance (now Universal), Copper.co, and Nethermind.
Currently I work with the Asian Development Bank as a consultant on digital assets, blockchain, AI/ML, and geospatial innovation in their Digital Innovation Sandbox. I'm also an advisor to the Centre of Excellence for Trust, and a visiting researcher at the Blockpass ID Lab at Edinburgh Napier University.
More recently, I've become interested in governance more broadly — particularly as AI systems become more capable and begin interacting with each other, not just with us. The questions around coordination, trust, and decision-making in multi-agent environments feel important and underexplored.
This blog is a place to think out loud about those things, and whatever else I find interesting.