Ryan Oakes PhD

Ryan is the founder & CEO of Bitcoin Memorials, a memorial service that creates permanent online tributes recorded on Bitcoin that can never be taken down, edited, or lost. He holds a PhD in Industrial Organizational Psychology and served in the U.S. Army as an Airborne Infantry Paratrooper. He founded Bitcoin Memorials in 2026 after losing his mother to cancer in December 2025. What he discovered during his own grief surprised him. Every digital memorial website is temporary. Of the 61 digital afterlife companies tracked by researchers, 26 had already closed. A 42% failure rate in an industry that sells "forever." Bitcoin Memorials exists because the tributes families pour their hearts into deserve better than a company's uptime guarantee. Ryan brings an unusual combination to gr...