About Me
I'm Mert Çiçekçi — Merth online. Got my first computer at age 5 and never looked back. While other kids were outside, I was already glued to a screen — exploring, breaking things, figuring out how stuff works. Spent 9 years playing basketball, which shaped my competitive mindset and taught me what it means to grind for something. Then at 13, I discovered crypto, went all in, got rekt — and that failure lit a fire that hasn't gone out since.
In 2021, I founded Tears of Astrea, a streetwear brand. Designed the collections, managed operations, handled everything from production to sales. It taught me how to build something from zero. That entrepreneurial hunger eventually pulled me into Web3 — and once I started building on-chain, there was no going back. 5 years deep and counting.
Stellar is where I found my home. I became a Stellar Development Foundation Ambassador, representing the network across Turkey. Mentored at Stellar Hack Pera — Turkey's largest IRL Web3 hackathon with 200+ builders. Delivered 10+ workshops on Soroban development, led bootcamps at ODTU, and helped onboard hundreds of developers into the ecosystem. I also built Noether, a perpetual DEX on Stellar, at Noe Labs.
I write Soroban on Stellar, Move on Sui, and Solidity on EVM chains. Worked as a Smart Contract Developer at Campus Arc , then DevRel Engineer at Rise In where I created courses, ran hackathons, and bridged the gap between protocols and developers. I've delivered 20+ workshops and won 7+ hackathons internationally — from Sui to ETHGlobal to Monad.
Studying at ODTU (METU) in Ankara, Turkey. Board member and developer lead at ODTU Blockchain , where I lead technical initiatives, organize workshops, and grow the university's blockchain community.
Taking a breather from full-time roles — learning, researching, building myself, and focusing on life. Previously DevRel at Rise In and co-founder of Noe Labs, where I built Noether, a perpetual DEX on Stellar. The goal hasn't changed since day one: build things that matter, ship fast, and never stop learning.
