Austin is an advisor at Variant, specializing in mechanism design for protocols and other technical guidance for early-stage builders. Austin is currently building Whetstone Research, a mechanism design research firm, and is an advisor for Uniswap Labs. 

Austin’s research focuses on the design and economic incentives of onchain markets. He has contributed code for Uniswap v4 and has written papers on topics ranging from L2 chain design, MEV, and economics of onchain markets. Prior to his current roles, he worked in research at the Federal Reserve. His work on decentralized finance and automated market makers has been cited by the White House, the European Parliament, the Federal Reserve, and the Bank of France.