EDMTo 2025 - October 22nd Meetup (@ ChainSafe's Toronto Office)

Hi everyone! It's been a while, but we're back to bring together builders of Ethereum in Toronto. Regardless if you're new to the community or have been waiting years for another meetup, we'd love to get Toronto's Ethereum builders community bonded together once again to create and build synergies within Toronto and the surrounding areas.

As one of Toronto's oldest Ethereum meetup groups, we intend to create more regular opportunities for developers to meet and build on Ethereum together. Starting now.

Welcome to our 1st in person event of 2025.

Join us for pizza and drinks while listening and meeting some of the most innovative and veteran minds in the web3 space.

Wenesday, October 22nd, 2025
Agenda:
6:30 pm: Doors open (2nd floor, ChainSafe Office)
7:00 pm: Event Starts
1. Welcome Remarks
2. Speaker 1: Phil Ngo, Engineering Manager of Lodestar at ChainSafe
3. Speaker 2: Marc Lijour, Regional Coordinator (Canada & USA) of IEEE Blockchain Technical Community
4. Social & Networking
9:00 pm: Finish

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What to expect:
This session reboots our efforts to reconvene the Ethereum builders in the Toronto area with conversations about Ethereum's latest protocol upgrades and about how we can better support builders on Ethereum in Toronto.

All developers are welcome, from beginners to advanced coders alike.

What to bring:

• Ideas on how we can create more value for Ethereum builders in Toronto
• Laptop if you want to follow along any topics; this is optional though.
• That friend who’s on the fence about blockchain but you know is secretly curious and wants to know more :)

*EDMTo is not an electronic dance music event.
This event is sponsored by ChainSafe
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Speaker Bios:
Phil Ngo is the Engineering Manager of ChainSafe’s Ethereum consensus client, Lodestar, transitioning from a TypeScript to a Zig based implementation of the Ethereum consensus protocol. He joined ChainSafe in July 2021, contributing to web3JS and Lodestar as an avid blockchain enthusiast and a genesis node operator on Ethereum. His web3 journey began in 2013 after he was sent Bitcoin as a demonstration. Throughout this process, he realized the immense value of permissionless, transparent and decentralized ledgers.

Previous to his contributions in web3 at ChainSafe, he co-founded a failed startup in the security token space, was a pilot in training for the Royal Canadian Air Force and a veteran information systems specialist for the Canadian military. His previous experiences in a closed and controlled environment led to realizing the immense value open systems provide society. He hopes his work contributes to the benefit of all people, no matter their socioeconomic status, nationality or their accessible needs.
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Marc Lijour is an entrepreneur, researcher, and educator on a mission to unlock human potential in a world increasingly governed by data and software.

After a career in education spanning several continents, including 7 years at the Ontario Ministry of Education leading technology initiatives, Marc joined the private sector to accelerate innovation. From connecting people and devices at Cisco Systems, to building the financial infrastructure on Ethereum at ConsenSys, to providing Canadians to one of the first sovereign data centres offering AI and quantum hybridation, the quest for digital innovation is just starting.

Marc shares his time between teaching Strategy to MBA students at the International Business University (IBU), helping early-stage tech startup founders grow their business, and supporting the innovation ecosystem through a large commitment to non-profit initiatives.

He currently serves as the Chair of the board at the Northstar Foundation, a board member at TechConnex, an advisor at Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) in the Web3/Blockchain stream and the Quantum stream, a coordinator for US and Canada at the IEEE Blockchain Technical Community, and an advisor for postsecondary institutions focused on innovation and supporting the industry.
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ChainSafe is a blockchain research and development firm specializing in infrastructure development and web3 gaming. We’re well-known for protocol-level contributions to Ethereum, Polkadot, Filecoin, and more, alongside bleeding-edge solutions in gaming, cross-chain bridging, and decentralized storage.

Our open-source and community-driven ethos serves both organizations and developers. With our years of experience, diverse expertise, and global team of more than 120+ skilled individuals, we’re making it our mission to onboard the next 1 million builders into the web3 space by providing them with the groundwork, tools, and experience they’ll need to build the next iteration of the internet.