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Article
Adriaan Brink’s iCoins: A Digital Cash Vision That Came True
by Ian Sherrington, April 2025
Background
I came across an old website built by my old buddy Adriaan Brink. The website is called iCoins.com and he seems to have been put together in the early 2000’s.
Click here to open a restored copy of the iCoins website.
Remarkably, iCoins.com promotes electronic cash, way before the dawn of Bitcoin.
I decided to take a closer look at Adriaan’s ideas and compared them to how things turned out with crypto currencies of today.
Was Adriaan’s electronic cash plan better than what we have now? Read on for more…
About iCoins.com
iCoins.com was one of the early ventures exploring the idea of digital currencies, well before the world had even heard of Bitcoin or blockchain.
Created by visionary entrepreneur Adriaan Brink, iCoins offered users a way to manage, exchange, and experience virtual coins online.
It was a bold experiment in creating a form of value that lived purely in the digital world — something far ahead of its time.
The original site, launched in the late 1990s and early 2000s, built on Adriaan’s experience with payment systems he had gained in earlier venture – To read more about Adriaan’s involvement with the ILLF and Earthport, Read more here The First Online Wager.
A Tribute to Adriaan Brink
Adriaan Brink was a true internet pioneer — a creative thinker who recognized the potential of the online world to create new forms of value, new kinds of experiences, and new ways for people to connect.
Through projects like iCoins.com, Adriaan demonstrated a rare blend of technical skill, entrepreneurial spirit, and imaginative foresight.
At a time when the concept of owning or trading something purely digital was a novel concept while no-one initially trusted, which he pushed forward — designing systems that anticipated many of the ideas we now take for granted in virtual economies and cryptocurrency ecosystems.
Adriaan’s work was not just about technology. It was about possibility — about envisioning a future where people could interact, transact, and create value in new and exciting ways.
Adriaan Brink’s vision and his role as one of the internet’s early dreamers and builders lives on in his websites.
His spirit continues to inspire all of us who believe in the power of bold ideas and fearless innovation.
Long live Adriaan!
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Series Introduction
The Online Gambling Industry
A Series of Articles
Ian Sherrington, July 2024
In 1996, a small sportsbook in Austria accepted the world’s first online sports bet: a $50 gamble that Tottenham Hotspur would beat Hereford United in a third round FA Cup replay.
Since then, the rise of the online gaming industry has been meteoric. From humble beginnings, in seedy apartments and dimly lit basements, visionaries and programmers created computer systems that would form the foundations of a remarkable industry.
This transformation has extended gambling opportunities in unprecedented ways. As each new system or service came online, it gained popularity and momentum, leading to rapid growth.
Today, the industry is worth a fortune, with a turnover calculated in the trillions of dollars. It pays significant taxes, contributes to worthy causes, offers investment opportunities, and provides employment to many.
This first article in the series “The Online Gambling Industry” outlines the origins of the industry; looking at the key innovations that contributed to the beginnings of the online gambling industry.
We will explore how these early developments set the stage for the thriving online gambling landscape we see today.
The following articles in this series will delve deeper into the evolution of the industry, revealing the pioneers and their ground-breaking contributions. Join us, as we uncover the fascinating history of online gambling!
A Note from the Author
Dear Reader,
I’m Ian Sherrington and thank you for your interest in this fascinating topic. As a programmer, I played a key role in the early days of the Online Gambling Industry. On January 17th, 1996 the first online sports bet was accepted by the new Intertops website which I had conceived and created. Intertops has been online and accepting bets ever since.
I’ve stayed in the industry and continue to innovate and contribute in various ways, not just technically. During my time I’ve witnessed the evolution of the industry first-hand.
I always wanted to write about the industry and how it came to be and uncover the innovations and the innovators, many of whom I have met, and their invaluable contributions.
Now I have the chance to do it so now I’m investigating .. Who did what, when and.. why?
Huge thanks to Paul and all for your patient editing!
Let the Series begin!
Ian Sherrington, July 2024
