---
title: "Frank Oonk, from Waif to Whizzkid"
canonical: https://frankoonk.com/
description: "The story of a kid born in the slums of Indonesia who grew into a global tech entrepreneur, seeing the world's digital systems as his ultimate playground."
author: Frank Oonk
language: en
---

# Frank Oonk, from Waif to Whizzkid

> The story of a kid born in the slums of Indonesia who grew into a global tech entrepreneur, seeing the world's digital systems as his ultimate playground.

## Hi, I'm Frank

*Scene 01 — Genesis.root 1983*

Born in a Jakarta orphanage on February 12, 1983, named Tjahyono by my biological mother, Tati Binti Sia. She sacrificed her presence to give me a brighter perspective. Two remarkable Dutch souls, Henk Oonk and Truus Schrameijer, forged the foundation of my career.

## Compiling the Core

*Scene 02 — Consciousness.exe 2001*

They provided the absolute foundation, the root key to my existence. Immersed in the primordial architecture of computing, I learned to communicate with the machine, mutating my logic from (GW)BASIC into whatever syntax the construct demanded. I crossed from isolated dial-up BBS nodes into the sprawling labyrinths of IRC and ONION networks, seeking those who could read the transmission. Around that time I met the love of my life, [Miriam Kemerink](https://frankoonk.com/miriam-en-fey). DROME / HAL.

## System Override: exit(0)

*Scene 03 — Business.init 2012*

I aborted the standard educational loop. The raw syntax of the underground needed commercial purpose. Driven to create real-world impact and employment, I founded my first tech venture: RECOGNIZE. We engineered enterprise software for industry giants like Albert Heijn, Vodafone, Kruidvat. The code now had physical weight. In 2016, RECOGNIZE was successfully acquired by Reggeborgh / VolkerWessels.

## Algorithmic Liquidity

*Scene 04 — HFT.scale 2018*

Following the exit, I shifted my focus toward custom infrastructure and market systems engineering. I designed a global network of distributed compute nodes to bridge institutional TradFi quantitative models with crypto market microstructure, and launched Masternode.one. Kernel bypass networking and lock-free execution pipelines held internal latency in the noise: the 2.4ms average end-to-end tick-to-trade was the distance to the exchange, not the stack. Across every major venue, annual volume peaked in the tens of billions in 2023.

## Society's Perspective

*Scene 05 — World.model 2026*

Beyond the peak of algorithmic trading, I deployed my global infrastructure into the AI epoch to engineer SoulSwarm. It is built to model the world's perspective on a silence-first doctrine, continuously decoding societal ontology across hundreds of public data streams, confining language models to word only what the mathematics have already verified. It speaks only when measured reality demands it, voiced by a single entity: Tati. The circle has been completed.

## Booking Frank's time

Consulting time is bookable directly on the site.

- Rate: €375 per hour, excluding VAT
- Availability: Monday to Friday, 11:00–22:00 Europe/Amsterdam
- The last block of a day starts at 21:00
- Booked in one-hour blocks; blocks may span several days and are paid for in one transaction
- Maximum 40 hours per booking, minimum 24 hours' notice
- A booking is confirmed only once payment has cleared; selecting hours does not reserve them
- Cancellation up to 24 hours before the first booked hour refunds 75% of the amount paid
- Rescheduling is a cancellation followed by a new booking at the full rate
- Full terms: https://frankoonk.com/terms

## Family

Frank lives with his partner Miriam Kemerink and their daughter Fey Oonk. A page about them, in Dutch: https://frankoonk.com/miriam-en-fey

## Areas of expertise

- High-frequency trading
- Algorithmic trading
- Market making
- Low-latency infrastructure
- Distributed systems
- Artificial intelligence
- Enterprise software engineering
- Blockchain
- Cryptography
- Machine learning

## Contact

- Email: frank@frankoonk.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankoonk/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frankoonk

## Entity

- Legal name: Felra BV
- Address: Twentepoort Oost 12-D, Almelo
- KvK: 97624071
- VAT / BTW: 868141781B01
- IBAN: NL49INGB0113439474