Introducing: The Composable Foundation

Composable Foundation
5 min readOct 4, 2023

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We are pleased to announce the formal establishment of Composable as a Foundation (Stiftung) in Switzerland. The Composable Foundation serves as the underlying organizational structure to drive forward the Composable Protocol and Picasso Protocol.

This is a concrete step towards solidifying the vision of all of Composable's contributors and serving our community through a legally compliant structure. In this manner, the Foundation and its members will greatly support the core protocols in ecosystem development as well as research and development efforts to continue advancing the Composable Protocol and Picasso Protocol to new heights.

Swiss Foundation Structure

Switzerland's Foundation framework is a battle-tested structure employed by a multitude of other protocols in the industry, including Ethereum, NEAR, Cardano, and more. As such, it has proven to offer a reliable and well-regulated operating environment that is poised to benefit all supporters and stakeholders of Composable. Through our recently announced OpenGov structures, we will scale our operations with our community-driven initiatives and continue to position the Composable & Picasso Protocols at the center of interoperability and cross-domain execution.

As Composable’s core contributors support the protocols in their transition to OpenGov, a number of initiatives at both the Foundation and the Protocol level will be facilitated by leveraging and engaging with further Composable contributors from 18+ countries around the globe, including: Canada, Egypt, the United States, China, Singapore, India, Nigeria, Lebanon, Argentina, Ukraine, Uruguay, Portugal, Germany, France, South Korea, Japan, Russia, and the United Kingdom.

Board Members

Guiding the Composable Foundation are the following board members:

Thomas Contin:

Founder & CEO at Advisorn

Thomas is a lawyer with over 15 years of experience, bringing his strong background in law and IT to his present positions in the blockchain industry. He is the Founder and CEO of Advisorn GmbH, offering legal and compliance solutions for the crypto space. He is also the president of the DeFi Foundation and managing partner at EasyLPD, a company providing solutions for compliance with Switzerland’s Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP). In the past and present, he has served as a legal advisor for several companies in the blockchain and crypto fields as well as an advisor to crowdfunding projects performing various offerings (such as ICOs and IDOs).

Miguel Matos

Professor at the Universidade de Lisboa & Researcher at INESC-ID

Miguel is an Assistant Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico of the Universidade de Lisboa and a Researcher at INESC-ID in the Distributed Systems Group. His research interests relate to persistent memory and the opportunities and challenges it brings to programmers; blockchain scalability, security and performance; systems evaluation in particular in the topics of reproducibility and automation; as well as databases’ performance and consistency guarantees. His previous research work can be found in Google Scholar, DBLP and ACM. In addition to research and academia, Miguel has been a founder and contributor in the startup space. Currently, Miguel brings his background in startups and research to his collaboration with Composable on a range of research related to expanding and improving cross-chain DeFi.

Charles Read

Founding Partner at Rarestone Capital

Charles is an experienced investor, strategist, and consultant in the blockchain space. Most recently, he created Rarestone Capital, a venture fund focused on funding and supporting world changing technology companies enabled by blockchain and distributed ledger technology. Beginning the company with just $100,000 in startup capital, Charles was able to grow the fund to be a noteworthy name in the space, with Rarestone investing in over 100 teams to date including Composable, Solana, and Jito. Because of his success as a creator and investor, Charles has been named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list for Finance in Europe.

Florian Reike:

Co-Founder at Peanuds

Florian is deeply immersed in the blockchain space, with experience as a founder, researcher, and investor. From the beginning, Florian was an early adopter and supporter of cryptocurrency. Most recently, he Co-Founded Peanuds, a project providing dedicated banking solutions for digital startups and SMEs. He was also the Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Advanced Blockchain AG (an investor in Composable) before exiting his role after 4 years at the organization. In addition to his hands-on positions at blockchain-related groups such as these, Florian also supports the industry as an occasional angel investor.

Mark Weerts:

Managing Director at Ben AND GbmH

Mark is a C-level executive with over a decade of expertise in fashion, buying, and process optimization. His current role is as Managing Director of Ben AND GmbH. He is proficient in process optimization, enabling him to achieve substantial cost savings and improved efficiencies, resulting in increased profitability for companies he has worked for. His passion for optimization is augmented by his interest in blockchain. He has demonstrated his skills in this field as a Member of the Supervisory Board at Advanced Blockchain AG (an investor in Composable) for more than two and a half years.

Omar Zaki

Co-Founder & CEO at Composable

Also known as 0xbrainjar, Omar is a seasoned researcher and innovator in the blockchain industry. His deep understanding of the space complemented by an encompassing perspective on the vision of cross-chain DeFi has established him as a thought leader and valuable pioneer. His current focus entails the investigation and research of blockchain infrastructure and trends, providing valuable insights that guide Composable’s development. Additionally, Omar is actively involved in the design of products that optimally utilize the technological capabilities offered by the Composable tech stack. Brainjar shares and communicates the research and development (R&D) activities at Composable through his posts on Twitter and Medium.

Each board member brings a depth of expertise that will contribute to the nuanced and multifaceted objectives of the Composable Foundation.

The Foundation as the Embodiment of Composable’s Vision

The Composable Foundation aims to be more than an organizational body; it seeks to be the tangible expression of Composable’s long-term vision. By focusing on operational excellence, ecosystem growth, and technological innovation, the Foundation will play a pivotal role in the continued growth and maturation of Composable’s suite of products.

The Foundation will also take the lead in nurturing and expanding our collaborative efforts. This involves deepening relationships with existing partners and forging new alliances across various blockchain ecosystems. These partnerships and collaborative efforts are aimed at creating mutual value and contributing to the interoperable future we envision, in this sense, the Foundation allows the Composable Protocol and Picasso Protocol to remain hyper focused on innovation while the Foundation cultivates the environment to scale and execute on business development efforts.

A Commitment to Enduring Success

We are committed to keeping our community informed about the Foundation’s activities and milestones. Your continued support is invaluable as we navigate the path towards a more connected blockchain future and a sustainable future for Composable.

For additional updates, please stay engaged with our channels. We appreciate your ongoing support.

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