Neocypherpunk Summit

Citizen, dad, entrepreneur, engineer in computer science. Focused on changing the incentives to transition from extraction to regeneration.

I work on the transition from top down hierarchies optimized for profit and efficiency to bottom up decentralized networks optimized for wellbeing and regeneration of local communities. A big part of that is to rebuild the commons and enable communities to develop their own internal economy. That’s what I do with the Commons Hub Brussels and Open Collective.

I’ve always been passionate about using technology to empower citizens to do things that only a few could do before, and in doing so, free them from wage slavery, let them pursue the wellbeing of all stakeholders, not just a few shareholders.

I moved to San Francisco in 2009 where I started Storify.com, a platform to write stories using what people post on social media. It was used by publishers, brands and organizations around the world (CNN, New York Times, Washington Post, BBC, BILD, The White House, The United Nations, Ford, IBM, TED, ...). Acquired by Livefyre in 2013, acquired by Adobe in 2016 (which sadly eventually sunset it in 2018 — still interested in buying it back if you know anyone there).

In 2015, I started working on a new lightweight and transparent form of association to enable the Internet generation to fund communities in full transparency: https://opencollective.com.

I moved to NYC in 2016 then eventually moved back to Belgium in 2019 where I've been an active member of Extinction Rebellion. This led me to start allforclimate.earth with my partner Leen Schelfhout, a common non-profit that grassroots initiatives for the climate can use to collect and spend money without having to go through the pain of setting up their own non-profit and accounting.

In 2020, with covid, I focused my energy on the street level with the Citizen Garden, the Citizen Bike Garden and the Citizen Corner, in Schaerbeek, Brussels (https://citizenspring.earth)

With my partner Leen, we started the Citizen Corner in 2021, a 2.5-year temporary occupation in Brussels where we started Regens Unite (2022), a community of climate activists, technologists, crypto, healers uniting for regeneration.

In 2024, we started the Commons Hub Brussels to bring the commons back to the forefront of our society.

I’m also back at the head of Open Collective since October 2024 with the goal to build a new web3 native version to help communities develop their resilience with their own internal community."

Matthias Kirschner is President of FSFE. In 1999 he started using GNU/Linux and realised that software is deeply involved in all aspects of our lives. Matthias is convinced that this technology has to empower society not restrict it. While studying Political and Administrative Science he joined FSFE in 2004.

He helps other organisations, companies and governments to understand how they can benefit from Free Software -- which gives everybody the rights to use, understand, adapt, and share software -- and how those rights help to support freedom of speech, freedom of press or privacy.

In his spare time, together with his children and others he wrote the book "Ada & Zangemann - A Tale of Software, Skateboards, and Raspberry Ice Cream", which is available under Creative Commons in many languages and meanwhile also as a movie.

Tara Merk is a postdoc researcher at the CNRS, Paris, an ICDE research fellow at The New School in New York and associate researcher at the Weizenbaum Institute in Berlin. Her research focuses on alternative ownership models in the digital economy, participatory (digital) governance design, open-source communities, and blockchain technology.

In her PhD thesis she explored the process of Exit to Community, i.e. transitioning organizations and technologies in the digital platform economy into community ownership and governance.

Tara has previously worked with Other Internet, Metagov, the GIZ, and as a consultant, educator and strategy analyst across the blockchain ecosystem.

Joshua Dávila is a writer and podcaster of The Blockchain Socialist focused on the intersection of technology, politics, and post-capitalist thought. Originally operating under a pseudonym, he publicly emerged with the publication of his book Blockchain Radicals: How Capitalism Ruined Crypto and How to Fix It, released by Repeater Books in 2023. He is a co-founder of the Breadchain Cooperative, which develops crypto applications from a post-capitalist perspective.

Dávila has interviewed leading voices in the crypto space such as Vitalik Buterin, Ethan Buchman, and Chris Goes, as well as critics like Cory Doctorow. He has collaborated with researchers like Primavera De Filippi to explore the ideological roots of the Network State concept. His writing has appeared in publications including Friends With Benefits and Outland, and he is the co-author of the science fiction series Katabasis Chronicles with Beth McCarthy.

Florian Glatz is a lawyer, developer, and researcher working at the intersection of law, decentralized technology, and digital sovereignty. For over a decade, he has helped shape the legal, governance, and technical foundations of the blockchain ecosystem, advising organizations on legal compliance, institutional design, and the interaction between code and law in a digital society.

Today, Florian's work focuses on projects such as the Ethereum Ecosystem Initiative (EEI) and Freedom Browser, advancing user-owned infrastructure, decentralized communication, and new models for digital coordination. Alongside his work as a technologist and institution builder, he continues to explore how software-driven innovation can transform law, finance, and governance.

Florian is also a leading voice in European blockchain policy. He founded Blockchain.Lawyer, was the Founding President of Bundesblock, Germany's blockchain association, and has played a key role in advocating for blockchain technologies and constructive regulatory frameworks across Europe. Throughout his career, he has focused on bridging legal systems, public institutions, and emerging technologies to support more open, resilient, and self-sovereign digital societies.