RIF Whitepaper V2
RIF Whitepaper V2
This whitepaper is for information purposes only and may be subject to change. We cannot guarantee the
accuracy of the statements made or conclusions reached in this whitepaper and we expressly disclaim all
representations and warranties (whether express or implied by statute or otherwise) whatsoever, including
but not limited to:
- any representations or warranties relating to merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, suitability,
title or non-infringement;
- that the contents of this document are accurate and free from any errors; and
- that such contents do not infringe any third-party rights.
We shall have no liability for losses or damages (whether direct, indirect, consequential or any other kind of
loss or damage) arising out of the use, reference to or reliance on the contents of this whitepaper, even if
advised of thepossibility of damages arising.
This whitepaper may contain references to third party data and industry publications. As far as we are
aware, the information reproduced in this whitepaper is accurate and the estimates and assumptions
contained herein are reasonable. However, we offer no assurances as to the accuracy or completeness of
this data. Although information and data reproduced in this whitepaper are believed to have been obtained
from reliable sources, we have not independently verified any of the information or data from third party
sources referred to in this whitepaper or ascertained the underlying assumptions relied upon by such
sources.
As of the date of publication of this whitepaper, Tokens have no known or intended future use other than
on the platform which is under development.
No promises of future performance or value are or will be made with respect to Tokens, including no
promise of inherent value, no promise of any payments, and no guarantee that Tokens will hold any
particular value. Unless prospective contributors fully understand and accept the nature of our business
and the potential risks associated with the acquisition, storage and transfer of ERC-20 compatible tokens,
they should not participate in the token sale.
Tokens are not being structured or sold as securities. Tokens hold no rights and confer no interests in
the equity of the Company. Tokens are sold with an intended future use on the platform and all proceeds
received during the token sale may be spent freely by the Company on the development of its business and
the underlying technological infrastructure.
This whitepaper does not constitute a prospectus or disclosure document and is not an offer to sell, nor
the solicitation of any offer to buy any investment or financial instrument in any jurisdiction. Tokens should
not be acquired for speculative or investment purposes with the expectation of making an investment
return.
No regulatory authority has examined or approved any of the information set out in this whitepaper.
No such action has or will be taken under the laws, regulatory requirements or rules of any jurisdiction.
The publication, distribution or dissemination of this whitepaper does not imply that applicable laws or
regulatory requirements have been complied with.
Participation in the token sale carries substantial risk and may involve special risks that could lead to a loss
of all or a substantial portion of your contribution. Please ensure that you have read, understood and are
prepared to accept the risks of participating in the token sale before sending a contribution to us.
The token sale and/or Tokens could be impacted by regulatory action, including potential restrictions on
the ownership, use, transferability or possession of such Tokens. Regulators or other competent authorities
may demand that we revise the mechanics of the token sale and/or the functionality of Tokens in order to
comply with regulatory requirements or other governmental or business obligations. Nevertheless, we
believe we are taking commercially reasonable steps to ensure that the token sale mechanics and issue of
Tokens do not violate applicable laws and regulations.
In addition to statements relating to the matters set out here, this whitepaper contains forward-looking
statements related to our proposed operating model. The model speaks to our objectives only, and is not a
forecast, projection or prediction of future results of operations.
Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and analysis made by us in light of our
experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments
and other factors we believe are appropriate and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Although the
forward-looking statements contained in this whitepaper are based upon what we believe are reasonable
assumptions, there are risks, uncertainties, assumptions,and other factors which could cause our actual
results, performances, achievements and/or experiences to differ materially from the expectations
expressed, implied, or perceived in forward-looking statements. Given such risks, prospective participants
in the token sale should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.
Part I: Context and Vision
A message from our team
The document you’re about to read introduces The Root Infrastructure Framework Token (the ‘RIF
Token’) and The Root Infrastructure Framework Open Standard (the ‘RIFOS’). As described in
further detail below, the RIFOS aims to bridge the gap that exists today between Blockchain
technologies and its mass-market adoption. It is also designed to help and enable existing and future
Blockchain projects find the best way to really create solutions using decentralized applications.
This document is not a technical whitepaper, but rather a summary of our vision and how we
propose to implement it. We chose this approach because, aside from the value that can be attributed
to technical whitepapers, we believe that showing a working product is an even more powerful
statement of what we can achieve. RSK Labs’ reputation as a global pioneer in Blockchain
technology speaks to that end.
The first RSK technical whitepaper, published by our Chief Scientist Sergio Demian Lerner in
November 2015 (the “RSK Technical Whitepaper”), described the first fully functional smart contract
platform secured by the Bitcoin network using a side chain with merge-mining (the “RSK Smart
Protocol”). This whitepaper is available for downloading here.
Since November 2015, our team has continued to deliver on that initial vision, opening the Test-net
version to the public in May 2017 and the beta Main-net version in January 2018. The latest
information about the current state of the RSK Smart Protocol can be found at www.rsk.co.
Today, the RSK Smart Protocol has become a global project, led by an international team that aims
to serve the global community. We are in awe to see how far our initial vision has grown, and we are
now focused on sharing our vision and motivations for launching this new phase, with the hope that
our community will be inspired and will help us fulfil it. Our goal is ambitious, and in order to
achieve it, we will build on and leverage the work done by RSK Labs. This is just the beginning of
our journey, and we sincerely hope that we can continue to rely on the support and contribution of
our amazing community around the world to help us take the adoption of Blockchain technologies to
the next level.
Sincerely,
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Background
Over the last 30 years, the world has seen transformational changes in the way humans,
organizations and governments interact. Internet permeated the way we do business, the way we
communicate with each other, the way we entertain ourselves and so forth. Yet, this “information
revolution” has not been equal across the globe. According to PEW Internet, in 2016 the global
median of Internet penetration was 67% but, as the graphic below shows, developed and emerging
economies have been impacted in very different percentages:
Mobile phones, and particularly smartphones, are helping close this gap fast, and within the next
decade over 80% of the world’s population is expected to have access to the Internet through their
smartphones.
It is hard to fathom the incredible social and economic impact that equal access to information
technology would have around the world.
Yet, while the Internet has been revolutionary and transformative, it has not yet been as successful
in allowing people from all over the world to exchange value so freely. Indeed, the exchange of value
is still controlled by a few organizations, namely banks, governments and other financial
intermediaries.
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Open distributed consensus networks and Blockchain technology can change this. Since its creation
in 2009, many projects have been using distributed consensus networks and Blockchain technologies
to bring true access, not only to information and services, but also to the exchange of value through
the Internet. For the first time, there’s a technological solution that allows the exchange of value
among individuals and organizations without the intervention or interposition of a centralized
authority, controlling entity or financial intermediary.
• Since its inception, Ethereum’s market capitalization has increased from zero to around a
$100 billion, at the moment reaching 50% of Bitcoin’s market value.
• Yet, it is widely recognized that the Bitcoin Network has the largest infrastructure, most
stable software, highest uptime, widest global adoption, highest market cap, largest
liquidity, and access to knowledge and communication with a seemingly unstoppable
network effect. Bitcoin has today become the most secure and reliable decentralized network
for the storage and transfer of value.
• At these speeds, the Bitcoin Network can only support payments for approximately ten
million users.
• The Ethereum Network has made some improvements on this front, but it can only triple the
capacity of the Bitcoin Network, which is still not enough to support mass adoption of Open
distributed Blockchain technologies.
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Difficulty of implementation for traditional developers, compa-
nies and end users
• As a very young ecosystem, the Blockchain industry is just starting to show real use cases for
the underlying technology. In part, this is due to how difficult it is for traditional developers
and companies to deploy their solutions or ideas in a fast and trustworthy way on top of a
Blockchain.
• Collectively, our industry seems to represent a solution looking for a problem. We believe it
should be much easier for people (especially developers and companies) coming from other
technologies to embrace distributed Blockchain technology.
• It is only when developers, companies and end users are able to use easy interfaces, which
connect their current worlds with distributed Blockchain Networks, will we truly be on the
path for mass adoption of this transformative technology.
Nonetheless, there were still several unanswered questions, such as: How can we leverage the RSK
Smart Protocol’s smart contract and scalability capabilities to bring distributed Blockchain services
to mass adoption? How can we solve some of the key friction points that are preventing developers
from being able to leverage such an amazing technology to on-board millions of users to our
ecosystem? What would need to be built to achieve all this?
In mid-2017, these questions led us to start looking at ways to find that missing link between all the
“core”, protocol-level technology we were building and the needs of developers around the world that
may, or may not, know much about programming distributed applications.
As a result of that analysis, which included open and candid conversations with our large developer
communities worldwide, we decided to tackle the problem by developing and proposing a unified set
of protocols, rules and interfaces for decentralized infrastructure services, including: Data Storage,
Secure Certified Communications, Data Feeds (i.e. Oracles), Name Resolution and Payment
Processing, among others, where:
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(i) most of these decentralized infrastructure services might be consumed utilizing a
single token;
(ii) the development stack could be open to anyone who wants to become a provider of
these services; and
(iii) all these components might run smoothly and integrated on top of the RSK Smart
Protocol while protected by the security of the Bitcoin Network.
We called this solution The Root Infrastructure Framework Open Standard, or RIFOS, and the
token used to unlock access to the services and functions within this framework was named The Root
Infrastructure Framework Token, or RIF Token.
Our solution is designed to promote a fair market for distributed infrastructure services, which can
be provided by any third party wanting to benefit from the RIFOS and its growing user base, by
reducing the friction for developers that want to create and deploy distributed applications but do
not necessarily understand the underlying technology. If successful, this approach should
significantly increase the adoption of distributed Blockchain technologies by application developers
and, through them, end users.
We believe that the functionality of smart contracts, combined with the security and broad network
effect of the Bitcoin Network, can truly transform and improve the lives of millions financially
excluded individuals around the world.
Although the RIFOS is an open standard framework that could potentially be applied for many other
purposes, we decided that our role as igniters and initial developers of the RIFOS should have a
clearly defined scope in order to generate true impact and focus.
For this reason, our priority as an organization will be to focus on use cases and applications that
tackle financial inclusion problems. In this regard, our goal is to act as a beacon for the vision that
distributed Blockchain technologies can (and should) improve the lives of millions of financially
excluded people around the world. We know this is going to be a long and challenging journey, but
we have full confidence in our team, our partners and our technology and we will count on the
continuing support of our growing community.
Having said this, we are aware that, as with any open standard protocol, there are no limits on use
cases or other RIFOS compatible infrastructure services that may be integrated into the framework
and offered to users. Our role will however be limited to ignite the vision and deliver the initial
version of the RIFOS as stated in this document. We believe that, as we achieve this goal and onboard
more users and developers, others could add to the RIFOS architecture and potentially grow it
in unexpected ways, making the RIFOS a true open standard protocol that could be used to deliver
solutions for a very wide spectrum of problem sets, while leveraging the same underlying technology
and ecosystem.
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What we propose to deliver
The RIFOS will be designed as a multi-layered development stack aimed at making the deployment
of applications using distributed Blockchain technology much easier and faster, and without the
need to provision any infrastructure services ahead of time. We plan to accomplish this by designing
an open standard protocol that allows developers to integrate their products and services seamlessly
within the RIFOS ecosystem, provided they are compatible with the underlying architecture of the
RIFOS protocols. Such infrastructure services may be run by the developers themselves, by third
parties or by us. In addition to the technology stack, the individual components of the RIFOS will be
designed to maximize the potential benefits for those who want to offer their infrastructure services
within the protocols’ ecosystem. In particular, our protocols will include mechanisms to trigger
network effects and economies of scale, with the hope that as more organizations form part of the
RIFOS ecosystem, everyone benefits from that.
At the centre of the RIFOS is a new utility token called the RIF Token. The RIF Token will be
generated and distributed through a series of smart contracts running on the RSK Smart Protocol.
(See “Part III: The Token Sale” for more details).
Furthermore, new infrastructure protocols may be added in the future, either by us or by any
member of the RIFOS community, in order to enhance this open standard framework and offer
greater functionality to the RIFOS user base.
Any component (provided by us or any third party) that conforms to the RIFOS’ design principles
should be able to seamlessly interoperate with other actors, draw on resources available within the
ecosystem and fairly compete for users and business.
Our team has identified the following set of core components, which we believe are required to fulfil
our goal of promoting and supporting distributed applications that target financial inclusion:
1 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/understanding-identity-blockchain-context-zookos-triangle-johnlilic/
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In summary, we aim to create an open standard infrastructure framework, which consists of a set of
protocols together with corresponding API documentation enabling third party developers to utilize
such interfaces and introduce new components into the RIFOS ecosystem. This open standard
framework will contain an initial working infrastructure service (i.e. the Naming Service / Directory
Service referred to above) that will represent a proof-of-concept for how the protocol should work.
Based on this scope, the RIFOS would look something like this:
The RIF Token utility and its coexistence with RSK’s Smart Bitcoin
(‘RBTC’)
As explained in the RSK Technical Whitepaper (referred to in Part I above), the RSK Smart Protocol uses
a native token called Smart Bitcoin (‘RBTC’) as gas. This RBTC is pegged 1:1 to BTC, and it is the way RSK
Smart Protocol miners are compensated for allocating their resources to the network.
This underlying mechanism will remain unchanged after we implement the RIFOS, and RBTC will
remain as the RSK Smart Protocol’s native token.
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On the other hand, the RIF Token may be used to consume all the RIFOS services built on top of (offchain)
the RSK Smart Protocol (in the graph shown above, these services are depicted in grey text within the dark
blue boxes which represent service protocols).
In summary, RBTC will continue to be used to pay for the smart contract processing at the RSK
Smart Protocol layer, the RIF Token may be used to consume all the infrastructure services integrated with
the RIFOS, and of course BTC will be used for transaction processing on the lower
layers of the stack within the Bitcoin Network.
1. Bitcoin Friendly
We believe in Bitcoin. We support the Bitcoin community and we want to continue the legacy of
the Bitcoin pioneers. The lack of Turing-complete smart-contract capabilities has become an
obstacle, preventing Bitcoin from growing to its full potential. As stated above, the RSK Smart
Protocol is based on a 2-way peg smart layer that runs on top of the Bitcoin Network using RBTC
as gas, which is pegged 1:1 with BTC. Therefore, the RSK Smart Protocol does not mint, nor does
it have pre-mined coins, and will never do so. It has no speculative value and does not compete
with Bitcoin. Rather, it is fully aligned with the larger Bitcoin community.
2. Security first
While it is impossible to maintain the same level of security in the upper layers of the protocol,
we do care a lot about security. This is even more relevant when we are dealing with financial
inclusion, since most of our users could not afford to lose the value they hold within our
ecosystem. The RSK Smart Protocol is secured by merge-mining, which means it can achieve
similar security levels as the Bitcoin Network in terms of double-spending prevention and
settlement finality, provided that Bitcoin-only miners and Bitcoin/RSK merge-miners have
aligned incentives. Although the 2-way peg security will initially rely on a federation holding
custody of Bitcoins, we expect to move to an automatic peg as soon as the Bitcoin community
accepts the security trade-offs.
3. Scalability
Scaling is a key aspect of making transactional costs affordable and suitable for performing dayto-day
transactions. In its current state, the RSK Smart Protocol has already shown its ability to
scale far beyond the Bitcoin Network (up to 100 transactions per second, which is 20x that of the
Bitcoin Network and at least 5x the Ethereum Blockchain’s current capacity), while also
reducing storage and/or bandwidth usage.
4. Instant Payments
Being able to offer a fast, reliable and cheap payments system is crucial in order to provide
meaningful decentralized services to the financially excluded. This can only be achieved by
resolving the scaling issues that most blockchains experience today and is one of the reasons why
solutions like the Lighting Network in Bitcoin and Raiden in Ethereum have generated so much
attention.
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RSK Labs has been working on its own version of a Lighting-like network (the Lumino Payments
Protocol), and the RSK Smart Protocol’s carefully chosen parameters and new theoretical
protocols (such as DECOR+GHOST) allow blocks to be created, on average, at 10 to 30 second
intervals, with a low stale block rate, and no additional centralization incentives. A fast block
interval enables the dynamic creation of new payment channels when no route is available in the
off-chain payment network, therefore making the user experience of the off-chain payment
network satisfactory even under congestion. A lot still needs to be done in this space across our
industry, but it is our belief that RSK Labs’ approach could eventually contribute to the
successful resolution of this problem. At RIF Labs we propose to support the further development
of the Lumino Payments Protocol and eventually integrate it into the RIFOS.
Finally, one big reason why we are such proponents of decentralized applications is that
decentralization brings system resilience and freedom of choice. At the moment, DApp
developers have very few alternative options for deploying a solution in a secure and reliable
way. By using the RSK Smart Protocol as our underlying technology, we intend to help the entire
ecosystem by creating a reliable alternative to the very few already established DApp networks.
This is not a winner-takes-all business, and the industry should be better off if there are several
strong blockchains and development ecosystems for developers to choose from.
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Part II: RIF Labs
RIF Labs’ goal will be to build on the work already done by RSK Labs and further the growth of the
RIFOS ecosystem. To ensure its long-term independence and focus, RIF Labs was set up as a nonprofit,
purpose-based organization, and its stated purpose is:
“promoting and developing new technologies and applications, especially in the fields of new open
and decentralized software architectures. A dominating but not exclusive focus is set on the
promotion and development of the so-called RSK Infrastructure Framework (“RIF”) Open Standard
Protocols and the related technologies, the promotion and support of applications using the RIFOS
protocols”
In addition to the creation of RIF Labs to manage and oversee the launch and development of the
RIFOS project and ecosystem, we will also work to ensure that the most appropriate long-term
governance structure is maintained or introduced to continue to assist the RIFOS vision being
achieved.
Accordingly, RIF Labs will acquire all of RSK Labs’ assets and operations in exchange for a
percentage of the total RIF Tokens to be created, which will include special lock-up provisions to
incentivize the long term commitment of RSK Labs’ team to the RIFOS project.
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Our goal is to help integrate as many third-party infrastructure services and application providers to
the RIFOS as possible, so that eventually the RIFOS may look more like this:
Since the RIFOS will be an open standard protocol and framework, RIF Labs cannot guarantee that
the evolution or development of the protocol will materialize as shown in the chart above, as this is
not under our control. We do not make any claims or promises, nor do we offer any assurances in
relation to the proposed scope and development of the initial protocol components or the initial
Directory Service. Neither these development initiatives nor the provision of the infrastructure,
protocols or services set out above are specifically guaranteed by RIF Labs. On that basis, RIF
Tokens should not be acquired in reliance on or based on an expectation that the RIFOS will develop
as depicted in the chart above, which is simply provided as an example of the protocol’s possible
future architecture.
In addition to developing the RIFOS and the first infrastructure service (i.e. the Directory Service),
RIF Labs expects to establish a network of institutions and developers who share our vision and
want to become part of it. In order to build out this network, some of the strategies we might focus on
are:
- Fostering the creation of “Blossom networks2” around the world in collaboration with local
incubators, accelerators and universities, which are aimed at:
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- Supporting the creation of regional research and development hubs.
- Setting up grants, bounties and prizes for the development of specific use cases that
RIF Labs might want to promote.
- Identifying and supporting developers and start-ups working on promising new
technologies which are aligned with RIF Labs’ goals.
- Expanding RIF Labs’ local presence in key regional markets and select financial innovation hubs to
promote and support the RIFOS ecosystem.
- Educating developers around the world (and also companies and the general public) about
Blockchain technologies, the RSK Smart Protocol and the RIFOS, through a series of on/offline educational
programmes run by either RIF Labs or training partners.
- Building a global network of solution providers, including (but not necessarily limited to):
integrators, training partners, software developers, legal & security advisors, who are
familiar with and will promote the RIFOS ecosystem.
- Fostering collaboration with financial institutions, governments and non-profit organizations
to help develop solutions for the financially excluded around the globe.
-Developing and maintaining multilingual versions of all our protocols, APIs and other technologies that
we might develop, making it easier for users from around the world to develop and deploy apps on the
RIFOS and help it become a truly global network.
- Investing in research and development initiatives, with an initial focus on the interoperability and
scalability of decentralized networks.
2 A “Blossom Network” is a group of people and institutions that are helping promote and develop a thriving ecosystem for our platform.
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Part III: The Token Sale
While we will not limit or prevent the possibility for third party service providers to accept tokens
other than the RIF Token (for example their own native tokens or other cryptocurrencies), the
integration with RIFOS will require such service providers to accept RIF Tokens, since we believe
that having a common consumption token option across all services will benefit developers by
simplifying their setup and avoiding distortions around pricing for the multiple infrastructure
services that will be required to develop Blockchain-based applications. The RIFOS may also
integrate tools and mechanisms to allow for incentive programmes (think bonus points or loyalty
programmes) for companies and developers that choose to allow the consumption of or access to their
services through the use of RIF Tokens. Such incentive programmes will be aimed at generating a
positive network effect for the use of RIF Tokens within the ecosystem.
Initial allocation
- A total of 1 billion RIF Tokens will be created by RIF Labs at the Token Generation Event.
- Approximately 35%-40% will be allocated to the private sale contributors. The initial price of
RIF Tokens will be set in BTC. Further details relating to the private sale will be disclosed in
the relevant contribution agreements and associated documentation.
- Approximately 40% will be kept by RIF Labs, unlocked at a rate 1/60th every month for 5
years after the Token Sale and used primarily as a way to promote and increase the adoption
of the RIFOS as indicated in this document.
- 20% will be distributed to RSK Labs’ shareholders, founders and management team as
consideration for the acquisition of all RSK Labs’ assets and IP, and as a way to align the team long term
with the RIF project. These tokens will be unlocked at a rate of 1/48th every
month for 4 years after the Token Sale ends, with an initial cliff of 6 months.
- We plan to raise the equivalent of 20,000 BTC +/- 10%, but we reserve the right to conclude
the Token Sale at any time after we reach 15,000 BTC or its equivalent in such other
cryptocurrencies that we may decide to accept.
- While we don’t plan to do a public sale of tokens, RIF Labs will initially earmark 21 million
RIF Tokens for early adopters of the RIFOS through a set of bounty and early adoption
incentive programmes.
Long term sustainability of RIF Labs and the RIFOS and final
thoughts
As a purpose-based company, RIF Labs’ future earnings should be re-invested to benefit the growth
of the RIFOS and its long term objectives. It is therefore important to assess potential sources of
revenue for RIF Labs in the coming years, as the RIFOS is built up.
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We believe that as the adoption of the RIFOS increases, RIF Labs could potentially generate revenue
from at least the following two sources:
a. Revenue from the Smart Contract processing fees: The RSK Smart Protocol charges a small
fee in RBTC as gas for processing and executing each Smart Contract deployed on the
protocol. As part of the acquisition of RSK Labs’ assets and IP, RIF Labs will be entitled to a
percentage of this revenue stream. While initially this number will be insignificant, as the
volume of smart contract processing grows, this might become a steady source of income for
RIF Labs.
b. Ecosystem Partnerships: In connection with the promotional activities for the RIFOS
ecosystem, RIF Labs plans to establish strategic partnerships in different parts of the world
with start-up accelerators, incubators, education programme providers, event organisers, etc.
These partnerships might provide additional revenue streams for RIF Labs.
We believe that Blockchain-based applications can transform the way we exchange value in the
coming decade. RIF Labs is therefore proposing to create the necessary infrastructure and partnerup
with businesses and other institutions who will contribute to help our vision materialize.
APPENDIX
Ginger is the public release of the RSK Smart Protocol’s open source Test-net network powered by
the Bitcoin Network, the most secure distributed network in the world. Based on latest tests, users
shall be able to run their smart contracts on a protocol that could potentially scale up to 2.000 TPS
on-chain and 20.000 TPS off-chain, thereby providing the scalability needed for global financial
solutions.
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Here is a selection of the latest media coverage relating to the RSK Smart Protocol:
- Bitcoin Based Ethereum Smart Contract and Sidechain Rival RSK Launches Today (Bitcoin News, 01/02/18)
- Bitcoin Startup RSK to Launch Smart Contracts Sidechain in 2017 (Coindesk,11/06/17)
- How to reward full nodes? (YouTube Video of Devcon presentation, 11/04/17)
In 2011, he joined the Bitcoin community and collaborated to strengthen the security of the Bitcoin
Core by discovering and reporting 9 vulnerabilities. He also proposed more than 50 design
improvements for greater privacy, interoperability, decentralization, scalability, and faster
payments.
Sergio is also an expert software and firmware developer and has programmed and led hi-tech
interdisciplinary projects. He designed and developed several security systems with strong
cryptography and more than 15 different neuro-medical products that were government-approved
and sold in Latin America to more than 4000 clinics. He has vast experience in the development of
real-time medical systems, data acquisition, digital signal analysis, and algorithm design.
His extensive experience includes being part of the founding teams of some of the most well-known
digital projects in Argentina and Latin America, including Clarín Digital (Argentina’s main
newspaper website), Patagon.com (financial community sold to Banco Santander for 750M), Internet
Argentina (first Argentinian ISP to provide ADSL) and Edunexo (provider of a SaaS platform to
administer public and private educational institutions in Latin America and Spain). He also held the
position of R&D head at ElSitio.com, where he led a team of 25 developers
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Ruben Altman, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer
With a long and prolific career as software developer and entrepreneur, Ruben previously co-founded
software development company Kinetica.
His experience includes developing the first virtual supermarket in Argentina and leading the
development of a pay-per-click platform for a European company based in London, UK where he
lived for 2 years.
Ruben is a Professor of Computer Science at ORT University and holds a Computer Science degree
(UBA, Argentina).
Adrian holds a degree in Computer Science (UBA, Argentina) and a postgraduate degree in
Marketing (ITBA, Argentina),
In addition to RSK Labs, Gabriel is also the co-founder and CEO of Koibanx, a Blockchain services
firm for banks and governments. Prior to that, he worked for Advent International in both Argentina
and the United Kingdom where he raised a $1.65 billion fund for LATAM and acquired the LKM
Laboratory. Before this, he also worked at and Monsanto in Argentina and USA.
Gabriel holds a Cum Laude Bachelor of Science in Economics (UBA, Argentina) and has a
postgraduate degree in Capital Markets and Financial Services (Buenos Aires Stock Exchange,
Argentina).
He is a member of Bitcoin Argentina and the Bitcoin Latin America Foundation where he co-founded
La Bitcoineta project and Blockchain4Humanity, a global Blockchain social incubator.
In July 2017 Ariel joined the leadership team of RIF Labs as an advisor to help implement the vision
of bringing Smart Contract functionality and scalability to the Bitcoin Blockchain and promote the
use of distributed networks as a way to accelerate financial and social inclusion.
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Before RIF Labs, Ariel had an extensive career in Venture Capital and he still remains a board
member of Properati (RE Tech) and Unleash (Inmuno oncolytic therapy), and an advisor in Venture
Capital for the Latin American Venture Capital Association. In the past he also advised Santander
Innoventures, the corporate VC arm of the Spanish banking giant which has a $200mm pool of
capital and a global remit with a Fintech focus.
Ariel holds an MBA with Honors from Columbia Business School and has a BA in Economics from
Universidad Torcuato Di Tella. He has lived and worked in New York, São Paulo and Buenos Aires
and is a fellow from the Kauffman Fellows Foundation, class 18.
Since 2007 Malcolm has been an active investor in the mining and exploration sector with a bias
towards precious metals; it was this bias that led him towards bitcoin and the nascent blockchain
industry in 2013.
Malcolm is currently leading Coinsilium’s latest project, TerraStream, which will initially focus on
developing a tokenized model to deliver alternative project funding solution for the mining and
exploration industry. Malcolm is also the co-founder of well-established investor communications
brand MiningMaven.
In July 2013, following several years as a private equity fund manager in Greater China, Eddy
cofounded Seedcoin, the world’s first global incubator of digital currency startups and, in May 2014,
was named among the ‘Top 3 Most Influential Investors’ at the Blockchain Awards.
Eddy has led early-stage investments in 18 blockchain companies around the world (including
Factom, RSK and Indorse) and has advised eleven ICOs which have collectively raised more than
half a billion dollars. He also regularly delivers keynote speeches on Blockchain and advises
corporates and regulators.
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Valeria Bystrowicz, Advisor
As part of the Blockchain Technology & Digital Currency industry group at Perkins Coie, Valeria
has been at the forefront of the legal and regulatory frameworks related to virtual currency and
blockchain.
A native of Argentina who received her LL.M. degree from New York University School of Law after
graduating as an attorney from University of Buenos Aires School of Law, Valeria has remained
closely involved in the Latin American ecosystem and spends part of her free time collaborating with
entrepreneurs from emerging countries with the goal of contributing to the growth and
strengthening of their entrepreneurial communities.
Miguel is also a well-known investor in technology-based ventures with high growth potential, where
he can add value with his experience and network in the financial services industry in areas such as
digital finance, crypto, security and fintech.
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