I’m thrilled to announce that Jake Chervinsky will be joining Variant full-time as our chief legal officer, where he’ll spend even more time working with our portfolio to develop legal solutions that challenge the status quo and create new pathways for crypto entrepreneurship.

Jake thinks like a founder. We first met in 2019, the year before I founded Variant. He was general counsel at Compound Labs and was trying to figure out how to tackle compliance while decentralizing a novel financial marketplace.

The rollout of Compound governance and the COMP token in 2020 ushered “DeFi Summer.” When I wrote the Progressive Decentralization Playbook, it was to help others execute the high-level strategies that Jake, Robert, and the team at Compound Labs pioneered.

Most recently, as chief policy officer at Blockchain Association, Jake has tirelessly crafted smart policy for web3, testified before Congress, and has been one of the most vocal educators for our industry through his succinct breakdowns of what’s happening in DC. He has worked to convince policymakers that web3 innovation should be embraced, not feared.

While the entire space has benefited from access to Jake’s public thinking, our portfolio has had the inside track. As a strategic advisor for Variant, he’s helped our companies think through legal and regulatory strategies that help them responsibly execute their visions.

Today it’s increasingly clear that the industry’s primary approach to compliance—sufficient decentralization—is not one-size-fits-all, clearly defined, or resonating in DC. In order to grow, web3 needs new arguments and ideas that map to the full diversity of projects building in the space. That is the work Jake plans to do with the teams we back, and the industry at large.

Jake and I are mission-aligned in the goal of building a more equitable internet. His work at Compound and Blockchain Association have revealed him to be inventive, boundary-pushing, and unafraid to make noise—qualities we value in supporting early-stage projects in finding product market fit.                                     

Please join me in welcoming him to Variant.

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