AIKON Announces Leadership Transition: Marc Blinder Steps Down as CEO, W. Scott Stornetta Named Interim CEO
In July 2023, Marc Blinder, the co-founder of AIKON, announced that he would be stepping down from his role as CEO to embark on a new brand, Zora Direct. Stepping into the role of interim CEO is the co-inventor of the blockchain technology, W. Scott Stornetta, who also serves on AIKON’s board of directors.
Under Blinder’s visionary leadership, AIKON has achieved remarkable milestones in the world of self-sovereign decentralized identity with the launch of ORE ID, an easy login tool and cross-chain wallet for dApps, compatible with Ethereum, Algorand, Avalanche, Polygon, Telos, and WAX. His passion and commitment to making the tools of decentralized identity more accessible have been instrumental in shaping the company’s ethos and direction, which will be carried forward under Stornetta’s leadership with a series of groundbreaking new products and services launching from AIKON later this year.
In a statement, Marc Blinder expressed his appreciation for the AIKON team, saying, “It has been an incredible journey with AIKON, and I’m profoundly grateful for the dedication and hard work of our exceptional team. While I am stepping down from my role as CEO, I’m incredibly confident in the team’s ability to execute without me. My new company has already opened discussions with AIKON around using their new product and we’re incredibly excited about the vision going forward.”
With his extensive experience and vision as a pioneering figure in the Blockchain industry, Stornetta is well-equipped to lead AIKON during this transition period. Stornetta has led a storied career, with leading-edge work at Bell Communications Research (Bellcore) and Xerox PARC, and he is the most-cited authors in Satoshi Nakamoto’s white paper, “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.” In addition to his role with AIKON, Stornetta is a fellow at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, and a founding partner and chief scientist of Yugen Partners, a blockchain-focused venture capital firm that counsels investors on blockchain startup opportunities and governments on blockchain policy.
Stornetta conveyed his gratitude to Blinder, stating, “I want to thank Marc for his outstanding leadership at AIKON and his dedication to building a company with integrity and forward-thinking built into their framework. I look forward to building upon the incredible foundation Marc has built as we prepare to launch new products and additions in a matter of weeks and months that I believe are not only critically needed, but have the power to truly revolutionize the way we utilize Blockchain technology for the greater good.”
Stornetta sits on AIKON’s board as a representative of Morgan Creek and Yugen Partners. “We’re backing AIKON because we believe it can provide the key identity solution. We look forward to having Marc and Zora Direct as one of our customers.”
AIKON is confident that this transition will only strengthen the company’s position as a leader in self-sovereign decentralized identity solutions and looks forward to an exciting future under Stornetta’s leadership. Stornetta will act as interim CEO through the end of 2023, or until a new CEO has been named, consistent with the commitment he has made to the chairman of the board.
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ABOUT AIKON
Blockchain and crypto are technologically complex. AIKON makes it simple. We’ve built a suite of intuitive products built on the ORE Network (ORE) for enterprise companies looking to provide a seamless user experience that works cross-chain with Algorand, Avalanche, Ethereum, Polygon, EOS, Wax, Telos and more. For more information, visit http://www.aikon.com.
