I design the plumbing that lets strangers, and increasingly machines, do things together.
At the ZKsync Association I’m Head of Governance and Operations, and I designed the governance system that approved and executed over a dozen protocol upgrades in its first year. I lead the Protocols for Business group at the Protocol Institute, and was a core researcher in the Summer of Protocols. Lately I build small experiments in how people and robots coordinate: a rover you can drive over open protocols, and a speculative market where operators bid to send robots on jobs.
If you’re working on protocols for people or for machines, write to me.
For event organisers: bio and headshot
Short bio
Rafael Fernández designs the plumbing that lets strangers, and increasingly machines, do things together. He is Head of Governance and Operations at the ZKsync Association and leads the Protocols for Business group at the Protocol Institute. He is based in Berlin.
Long bio
Rafael Fernández designs the plumbing that lets strangers, and increasingly machines, do things together. As Head of Governance and Operations at the ZKsync Association, he designed ZKsync’s governance system of a Token Assembly, Security Council and Guardians, which went live onchain in September 2024 and approved and executed over a dozen protocol upgrades in its first year. He leads the Protocols for Business group at the Protocol Institute, where he published an AI Capability Maturity Model, and was a core researcher in the Summer of Protocols, where he wrote “Welcome to the Swarm”, on how online swarms coordinate. He writes NPC Memo, a speculative field guide on management, and builds small experiments in how people and robots coordinate. Originally from Puerto Rico, he lives in Berlin.
Work
- ZKsync governance systemThree-body onchain governance, live since 20242024–
- Rover teleoperation via open protocolsDrive a small camera-less rover from your browser2026
- A task market for robotsSpeculative: operators bid to send robots on site surveys2026
- AI capability maturity modelFive levels, from shadow AI use to strategic capability2026
- Software as a substrate of controlA talk at DAWO262026
- It’s time to discover, not file, water dataWhy finding rate sheets matters more than standardising them2026
- WobblebotsA field guide to home robots, with verified specs and prices2026
- NPC MemoA speculative field guide on management2025–
- Token rights as a new governance paradigmA talk, on video2025
- Welcome to the SwarmHow online swarms coordinate, for the Summer of Protocols2023
- Seeds, not brandsAn essay for Folklore2022
- Obras del PaísDocumenting Puerto Rican artisans2020
Reading
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