# Rafael Fernández

> 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.

This file summarises rafael.fyi for language models and other readers. Everything here also appears on the site itself.

## About

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 system](https://github.com/zksync-association/governance-resources/tree/main/Annual-Reports) (2024–): Three-body onchain governance, live since 2024
- [Rover teleoperation via open protocols](https://picar-freenove-01.yakrover.online/picar_freenove/ui2) (2026): Drive a small camera-less rover from your browser
- [A task market for robots](https://yakrobot.bid/) (2026): Speculative: operators bid to send robots on site surveys
- [AI capability maturity model](https://protocolized.dev/) (2026): Five levels, from shadow AI use to strategic capability
- [Software as a substrate of control](https://npc.here.now/dawo2026workshop2control) (2026): A talk at DAWO26
- [It’s time to discover, not file, water data](https://npc.here.now/waterdatastrategy/) (2026): Why finding rate sheets matters more than standardising them
- [Wobblebots](https://wobblebots.com/) (2026): A field guide to home robots, with verified specs and prices
- [NPC Memo](https://npcmemo.substack.com/) (2025–): A speculative field guide on management
- [Token rights as a new governance paradigm](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr-vamMe_ds) (2025): A talk, on video
- [Welcome to the Swarm](https://summerofprotocols.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/17-e43-FERNANDEZ.pdf) (2023): How online swarms coordinate, for the Summer of Protocols
- [Seeds, not brands](https://folklore.mirror.xyz/v3KHFm-Fz288fjTIcp5Gd63rXoANBewXqbypQqZesSw) (2022): An essay for Folklore
- [Obras del País](https://obrasdelpais.info/) (2020): Documenting Puerto Rican artisans

## For event organisers

- Short bio (41 words): 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: see "About" above (126 words).
- Headshot: https://rafael.fyi/headshot.jpg (JPG, 784 × 998)
- Name: Rafael Fernández (goes by Rafa).

## Contact

- The note form on https://rafael.fyi (section "Write to me").
- To suggest an essay, paper or post for the reading pile: the "Suggest something to read" form in the Reading section.
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafa0/

## Optional

- [The field](https://rafael.fyi/#field): a shared drawing on the site. Braitenberg-style machines wander between visitors' marks, and routes they reuse harden from trails into paths into pipes. Everyone sees the same field; it keeps running on its own.
- [Webring manifest](https://rafael.fyi/network.json): the Protocol Research webring, as a JSON list of sites this one vouches for.
- [Reading pile](https://rafael.fyi/readings.json): excerpts from the papers and essays behind the work, with links to their sources.