About

The people building Lineage

Lineage is developed by the Lineage Foundation, a small founding team building the protocol in the open, guided by advisors in economics and the science of markets. Our work is published as research and shipped as open source.
Directors

The directors

Lineage’s directors lead the protocol, its economic model, and its path to a fully distributed network.

Andrew Kessler

Andrew Kessler

Co-founder · Director

A cryptographic generalist and serial deep-tech entrepreneur, Andrew has founded ventures across semiconductors, biometrics, and digital identity. He leads the cryptography and protocol design behind Lineage’s verifiable, two-way transaction model.

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Barry Botha

Barry Botha

Co-founder · Director

Founder and CEO of HydraCorp and IO, Barry leads operations and go-to-market for Lineage. He focuses on turning Smart Markets into real-world infrastructure for sectors such as agriculture, green energy, and commodities.

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Afsaneh Heyat

Afsaneh Heyat

Director

Afsaneh is Head of Finance at GenLayer Labs and an experienced finance and compliance professional in the digital-asset industry. She has held CFO, board, and compliance roles across Web3 ventures including Toucan and Arianee, bringing deep expertise in crypto risk and compliance, financial operations, and capital markets. At Lineage she guides financial strategy and regulatory design.

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Members

Members

Members bring deep networks and hard-won experience across decentralization, markets, technology, and public life.

Jesse Benton

Jesse Benton

Member

Jesse is passionate about decentralization and was member of the original Bitcoin Center NYC, the first live crypto trading floor, and an advisor to the ZAP Protocol. He was also campaign manager for Ron Paul, Senator Rand Paul and Senate Leader Mitch McConnell.

Jamie Gilchrist

Jamie Gilchrist

Member

Jamie is CTO at Tunestamp and an engineer and researcher working at the intersection of distributed systems and cryptography. His work spans blockchain, applied cryptography, and fintech, from technical architecture through hands-on engineering leadership.

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Advisors

Advisory

Lineage’s economic and market design is guided by advisors with deep roots in economics and the science of complex financial systems.

Allan Mendelowitz

Allan Mendelowitz

Advisor · Economics

President of the ACTUS Financial Research Foundation, Allan champions open algorithmic standards for financial contracts. A former Chairman of the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Board and co-founder of the initiative to establish a National Institute of Finance, he advises Lineage on financial-system design and market transparency.

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Claudio Tessone

Claudio Tessone

Advisor · Cryptoeconomics

Professor of Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies at the University of Zurich and co-founder and Chairman of the UZH Blockchain Center, Claudio studies blockchains as complex socio-economic systems: consensus, cryptoeconomics, and token-economy design. He advises Lineage on the incentive design behind Smart Markets.

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Go deeper

Read the work, not the pitch

The clearest picture of Lineage is in the research and the roadmap. Both are public. For partnerships, press, or general enquiries, reach us at [email protected].