Hello Horizen community,
Since joining the Special Council at its inception, I have treated my role as both a responsibility and an opportunity: to safeguard DAO governance, to ensure ZenIPs are evaluated with fairness, and to keep treasury decisions aligned with long-term sustainability. Looking ahead, I want to continue strengthening Horizen’s governance as we expand into a BASEd future.
BACKGROUND
I entered the blockchain space in early 2013, when I bought my first Bitcoin at around $20. That early step sparked a decade-long journey that has taken me from writing two books on crypto history, to contributing regularly to Cointelegraph, and to conducting academic research on DAO governance.
- Governance & Law – Master’s in International & Comparative Law, Current PhD researcher involving DAO governance “The Blockchain Metaverse as a Jurisdiction of International Law”, and contributor to Finnish government-funded research on DAOs and AI governance (Critical Inquiry into Decentralized Autonomous Organizations).
- Blockchain Author, Historian & Journalist – Author of Encyclopedia of Physical Bitcoins (2016) and Blockland (2022), with 50+ long-form Cointelegraph articles chronicling our industry’s evolution. (My articles)
- Industry Leader – CEO of Roqqu Europe, actively working with European regulators on MiCA licensing, and a frequent speaker at major conferences on tokenization, regulation, and digital assets. (Media example)
CONTRIBUTIONS
- Governance reliability – Consistently active in Special Council votes and treasury transactions, helping ensure DAO operations run smoothly month after month. While I have not been as visible on the forum, my focus has been on background work related to DAO governance, legal frameworks, and technical structure.
- Global advocacy – Based in Dubai, I have represented Horizen DAO at regional conferences and international events, including Devcon Bangkok and EthDenver. During this election week, I am delivering a keynote on Virtual Assets in Context at Token Congress Jordan, addressing regulators and policymakers.
- Community builder – Created the ZenDogz NFT project on EON, paving the way for other ZEN NFTs on KuSwap. This was a hands-on initiative I led personally, involving 100 professionally photographed dogs (yes—real dogs) styled with hats and sunglasses, which became Horizen’s most visible NFT collection. The project even extended beyond the screen — some ZenDogs joined the community at my birthday gathering last June.
PRIORITIES
- Strengthen DAO Legitimacy – Uphold transparency and fairness in every proposal, ensuring Horizen remains a model for effective decentralized governance.
- Grow ZEN Utility – Support initiatives that increase ZEN’s role in DeFi, NFTs, zkApps, and cross-chain integrations.
- Expand Global Recognition – Leverage my industry reach, where appropriate and proper, to highlight Horizen among regulators, institutions, and developers worldwide.
Horizen is one of the few projects with history, resilience, and vision. I look forward to continuing this work with you and earning your support as we take the DAO into its next chapter.
Thank you for your trust and support.
Elias Ahonen, PhD Candidate