Special Council Candidate: Julian La Picque
Hello Horizen community!
I would like to put my name forward for the Horizen DAO Special Council.
Introduction and background
I am a Swiss and French finance executive, board member and investor based in Switzerland. I currently serve as Group CFO of Chiliz, where I oversee finance, digital-asset and fiat treasury, trading and liquidity, capital allocation, investment, risk and regulatory matters across a global blockchain ecosystem comprising approximately 350 people and 15 legal entities.
My career has combined finance, technology and governance. I have helped raise more than $100 million, participated in over $150 million of investments and strategic transactions, and overseen digital-asset reserves exceeding $1 billion. I also hold board and advisory roles across blockchain protocols, foundations and technology companies.
My Web3 and Horizen experience
My Web3 experience is primarily practical and institutional: managing digital-asset treasuries, evaluating investments and ecosystem proposals, overseeing token liquidity and market-making, and working through the accounting, regulatory and governance questions that arise when decentralized technology meets real-world operations.
My engagement with Horizen is more recent than that of several candidates, and I do not want to suggest otherwise. What interests me is Horizen’s evolution towards a privacy-focused, EVM-compatible ecosystem on Base and its ambition to support compliant on-chain finance.
This direction creates meaningful opportunities, but also requires disciplined decisions around treasury deployment, incentives, token utility, regulatory positioning and long-term financial sustainability. These are areas where I believe my experience can complement the Council’s existing technical and community perspectives.
What I would bring to the Special Council
If elected, I would focus on four areas:
1. Financial and treasury discipline
I would help assess whether proposals have credible budgets, measurable milestones and sustainable economics. Treasury resources should support initiatives that deliver demonstrable value rather than activity without clear outcomes.
2. Sustainable ZEN utility
I would examine whether proposals create genuine demand and productive uses for ZEN. Token utility should be embedded naturally into products, transactions and ecosystem participation, not added as an afterthought.
3. Constructive proposal oversight
My approach would be supportive but appropriately challenging. When reviewing ZenIPs and ecosystem initiatives, I would ask:
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Is the proposal financially and operationally viable?
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Are the expected outcomes and success measures clear?
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Are the token incentives sustainable?
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Have liquidity, security, regulatory and counterparty risks been considered?
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Who remains accountable after funding or launch?
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What happens if the original assumptions prove wrong?
The objective would be to help strong proposals move forward while identifying material risks early enough to address them.
4. Institutional and regulatory perspective
As Web3 becomes more closely connected with regulated finance, Horizen will increasingly interact with financial institutions, professional investors and regulated service providers. I would bring experience in financial reporting, audit, risk, governance, cross-border regulation and institutional capital markets to those discussions.
I would also work to explain financial and governance decisions clearly. Community members should be able to understand how treasury resources are being used, what risks are being accepted and why a proposal has been supported or challenged.
Independence and disclosures
I currently serve as Group CFO of Chiliz and hold other board and advisory positions within the blockchain ecosystem (dydx). I am disclosing these affiliations openly because the community should be able to assess any potential conflicts.
If elected, I would act in the interests of the Horizen DAO, disclose relevant conflicts as they arise and recuse myself from any matter where my independence could reasonably be questioned. I would also seek confirmation before the election that my existing responsibilities are compatible with Horizen’s eligibility requirements.
Availability and commitment
I can attend the Council’s regular meetings, review proposals between meetings and participate when urgent governance or security matters arise.
I would approach the role as a genuine stewardship responsibility: listening to the community, applying independent judgment and helping Horizen allocate its resources toward initiatives that strengthen adoption, utility and long-term resilience.
Country of residence
Switzerland. I therefore meet the non-US residency requirement.
Horizen has an opportunity to combine privacy, accessible EVM infrastructure and compliance-oriented on-chain finance in a way that is relevant beyond the existing crypto market. I would be pleased to contribute my financial, governance and institutional experience to that next stage.
Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to engaging more with the community!
Julian La Picque