About me

I love to design and build products that do solve real problems, tools that could make people’s lives easier and more just.

Bitcoin, a turning point

I was fortunate to discover Bitcoin in 2010, and became a member of the first community of Italian Bitcoin enthusiasts. Subsequently, I decided to make Bitcoin a central part of my professional life and a core component of the technology stack of Bernstein.io, a company I founded in Munich in 2016 that leverages Bitcoin to prove existence, integrity, and ownership of intellectual property assets. I started Bernstein.io with the ambitious goal of “democratizing IP”. Today Bernstein serves tens of clients, ranging from designers to law firms, from research institutions to art galleries.

In 2023, I founded Bisanz.io, the community of Italian progressives and reformists that aims to promote Bitcoin as an effective tool to reduce inequality and overcome the distortions of the current financial system.

In 2021, I joined Capsule Social, Inc. and its founder Nadim Kobeissi where we developed Blogchain, a web3 publishing platform for long-form content. Blogchain leveraged the Near blockchain and the IPFS storage network to provide resistance to censorship and takedowns. Capsule attracted investments from prominent VCs and angels, such as Polychain, Naval Ravikant, and Balaji Srinivasan. The 2022 market downturn, however, forced the company to first reduce its workforce and eventually shut down completely.

From academia to telco

After receiving my degree in computer science from the University of Bologna (Italy), I began working as a researcher in parallel computing and numerical analysis, first at my alma mater and later at Loughborough University (UK). In 1996, I left academia to become the first employee of MCI Worldcom’s Italian branch in Milan. It was exciting to be a part of the late-‘90s telco boom, from a few people in a small office to a massive data center with hundreds of coworkers.

My first startup

In 1998, I co-founded eXtrapola, an online media monitoring service provider that offered timely, comprehensive and up-to-date reports. A unique press clipping service for the digital age serving a wide range of clients from celebrities to local governments, from sport teams to large consumer companies. I’ve been the CEO of eXtrapola for 7 years, leading its growth and product design.

Cryptography, privacy and freedom

In 2005, I realized that web applications, while extremely convenient and effective, were not a good reason to give up privacy, security and ultimately freedom. Unfortunately, often there is no alternative, but trust SaaS providers and hope they act properly. Along with my friend Giulio Cesare Solaroli, we envisioned a new architecture for web apps, designed to give people complete and exclusive ownership of their data. We decided to test this approach, based on client-side cryptography, on a very sensitive problem: managing and storing passwords. As such, we launched Clipperz, the first online password manager, and the first web application that knows nothing about its users and their data. Clipperz has been running flawlessly since 2006, without a single instance of user data leakage.

Ebooks and digital publishing

Starting in 2008, I got interested in ebooks and digital publishing. I gained a good understanding of the sector and co-organized the first Italian barcamp. This landed me a job as CFO and strategist at Simplicissimus Book Farm, now StreetLib, a company founded by Antonio Tombolini, a serial entrepreneur that sees further than anybody else I’ve ever met. StreetLib provides a wide range of solutions for the digital publishing ecosystem: from selfpublishing to print-on-demand.

Sustainable mobility and urban cycling

I’m a convinced urban cyclist. In 2009 along with Antonio Tombolini, I started Ciclourbano.it, a website that promotes cycling with a special focus on cargobikes and family bikes. I would love one day to turn this passion into a real business.

What I can do for you

Throughout my career, I have gained experience in driving the conceptual development and implementation of several projets projects, from ideation to release. Bitcoin, decentralized web apps, data security and privacy, digital publishing, and urban mobility are some of the markets I’ve worked in. I also enjoy writing no-nonsense business plans, raising money from reputable investors, hiring the best talents, selecting the right business tools. I also like to evangelize about things I believe in.