Alejandro Gutierrez is a blockchain entrepreneur and the CEO of npayme Labs, the main contributor of the npayme network, a creator-owned network of decentralized applications (dApps). ^[1][2]

Education

Gutierrez graduated from the Universidad del Norte with a Bachelor’s in Industrial and Production Engineering in 2006. He later received his Master’s in Logistics and Transport Management from the University of Sydney in 2008. Guiterrez also obtained an Advanced Diploma in Business from Kaplan Australia in 2010. In 2019, he participated in the Blockchain Strategy Programme at the Said Business School at the University of Oxford. ^[3]

Career

Gutierrez's career began as an import and export operations assistant at Globalog S.A. from March 2003 to October 2004. He then worked as an import and export operations coordinator at UTi Worldwide from January 2005 to January 2006, followed by a role at Globalog S.A. as an ocean import and export coordinator/supply chain process advisor from January 2006 to June 2007. ^[4]

He was a production manager at Lion Packaging between February 2010 and June 2011. Then, he moved into business analysis, holding roles at Infosys Portland, starting as a business analyst from June 2011 to June 2012. He continued at Infosys Portland as a procurement specialist until March 2013, then as a supply chain and procurement consultant until October 2015, and finally as a senior supply chain and procurement consultant until February 2016. ^[4]

From February to December 2016, he was the supply chain project lead at Ingham Enterprises in Australia. In 2017, Gutierrez consulted as Caltex's supply chain and procurement consultant, acting as logistics manager from January to May. He then became The Happy Pear's supply chain and outsourced manufacturing manager from September 2017 to December 2018. ^[4]

He joined ConsolFreight LLC as Chief Strategy Officer in January 2019, a position he held until January 2021. In March 2020, he founded the Forward Together Network. Gutierrez co-founded Defactor in January 2021, a blockchain-based platform to bridge traditional and decentralized finance. In August 2022, he became the CEO of Defactor Labs, which provides tools for companies to access financing using tokenized assets. In November 2022, he co-founded ETHDublin, which hosts Ireland's official Web3 Hackathon. Since March 2022, he has also served as a mentor for Launchpool Web3 Techstars. In January 2024, Gutierrez took on the role of CEO at npayme Labs, a contributor to the npayme network, which focuses on decentralized applications for monetization and rewards. ^[4]

Interviews

Defactor Labs

In an interview with Hesus Inoma, Gutierrez shared his career, highlighting his background in Colombia, where his family has a long history in the supply chain industry. He pursued a Master’s in Supply Chain Management and Transportation in Australia and worked in niche consulting, specializing in supply chain finance and procurement. He noticed that blockchain technology could address key supply chain challenges like visibility and traceability, leading him to explore its potential further. In 2017, he moved to Ireland, where he joined a small company and worked on sustainability-focused projects. Later, Gutierrez co-founded Consol Freight to digitize supply chains and optimize trade finance. However, when the pandemic hit, the focus shifted towards liquidity solutions, leading to a pivot that eventually evolved into Defactor. Defactor aimed to bridge traditional and decentralized finance by leveraging blockchain to enhance supply chain finance. In 2021, they launched their ICO during the bull market, navigating the complexities of the evolving decentralized finance space and integrating learnings from pioneers like MakerDAO. ^[5]

RWA Liquidity

On the Crypto Coin Show in 2022, Gutierrez discussed the Defactor platform, working with Algorand, and the project’s plans to tokenize real-world assets (RWAs), starting with the motivations to tackle RWA liquidity: ^[6]

“Well, I think one of the reasons why we focus on solving these problems is that traditionally, I have been working in the DeFi space for probably two years, a little bit more than that, and we were one of the first movers in the real-world asset space. We worked with the likes of Maker; we were actually the first pilot Maker did with a logistics invoice. So, basically collateralizing logistics invoices as an asset and just taking funds from Maker and being able to finance these types of operations, and also with Centrifuge, one of the first movers in the real-world space. So when we're doing all these transactions and placing assets into the DeFi space, we realized that operationally it was a huge burden. You needed to change your processes, and traditionally in the financial space, processes are complex because there are so many parties, and you need to be sure of the reconciliation piece. So we said, look, this is a fantastic opportunity. As you said, there are a lot of markets that can be tapped if we put this technological layer that makes it easier for companies to tap into the DeFi space and use that source of liquidity as an alternative, just the same as they do with traditional fiat at the moment.”

When asked about using NFTs to utilize the RWAs in liquidity pools, he responded: ^[6]

“Yeah, definitely, like NFTs are a huge component of what we do, right, because as you mentioned, real-world assets need to be digitized to be locked in those liquidity pools. It's funny because there was this huge boom about NFTs in the last year or so; I've been working with NFTs for the last two years, but more as a financial vehicle to extract liquidity from the DeFi space. So just as you're saying, there's a digitization of a real-world asset, right, and that NFT that is created allows us to lock that asset into a liquidity pool to extract crypto assets, right, you call it stablecoins, DAI, USDC, USD, or whatever other one you can. After the loan is repaid, there are multiple options for what you can do with that asset: one is to release it back to the owner, who will decide, 'Look, I want to use it again as a vehicle for financial purposes,' or 'I can put it in a secondary market, sell it, or just put it back into my wallet and keep it as an investment.' Out of that, you'll be seeing more and more. We're working on a project that basically is a marketplace for real-world art, for physical art, but every single one of those pieces is tokenized. There's a token that is linked directly to the real painting, and the idea would be for us to provide liquidity into every single one of those assets that is there because the NFT is already created, so that's super simple.”

He then discussed working with Layer 1 protocols, like Algorand: ^[6]

“We have been working, let's say, or trying to attract what is happening in the real-world asset space in Ethereum mainly, and trying to attract or create some buzz in some other layer-one protocols. And as I mentioned to you, we got interest from the guys on Algorand because they are interested in having real-world assets tapping into liquidity pools. They’re fairly early on that journey, but they understand how critical real-world assets are going to be for them, so that's something we're going to be working on all these years. The idea will be to tap into all the liquidity that Algorand has, which is big enough, right. And yeah, we have some other ones that I cannot disclose yet, but a similar approach. But I think for Defactor, the importance is wherever there is liquidity that can help traditional use of sources, we will try to be there and help those originators that are in need of alternative sources of funding.”

Trade Finance/DeFi Gap

In a Finastra livestream from 2022, Gutierrez, Miguel Torres (Finastra), and Christophe Langlois (Finastra) examined the challenges in trade finance, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted global supply chains and highlighted the industry's reliance on manual and paper-based processes. They discussed the growing trade finance gap, which reached around $1.5 trillion in 2020, disproportionately affecting smaller businesses due to barriers like high transaction costs and strict regulatory requirements. They explored how technological innovations, such as automation, digitization, and DeFi, could improve access to liquidity, particularly for micro, small, and medium enterprises, by lowering traditional financing barriers and introducing decentralized solutions. ^[7]

Blockchain-Freight Solutions

On the IIC Voice Podcast, Gutierrez discussed blockchain solutions for the freight industry during the IOT Solutions World Congress in Barcelona. He highlighted how blockchain technology is digitizing and transforming freight forwarding by creating new revenue streams and enhancing operational efficiency. The company’s proof of concept, Trade Forward, aims to redistribute risk in trade finance by integrating freight forwarders and removing banks from the center of transactions. This approach targets the underserved small and medium enterprises (SMEs), aiming to address a $1.6 trillion market gap. Gutierrez emphasized the need for collaboration among stakeholders, including insurers, shippers, and banks, to realize the full potential of blockchain, reduce transactional friction, and drive financial and technological inclusion in the freight sector. ^[8]