Leonard Dorlöchter is a German entrepreneur and Web3 executive known as the Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of peaq, a Layer-1 blockchain network designed for the Economy of Things (EoT). He is recognized for his work at the intersection of business and engineering, focusing on developing decentralized infrastructure for vehicles, robots, and devices. ^{[1] [2]}

Education

Dorlöchter attended the Technical University of Berlin, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Informatics. This educational background provided him with a foundation in both technology and business management, which he later applied to his entrepreneurial ventures in the blockchain sector. ^[1]

Career

Dorlöchter began his career in the blockchain industry in 2017 as a member of the founding team at nakamo.to, an organization focused on providing capital and resources to ventures developing Web3 technologies. During the same year, he also joined the founding team of Advanced Blockchain AG, a Berlin-based Blockchain-as-a-Service company. Advanced Blockchain AG achieved a significant milestone by becoming the first company in the blockchain sector to be listed on the German Stock Exchange. While at the company, Dorlöchter was involved in the development of the "DAGchain," a proprietary technology combining Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) and blockchain principles, which would later evolve into the peaq network. ^[1]

In 2020, Dorlöchter co-founded EoT Labs, an entity created to develop, incubate, and support open-source projects centered on the Economy of Things. The primary mission of EoT Labs was to facilitate the transition from the centralized, Web2-based Internet of Things (IoT) to a decentralized, Web3-based model. The flagship project to emerge from EoT Labs was the peaq network. Subsequently, Dorlöchter co-founded peaq and assumed the role of Chief Product Officer. In this capacity, he leads the development of the Layer-1 blockchain, which is designed to power decentralized applications (dApps) for machines, vehicles, and other connected devices. In addition to his work with peaq, Dorlöchter serves as an advisor at the investment firm EWOR and actively mentors other projects and innovators in the Web3 space. ^{[1] [2]}

Vision and Philosophy

Dorlöchter's work is centered on the vision of creating a "human-centric Machine Economy" where smart infrastructure and automated devices are owned by and benefit the public, rather than being controlled by a small number of large corporations. He aims to make Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) suitable for mass adoption by focusing on real-world applications that generate tangible value. A core tenet of his philosophy is the transition from the Internet of Things (IoT) to the Economy of Things (EoT). This is achieved by providing machines, vehicles, and robots with sovereign digital identities, access control, and payment capabilities on a Web3 framework, allowing them to operate and transact autonomously. ^{[1] [2]}

In an interview, Dorlöchter articulated this focus on practical implementation:

"We are really focussed on the real world: creating real value and revenue in real-world transactions. We are not just an on-chain project that is just moving money from A to B, but really making that bridge to the real world.” ^[1]

He further explained the long-term goal of preventing the monopolization of automated systems, a pattern observed in the Web 2.0 era:

"To enable a machine economy that runs decentralised, open, and fair instead of a few big platforms like in Web 2.0 running the whole show and profiting massively, while others are facing trouble getting jobs because a lot of things will be automated. This is the bigger vision we are working behind." ^[1]

Dorlöchter also noted the integration of virtual elements to better understand and refine the incentive structures for this new machine economy:

“We do work to make it possible to realise machine economy and also understand incentives and how well they work by incorporating some metaverse elements by incorporating the virtual aspect of that machine economy.” ^[1]

Affiliations

Since 2019, Dorlöchter has been a member of the Sigma Squared Society, a non-profit global community for founders under the age of 26 who are selected for their impact-driven initiatives. He previously served as the organization's Web3 Executive. He is also a speaker at industry events, such as the Proof of Talk Summit, where he discusses topics related to blockchain incentives and their application in the physical world. ^{[1] [2]}