Jorge Izquierdo co-founded Aragon, a project focused on DAOs and governance. In May 2024, he went public with his latest project, Tuyo - a wallet focused on self-custody. ^[1][2]

Career

Prior to co-founding Aragon, Jorge Izquierdo was a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Unpatent - a crowdfunding platform that invalidates bad patents. He served as the CTO of the organization until December 2016. ^[3]

Aragon

In November 2016, Izquierdo co-founded Aragon alongside Luis Cuende. Aragon seeks to create blockchain-based digital jurisdictions for online enterprises, particularly decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). ^[4]

"We are committed to building organizational forms that defend self-sovereignty — where a user can always exercise choice, either by participating or exiting." - Aragon manifesto states
"We are committed to decentralizing power in order to dismantle unjustified power — which usually springs from centralization."^[6]

The project raised $25 million in ether (ETH) in a May 2017 initial coin offering (ICO) and $850,000 in two private sales with venture firms Draper Associates and Placeholder Ventures. ^[2][5]

Resignation

In January 2021, Izquierdo resigned as CEO of Aragon due to decisions made in his absence. ^[5]

“After some hectic months, I took two weeks completely offline following a doctor’s recommendation,” Izquierdo said in a statement.

“While I was off, a series of decisions were made in the Aragon Association (mainly with respect to governance) that I disagreed both with the decisions themselves and how they were taken.”

Izquierdo added:

“There were several proposals to fix this put forward, but there was no willingness to revert or amend these decisions. As a result, no changes were made. This motivated the team to leave, and is also the reason I am resigning.”

“The big disagreement is with regards to the Association's governance and specifically with its board,” Izquierdo added. ^[5]

Tuyo

On May 7, 2024, Jorge Izquierdo revealed his project, Tuyo. The Tuyo wallet lets users interact with decentralized exchanges (DEXes) on multiple blockchain networks. ^[7]

"Tuyo is an all-in-one crypto app that is completely self-custodial. Tuyo allows you to get your first dollar into crypto, buy, sell, hold, and explore crypto with total ease. With Tuyo you can also find access to DeFi. Our app allows you to safely do crypto transactions without being exposed to malicious actors" - the website answers^[8]

In an interview with The Block, Izquierdo said:

“The idea is to build a great 'walled garden' in which even if users are in custody of their crypto, they won't experience many of the complexities.”

The core goal of the wallet is to try to abstract away the more confusing elements of interacting with various blockchain networks. While the wallet operates on multiple blockchain networks — Ethereum, Optimism, Arbitrum, and Base — it hides those details when not needed. ^[9]

Izquierdo further said there has been a series of tailwinds to make an app like Tuyo possible, including faster-decentralized exchanges on Layer 2 networks and account abstraction, which enhances crypto wallets. For instance, with account abstraction, users won’t need to sign approvals for transactions before they go through — as it’s combined into a single transaction. ^[9]

“It's only now that all the pieces finally come together to be able to offer a great experience akin to a centralized exchange that can be used by hundreds of millions in which everything but the on/offramp can happen onchain,” - he added.^[9]