Alex Puig is the CEO of Context Protocol, a company focused on enhancing blockchain interoperability and data privacy. ^[1][2]

Career

After graduating from La Salle University with an engineering and telecommunications degree, Puig started out as a web developer of Shopall.com / Codigo Barras Networks. From 2006 to 2010, he served as a Labs Developer at Softonic after which he founded ShoTools, a tool for building online social networks presence and he served as the CEO. ^[3]

In 2016, he joined Blockchain Space (now Coinsilium)^[4] as a Program Manager and also served as the Barcelona Chapter Lead for Next Money. ^[5]

Alex Puig is the founder of several companies including Alastria Blockchain Ecosystem, Digital Currency Summit - a crypto debate forum, Fintech Barcelona, The Data Venture, and Caelum Labs - a blockchain solution for cross-company workflow orchestration, based on self-sovereign identity of which he serves as the CTO. ^[6]

He was a Next Generation Internet (NGI) Community Ambassador and is now a Technical Advisor for Rand Network. ^[3]

Puig founded Context Protocol in September 2022. Context is the first decentralized Data Engine designed to organize, read, and share public and private data in a sovereign, trusted, and verified way and Puig serves as the CEO of the company. ^[7]

Talks

NGI Talk

Here, Alex Puig discussed his extensive experience in technology over the past 25 years, emphasizing his focus on emerging technologies that have transformative potential but are not widely adopted at the time. He highlighted his early adoption of blockchain technology around eight to nine years ago when most people were only talking about Bitcoin. Rather than developing a specific project, he focused on evangelizing and educating others about blockchain as a tool for social change, rather than just a vehicle for cryptocurrency, which he believes limited his financial success. ^[8]

Puig's work revolves around the concept of digital identity, particularly self-sovereign identity, which aims to give individuals full control over their digital identities. He pointed out that most online identities today are controlled by third parties like Facebook or Google, which can lead to privacy issues and data misuse. Puig is working on a system that allows users to create and manage their own identities, independent of central authorities, which could fundamentally change the way people interact online. He advocates for a decentralized identity system where users own their data and maintain privacy, addressing issues with current centralized models where data is often exploited for profit. ^[8]

Startup Grind Local, Barcelona

Held in 2018, the team spoke with Puig about Self Sovereign ID, Blockchain, and Cryptocurrency. In his talk, he discussed the importance of digital identity and self-sovereign identity (SSI) in the blockchain ecosystem. He emphasized that current systems of identity and data ownership are broken, often controlled by governments and large corporations like Google and Facebook, which limits individual control over personal information. Puig advocated for a decentralized model where individuals have complete ownership of their data, using a self-sovereign ID that only reveals necessary information without compromising privacy. ^[9]

Puig further explored the idea of blockchain as a means to empower users to "become their own bank," emphasizing how decentralization can transform society by providing more autonomy and control over digital assets and identities. He critiqued the hype around blockchain technologies and initial coin offerings (ICOs), suggesting that many projects are more focused on raising money than solving real problems. Puig concluded by highlighting the importance of collaboration between blockchain communities, startups, and traditional companies to bridge gaps in technology adoption and foster innovation in the digital identity space.^[9]