Andrew Masanto is an American entrepreneur and former lawyer known for founding and co-founding ventures across technology, finance, and digital art. His work spans creating companies in blockchain, decentralized infrastructure, marketing, and health innovation. ^[5]

Education

Masanto graduated from the University of Sydney with a BCom in Accounting and Finance in 2003 and a Bachelor of Laws in 2006. He then attended the College of Law Australia in 2008. ^{[7] [8]}

Career

Masanto began his career while studying Commerce and Law at the University of Sydney, where he also worked as a lecturer and tutor in accounting and finance. After graduation, he joined Rothschild in Sydney as an investment banking analyst, focusing on the energy and gambling sectors. He later moved to London to work as a corporate lawyer at Linklaters, a Magic Circle law firm. Inspired by his entrepreneurial clients, Masanto founded Altitude Shoes in 2008, an e-commerce business specializing in height-increasing footwear. The company was sold to uCommerz in 2012. Around the same time, he founded Higher Click, a digital marketing agency that served clients such as Macy’s, Atari, and Athlon Sports. The company expanded to around 50 employees before being acquired by Growth Pulse in 2014.

In 2017, Masanto co-founded Hedera Hashgraph, where he helped establish the company’s early strategy, fundraising, and community before exiting later that year. The same year, he joined the board of Cornerstone Capital, a New York–based impact investment firm, where he served until 2021. In 2018, he co-founded Reserve, a stablecoin and fintech platform, initially serving as Chief Marketing Officer before transitioning to a strategic advisory role. Reserve-developed products focused on inflation protection and cross-border transactions have gained traction in Latin America. In 2019, Masanto founded ANONA (Art Non-Artist), a collaborative art initiative combining artists and non-artists to produce multimedia works. Around the same time, he and his brother became active collectors in the NFT art space.

In 2021, Masanto co-founded Nillion, a technology company developing decentralized private data storage and computation infrastructure. The Nil Message Compute (NMC) protocol introduced an alternative to traditional blockchain and secure multi-party computation systems. Nillion raised over $20 million in a 2022 seed round. Beyond technology ventures, Masanto founded BiohackingGroup.com, a New York-based community centered on health and longevity. Throughout his career, he has contributed to projects across finance, technology, and digital art, maintaining an interdisciplinary focus that bridges entrepreneurship, science, and creative collaboration. ^[9]

Interviews

Crypto, Biohacks, and Digital Marketing

On the Jump450 podcast in May 2024, Masanto reflected on his journey as a serial entrepreneur, discussing his initial struggle to transition from a law career to founding successful companies in cryptocurrency and digital marketing. He highlighted various phases in his personal mission, evolving from focusing on financial survival to making a meaningful impact and assisting those around him. Throughout the discussion, he shared insights on essential founder characteristics such as problem-solving, team motivation, and tenacity. Masanto also mentioned his experiences with innovative tech projects, like Nillion, which aims to create a decentralized computation network, and Anona, a collaborative art initiative. He emphasized the importance of understanding market demands and maintaining attention to detail as key entrepreneurial skills. ^[1]

Be Iconic

On the Peak Humans podcast with Naeem Mahmood in December 2024, Masanto shared insights into his life and philosophy. Throughout the discussion, he focused on curiosity, reinvention, and building meaningful relationships rather than seeking external validation through successes. He recounted experiences that shaped his perspectives, including a transformative period spent as a monk in rural Ghana, where he learned the value of diverse life paths. Masanto articulated the importance of understanding the nuanced motivations behind actions and decisions, whether in business or personal relationships, suggesting that many people overly attach their identities to societal expectations. He highlighted the significance of choosing the right connections and emphasized that true fulfillment often comes from helping others achieve their goals. Ultimately, he encouraged embracing one's unique journey and crafting a life that resonates with individual values rather than conforming to popular narratives. ^[2]

Presentations

Web3 Start-ups

In January 2024, Masanto delivered a lecture at MIT discussing the challenges and opportunities of starting Web3 protocols amid the crypto downturn. He highlighted the unique mindset required for building decentralized networks, emphasizing the difference between creating a traditional company and a decentralized protocol, which aims to serve a community rather than shareholders. Masanto outlined key design considerations, such as decentralization, permissionless access, trust minimization, and credible neutrality, discussing the complexities and tensions inherent in these principles. He argued for the importance of progressive decentralization and the need for clear regulatory guidance, emphasizing that legitimate startups experimenting with these factors will foster innovation in the evolving landscape of decentralized technologies. Finally, he encouraged MIT students to explore non-transactional applications of decentralized technology, positing that such advancements could lead to a more equitable future. ^[3]

Personalized AI

At a presentation at Harvard in March 2024, Masanto discussed the implications of personalized AI and the associated data privacy concerns. He noted that while most participants expressed enthusiasm for having a personalized AI assistant, most were unwilling to share their comprehensive personal data for such a service. This discrepancy highlighted the barriers to mass adoption of personalized AI due to privacy worries. The speaker introduced the concept of 'blind computation,' a technology that allows users to use sensitive data without revealing its content, potentially enabling users to share their information while maintaining control securely. He argued that this innovation could unlock the potential for personalized AI and advancements in various fields constrained by data limitations, thereby initiating what he termed a 'data Renaissance.' ^[6]

Panels

Supercharging Blockchains

At a panel hosted at Soho House in February 2025, Alex Page, Miguel de Vega, and Masanto discussed innovative technology developed by Nillion, which utilizes a unique decentralized architecture that diverges from traditional consensus mechanisms. The panelists emphasized the ability of Nillion's system to securely handle sensitive data without requiring broadcasting messages among nodes. This secure multiparty computation model transforms information, breaking it into particles that are computable yet unrecognizable to individual nodes, thus ensuring that sensitive information remains confidential. The conversation highlighted the potential for this technology to enable private transactions across existing blockchains, enhance data security, and foster new applications without relying on conventional encryption, suggesting a significant shift in handling sensitive data in a decentralized world. ^[4]