Diego Gutiérrez Zaldívar is thw co-founder of Rootstock (RSK), the first smart contract platform built on the Bitcoin network. ^{[3] [4]} He also co-founded several foundational organizations within the regional crypto ecosystem, including the Bitcoin Argentina NGO and the Latin American Bitcoin & Blockchain Conference (LaBITconf). ^[5] As of early 2026, he serves as the Co-founder and CEO of RootstockLabs, the primary organization supporting the development of the Rootstock protocol. ^[2]​

Education

Diego Gutiérrez Zaldívar completed his primary education at Escuela Nro 26 Adolfo Van Gelderen between 1982 and 1987. He later attended Instituto Libre de Segunda Enseñanza (ILSE), where he obtained a Bachiller degree with a Humanistic orientation from 1988 to 1992. In 1993, he enrolled at the Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) to pursue a Bachelor degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering; the program was not completed and remains unfinished. ^[1]

Career

Early Internet Ventures (1995–2011)

Gutiérrez Zaldívar's career in technology began in 1995, establishing him as a pioneer of web development in Argentina and Latin America. ^[3] In 1995, he co-founded one of Argentina's first Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and a pioneering web development company, Xinergia, where he was CEO for over 17 years. ^{[1] [6]} During this period, he was involved in several high-profile digital projects. From 1995 to 1999, he worked as the Webmaster for Clarín, one of Argentina's largest newspapers, and was later involved with the founding team of its online portal, Clarín Digital, which served as a basis for later work in the cryptocurrency industry.^{[2] [7]}​

One of his most notable early successes was the co-founding of Patagon.com between 1996 and 1998. The company, an internet financial services portal and community, became a major success in Latin America and was later acquired by the Spanish bank Banco Santander for approximately $750 million. ^[3] Following this, he co-founded Internet Argentina, the country's first ISP to offer ADSL services, from 1998 to 1999. His work in the late 1990s also included serving as Head of R&D at ElSitio.com, where he managed a team of 25 developers. In 2002, he co-founded Edunexo, a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform for managing educational institutions across Latin America and Spain, where he continues to serve as a Director. ^[7]​

Transition to Bitcoin and Community Building (2012–Present)

Gutiérrez Zaldívar became actively involved in the Bitcoin space around 2012, shifting his focus to promoting the technology in Latin America. ^[1] In 2013, he co-founded several key organizations to foster a regional ecosystem. He established the Bitcoin Argentina NGO (officially Asociación Civil DECODES), serving as its president to promote the understanding and adoption of Bitcoin through education and community events. ^[2] He also co-founded and served as president of the Bitcoin Latam NGO, which helped establish a network of Bitcoin communities across nine countries in the region. ^[7]​

In May 2013, he co-founded the Latin American Bitcoin & Blockchain Conference (LaBITconf), which has since become recognized as the world's longest-running Bitcoin conference. ^[5] He has also engaged in institutional and governmental outreach, co-creating LACChain, a regional blockchain alliance, in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank. ^[6] In December 2023, he met with Gustavo Petro, the President of Colombia, along with other industry leaders to discuss the potential of Bitcoin for societal development. ^[3]​

Entrepreneurial Ventures in Blockchain

In addition to his community-building efforts, Gutiérrez Zaldívar has co-founded several companies focused on blockchain technology. In 2015, he co-founded Koibanx, a fintech company that provides blockchain-based tokenization and payment infrastructure for the financial sector in Latin America, where he serves as a board member. ^{[1] [7]}​

His most significant project, Rootstock (RSK), began in 2015 when he co-founded RSK Labs with Sergio Demian Lerner, Rubén Altman, Adrián Eidelman, and Gabriel Kurman. ^{[2] [4]} He served as CEO of RSK Labs, which developed the Rootstock protocol, an open-source smart contract platform merge-mined with Bitcoin, designed to add greater functionality and scalability to the Bitcoin network. ^[6]​

The RSK mainnet, codenamed "Bamboo," was launched in January 2018. ^[3] Following the launch, RSK Labs was acquired by or evolved into IOV Labs, an umbrella organization created to further develop Rootstock and the RSK Infrastructure Framework (RIF). Gutiérrez Zaldívar has served as Co-founder and CEO of IOV Labs since its inception in late 2017. The organization now operates as RootstockLabs, where he continues to lead efforts in building infrastructure to extend Bitcoin's capabilities. ^{[2] [7]}​

Awards and Recognition

Gutiérrez Zaldívar has received multiple honors for his pioneering work and contributions to the cryptocurrency industry.

Crypto Hall of Fame Inductions

He has been inducted into several different "Crypto Halls of Fame" by various organizations, recognizing him as a foundational figure in the industry.

• On June 5, 2021, he was inducted as the twelfth member of the Crypto Hall of Fame launched by Moonstock. The ceremony took place at the Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami. He joined other pioneers such as Satoshi Nakamoto, Hal Finney, and Adam Back. Upon receiving the honor, he stated, "More than a personal recognition, I feel this as a recognition to all the pioneers who built the Bitcoin and crypto movement in Latin America." ^[4]
• In October 2022, he was inducted into the Crypto Hall of Fame by the Museum of Crypto Art (M○C△). This induction honored him as a "founding father of blockchain technology in Latin America." ^[1]
• In late 2023, he received another induction at the Crypto Summit in Zurich. Sources report this event as occurring in September or November 2023, with the induction being granted by Coinsender "in recognition of his extensive and vital contributions to the crypto industry." ^{[7] [2]}

Other Recognition

On January 16, 2023, Gutiérrez Zaldívar became the first Argentinian to participate as a speaker at the exclusive Crypto Summit conference in Zurich, held alongside the World Economic Forum in Davos. He spoke on panels discussing industry predictions and the evolution of Layer 2 solutions. ^[8] He is scheduled to speak at the Consensus Hong Kong conference in February 2026 on the topic of Bitcoin Layer 2s. ^[2]​

Reflecting on one of his awards, he said, “It’s a great honor to be considered a founding father of blockchain in Latin America and I’d like to extend this recognition to the whole Latam community. Without their support, we couldn’t have built the largest and most active Bitcoin community in the world.” ^[1]​

Interviews

Bitcoin Adoption in Argentina #01

In an interview published on the YouTube channel of Torsten Hoffmann on July 5, 2014, Diego Gutierrez Zaldivar addressed the topic of Bitcoin adoption in Argentina and broader Latin American contexts. His statements reflected his personal background in web entrepreneurship and involvement in regional technology communities.

Gutierrez Zaldivar described his professional experience during the expansion of the internet in Latin America in the 1990s as a reference point for understanding Bitcoin. He drew a comparison between early internet technologies, which expanded access to information and communication, and Bitcoin, which he characterized as a system designed to facilitate financial transactions without centralized intermediaries.

He outlined several structural characteristics of Argentina that, in his assessment, influence Bitcoin usage. These included repeated economic disruptions, inflation levels estimated at approximately 25 percent annually at the time, and an informal economy accounting for roughly half of total economic activity. He stated that these factors, combined with widespread familiarity with digital tools, have contributed to forms of Bitcoin use that are primarily peer-to-peer rather than driven by large institutions or enterprises.

The discussion also addressed informal economies and cross-border transfers within Latin America. Gutierrez Zaldivar indicated that regional migration patterns generate frequent remittance flows and noted that Bitcoin could be used as an alternative method for transferring value across borders with fewer intermediaries. He further commented on regulatory challenges, attributing them to limited understanding among policymakers and financial authorities, and emphasized the role of information and education in shaping regulatory responses.

During the interview, decentralization was presented as a defining feature of Bitcoin’s technical design. He stated that distributed networks reduce reliance on centralized control points and referenced the 2008 global financial crisis as a contextual factor that influenced interest in alternative monetary systems. The interview summarized his view that Bitcoin constitutes a distinct financial infrastructure model, particularly relevant in environments characterized by economic volatility and restricted access to conventional financial services. ^[9]

Bitcoin, Blockchain and Trust in the Digital Age #02

In an interview published on the YouTube channel TEDx Talks on December 6, 2016, Diego Gutiérrez Zaldívar discussed his interpretation of the development of the internet, the introduction of Bitcoin, and the subsequent use of blockchain technology. The interview reflects his personal analysis of how digital networks altered communication and information exchange while maintaining the role of financial intermediaries.

According to Zaldívar, intermediaries such as banks and financial institutions historically facilitated trust and coordination in trade, particularly across distances. He stated that these structures also introduced additional layers of cost, operational complexity, and access limitations, which restricted participation in formal financial systems for parts of the population. In his view, the persistence of intermediaries on the internet was linked to the nature of digital information, which can be copied without loss, creating challenges for representing and transferring value directly.

He identified Bitcoin, launched in 2008, as a technical approach to addressing these limitations. As presented in the interview, Bitcoin relies on a distributed ledger maintained through cryptographic processes and consensus rules, reducing dependence on centralized authorities for transaction validation. Zaldívar explained that this model enabled peer-to-peer value transfer without requiring traditional institutional oversight.

The interview also covered blockchain applications beyond digital currency. Zaldívar described smart contracts as software-based mechanisms capable of recording and executing predefined agreements and managing digital representations of assets. He associated these tools with what he referred to as an “Internet of Value,” a framework in which decentralized systems could support value exchange and identity management based on verifiable records rather than centralized control.

Throughout the interview, Zaldívar linked these technological developments to broader questions of financial access and system design, noting that increased connectivity through mobile devices could intersect with blockchain-based systems to expand participation in digital economic activity. ^[10]