Rodrigo Coelho is a technology entrepreneur and blockchain industry executive who has worked on internet infrastructure and decentralized data systems. He is the chief executive officer of Edge & Node and was an early team member involved in the development of The Graph protocol. His career has focused on founding and leading software companies in web applications, on-demand printing, and encrypted communications before shifting to the blockchain sector. ^{[1] [2]}​

Education

Coelho attended Arizona State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) in Industrial & Management Systems Engineering. ^[7]

Career

Coelho began his entrepreneurial career in 1997 when he co-founded Inteflux Inc., a technology consultancy where he served as president. The firm developed web applications for clients that included airlines and financial institutions across the United States and Europe. Under his leadership, the company expanded to a team of more than 30 engineers before it was acquired by a Nasdaq-listed consulting firm in 2001. In 2004, Coelho co-founded COUTURE BOOK and took the role of chief executive officer. The company developed and operated an on-demand printing and binding platform for creating custom coffee-table books, which was used by professional photographers.

In 2013, he founded cSuite Technologies Inc., where he served as chief executive officer and technical product lead. The company created an enterprise-grade encrypted peer-to-peer mobile communications platform, and Coelho built the team that launched the product on both iOS and Android. His interest in the cryptocurrency sector began in the 2010s as he followed the development of Bitcoin. This led him to move to San Francisco and engage more deeply with the local technology and blockchain community.

In 2018, Coelho joined the team developing The Graph as its first employee and operations lead. In this role, he was responsible for overseeing operations, finance, and human resources as the project expanded and prepared for the launch of its decentralized network. In 2021, he transitioned to Edge & Node, the initial team behind The Graph, joining as chief of staff. He later served as chief spirit officer from 2023 to 2025, a role focused on organizational culture. In January 2025, Coelho was appointed chief executive officer of Edge & Node. ^{[2] [7]}

Interviews

Managing AI Agents

On the BlockHash podcast in November 2025, host Brandon Zemp interviewed Coelho to discuss Edge & Node’s upcoming projects and the new management platform, Ampersend. Coelho shared his entrepreneurial journey, which began amid the 2008 financial crisis and led him into the blockchain space through his involvement with The Graph, a decentralized network for indexing and querying blockchain data. He elaborated on Ampersend's capabilities, designed to manage AI agents, allowing teams to create agent wallets, monitor transactions, and automate payments. They highlighted the rapid growth of the agentic economy, projecting a significant influence on future commerce. As Edge & Node prepare for further developments in Ampersend and other products, the conversation emphasized the importance of observability, identity verification, and standards in the evolving AI and blockchain landscape. The episode concluded with Coelho encouraging listeners to engage with their ongoing initiatives and stay up to date on their progress. ^[6]

Presentations

Future Proofing the Global Economy

At ETHGlobal’s Pragma in November 2025, Coelho delivered a talk about future-proofing the financial infrastructure of the global economy, focusing on the company's journey since its inception in 2018 as the original team behind The Graph protocol. He highlighted the evolution of blockchain data indexing, particularly the development of subgraphs that enabled effective querying of blockchain data and played a critical role during the DeFi summer in 2021. Coelho discussed the challenges of scaling these systems amid rapidly increasing transaction volumes and the shifting landscape towards enterprise needs that require security, compliance, and flexibility. To address these new demands, Edge & Node developed AMP, a blockchain-native database that enhanced data processing and observed capabilities. He also touched upon the rise of AI and the agent economy, emphasizing the necessity for trust and accountability while interacting with AI agents, culminating in the introduction of Ampersend, a control dashboard for managing agent transactions. Through this discussion, Coelho illustrated Edge & Node's commitment to adapting to and driving innovation within the evolving financial ecosystem. ^[3]

Frontier Keynote

In a keynote at the Frontier Forum in November 2025, Coelho shared insights into the future of financial technology through innovations in data and blockchain infrastructure. He discussed the development of AMP, the first blockchain-native database designed to enhance the accessibility and reliability of blockchain data, and introduced Ampersend, a management platform for agent payments. Over the years, Coelho and his team have gathered user feedback to identify challenges in the blockchain data space, ultimately leading them to create solutions that enable rapid multi-chain access, composable data sets, and real-time compliance. He highlighted the significant advancements AMP brought, such as improved storage efficiency and accelerated data freshness, underscoring its potential to support enterprise use cases. Additionally, he acknowledged the growth in the use of AI agents and the need for effective management solutions, framing Ampersend as a critical tool for overseeing agent wallets and transactions. The presentation concluded with a preview of upcoming features and a call to developers to begin building with AMP at an upcoming hackathon. ^[4]

Ampersend

During Edge & Node’s “Powering the Agentic Economy” virtual event in October 2025, Coelho announced the introduction of a new payment management system called Ampersend, which aims to streamline agent-to-agent (A2A) economies. He emphasized that as the intersection of AI, blockchain, and crypto continued to evolve, new technologies like Ampersend would play a crucial role in facilitating interactions among agents. This platform is designed to manage agent wallets, provide visibility into spending, and automate payment authorizations and controls to ensure compliance. A demo showcased Ampersend's functionality, illustrating how users could create and manage agent accounts with spending limits and real-time dashboards. In light of rapid growth in mobile wallets and an expected surge in AI agent utilization, Coelho and his team positioned Ampersend as a foundational tool for the programmable agent economy, inviting potential partners to collaborate in shaping this emerging landscape. ^[5]

Panels

Proof of Control

At the USA House in Davos in March 2026, Coelho participated in a panel discussion organized by the Advanced AI Society alongside Brett Tejpaul of Coinbase and Alissa Starzak of Cloudflare. The discussion examined the growing role of artificial intelligence agents in financial transactions and decision-making, with participants highlighting the need for mechanisms that verify control and accountability as automated systems increasingly act on behalf of individuals and institutions. The panel also addressed the relationship between human oversight and AI autonomy, as well as the infrastructure required to support trust in automated economic activity. Participants discussed emerging technical standards such as X42 and broader efforts to develop verification systems, regulatory frameworks, and transparency measures intended to manage risks as AI systems become more integrated into financial services and digital commerce. ^[8]