About

Joan Arús

With over 17 years of international entrepreneurial experience, Joan Arús has built and scaled companies from the ground up across the retail, food, and technology sectors. After witnessing first-hand the physical and technological repression of the Catalan Independence Referendum, in 2018 Joan co-founded Vocdoni, the world's first universally verifiable voting protocol.

Despite facing surveillance and misinformation campaigns in Spain due to this work, he led Vocdoni to a successful acquisition by the Aragon Project in 2020. As Executive Director at Aragon, he continued building governance and privacy tooling for digital organizations communities.

Joan holds a degree in Human Biology with a master's specialization in Biomedicine Research from UPF, completed the Business Administration Program at Esade Business School, and earned a Postgraduate degree in Blockchain Technologies from UPC.

Jordi Baylina

Jordi Baylina Melé is a renowned cryptographic engineer and blockchain developer, best known for co-founding the White Hat Group and rescuing €4 million during the 2016 DAO hack. He has led major projects like Polygon zkEVM, CIRCOM, DAppNode, and Iden3—pioneering zero-knowledge technologies and decentralized infrastructure used by millions. In 2025, he launched ZisK to advance zkEVM development independently. A vocal advocate for digital sovereignty and privacy, Baylina was a confirmed target in the CatalanGate spyware scandal, which reinforced his commitment to censorship-resistant, open-source tools. His contributions have shaped the Ethereum ecosystem and continue to drive innovation in secure, privacy-preserving technologies.

Albert Castellón

Albert Castellón Claramunt is a seasoned brand strategist and business leader known for reviving the historic Moritz beer brand, transforming it from defunct to a €40 million company with 5% market share in Catalonia. With over 25 years of experience and an Executive MBA from ESADE, he has led high-impact projects such as the launch of Parlem Telecom, which reached 153,000 customers and €100 million market capitalization, and co-founded WeDo Partners, a business innovation hub in Barcelona. Currently, he leads a branding consultancy, and serves on the Consell Consultiu de Diplocat, bringing deep expertise in cultural marketing, strategic positioning, and Catalan business ecosystems.

Pau Escrich

Pau Escrich García is a seasoned technology leader and digital rights advocate with over 15 years of experience in decentralized systems, mesh networking, and blockchain-based governance. As co-founder and CTO of Vocdoni, he has led the development of one of the world’s most advanced digital voting platforms, enabling secure, anonymous, and verifiable elections for over 300 organizations globally, including FC Barcelona. His earlier work includes co-developing LibreMesh and WiBed, empowering communities to deploy autonomous networks independent of centralized providers. A vocal proponent of technology sovereignty, Escrich has made substantial contributions to open-source infrastructure and privacy-preserving cryptographic systems, including zkSNARKs and threshold homomorphic encryption. Targeted in the CatalanGate surveillance scandal, his experience with spyware attacks directly informed the creation of censorship-resistant democratic tools. Recognized by the European Parliament and featured at international conferences like EthCC, Escrich combines deep technical expertise with a commitment to safeguarding human rights and expanding democratic participation through accessible, resilient digital infrastructure.

Xavier Vives

Xavier Vives Riba is a Catalan technology entrepreneur and digital rights advocate best known for co-founding Vocdoni, the first universally verifiable digital voting protocol. His work on Vocdoni enabled secure, anonymous voting for over 180,000 users across major civic and cultural organizations. A pioneer in privacy-preserving technologies and decentralized governance, Vives has helped lower the cost and technical barriers to digital democratic participation while building open-source infrastructure to resist censorship and protect civil liberties.

Joan Matamala

Joan Matamala i Alzina is a Catalan entrepreneur and digital rights advocate known for merging cultural preservation with cutting-edge privacy technologies. As president of Fundació Les Voltes and co-founder of Fundació Nord, he has championed Catalan language, civic education, and blockchain-based democratic tools. Matamala became a global figure in the fight against surveillance after being identified as the first known victim of Candiru spyware, with his case helping Microsoft patch vulnerabilities that protected over 1.4 billion devices. Featured in HBO’s Surveilled documentary, his advocacy has influenced EU policy debates on spyware and digital rights. Through his foundations, Matamala continues to promote technology sovereignty, anonymous voting systems, and civic participation rooted in cultural identity.