Go where your talents exceed your ambitions

Alex Mashinsky claims that he not only invented DeFi, but also Uber and VoIP – and he even had a crack at creating Bitcoin, four years before Satoshi Nakamoto. Weirdly enough, there’s some truth to all these claims.

Mashinsky established Arbinet, which developed an innovative a new concept – voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP)-based voice calls. He went on to found Comgates, which produced softswitches for VoIP. The ultimate development was Elematics, a pioneer in the area of network virtualization, which now comprises a vital system component for Amazon Cloud, Microsoft, and Google.

VoIP-based technology currently serves more than 3.5 billion end-users at no cost. Anyone with a PC or cellphone can use WhatsApp, Skype, or FaceTime to make local and international phone calls free of charge.

Free wireless services for mass transportation. Mashinsky took on another giant when he questioned why the Metropolitan Transit Authority refused to build wireless systems for New York subways. Raising the battle cry once again, he fought the MTA, which finally agreed to take a survey of consumers. After a resounding response, the MTA was forced to open a bid. Today, eight million commuters use free wireless every day, installed by a Mashinsky company, Transit Wireless.

“I tried to create electronic money in 2003, 2004,” he says. “Obviously it never took off. But I always believed that the internet should have its own money. I just didn’t figure out how to solve this double spend problem.”

Unlike many crypto leaders, Mashinsky had a successful career long before blockchain. A tinkerer and inventor since he was a kid, Mashinsky holds 50 patents covering aspects of the tech behind Skype, Netflix video streaming, and Twitter among others. He has raised more than a billion in funds, headed eight companies since the 1990s, and overseen USD 3 billion in exits.

He attributes his success to being able to recognize the potential of disruptive, transformative technology long before the mainstream had caught on. “My wife claims that I live in the future all by myself. And once in a while, society ends up coming to where I have been sitting on the road and waiting for them for a long time. But sometimes they go in a completely different direction,” he adds.

Alex is the CEO and founder of The Celsius Network, a crypto-lending platform founded in 2017 that provides members with curated services, unavailable through traditional institutions. “Celsius continues to do what was once thought impossible, by redefining the way consumers earn and borrow on the blockchain,” says Mashinsky. “For years, the traditional banking business has conditioned us to accept steep fees and no-yield earnings on holdings as the status quo. With that failing model ripe for disruption, we built Celsius to give consumers what banks never could – a community-oriented platform that provides income and financial independence by offering low-cost lending and high-interest yield on 43 cryptocurrencies. At the start, we set a goal to bring the next 100 million people into crypto.

Today, as we sit at over 950,000 users worldwide and over USD 20 billion in assets, we’re well on our way.”

As the founder of eight startups and three unicorns, Alex has raised more than USD 1.5 billion with over USD 3 billion+ in exits, 50+ patents, and now leads the Celsius team with over USD 25 billion in crypto assets. He has three current jobs including Founder and CEO at Celsius Network, CEO at Novatel Wireless, and Founder & Managing Partner at Governing Dynamics Venture Capital.

Additionally, Alex Mashinsky has had seven past jobs, including Investor at Dubset Media Holdings, Inc.

Unlike many crypto leaders, Mashinsky had a successful career long before blockchain. A tinkerer and inventor since he was a kid, Mashinsky holds 50 patents covering aspects of the tech behind Skype, Netflix video streaming, and Twitter among others. He has raised more than a billion in funds, headed eight companies since the 1990s, and overseen USD 3 billion in exits.

Mashinsky even talked the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority into hiring his company, Transit Wireless, to install Wi-Fi and cell phone coverage throughout the subway system.