Leaders Series: Raine Revere at ShapeShift and Maiden
By: Meltem Demirors
Tags: Technology, Ethereum, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, Blockchain

Leaders Series: Raine Revere at ShapeShift and Maiden

Issue 32 — Dec 7, 2017

This series highlights the unique stories of leaders from various communities across the growing digital currency and blockchain technology industry. The goal is to showcase the fantastic work these leaders are all doing at different levels of their respective organizations, and to encourage more people at all stages of their careers join the revolution we’re creating, together!

Raine Revere is the Co-Founder of Maiden and Lead Architect of ShapeShift’s Prism product

She is a smart contract developer and educator in the Ethereum community. Raine’s areas of expertise include smart contract security and high-level architecture. As the lead engineer for ShapeShift’s Prism platform, Raine helped develop a decentralized digital asset management platform that secures users’ funds entirely on the Ethereum network.

She is also the founder of Maiden, a blockchain education and advocacy company focused on shifting the culture and leadership of Tech and Finance.

How did you get into bitcoin?

I had heard about Bitcoin but did not pay much attention until I learned what Ethereum was in late 2015. Given my engineering background, I understood the basics of blockchain technology pretty quickly and could see that this was a huge game-changer. Most importantly, this changed the game not just of IT but of economics, governance, and many far-reaching systems.

I knew that blockchain was going to be a revolutionary change and I wanted to be a part of it, although I did not know how yet. I took the Coursera course, Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies, which is still one of the best resources available for learning the technical foundations of blockchain. After learning and absorbing for about 4 months, I made my connection to ShapeShift and was brought on board to create the MVP of Prism.

After a year-and-a-half of learning all the ins-and-outs of the EVM, building Prism, building a team, and launching my speaking career, I co-founded Maiden. Maiden was the result of the obvious gap between the vision of blockchain as a decentralized platform and the reality of a highly centralized culture even more narrow than existing tech and finance spaces. Women, trans people, queer people, and people of color were nowhere to be seen, all while blockchain converts touted the benefits of decentralization. Nobody explicitly advocated for an all-white, all-male blockchain space, but nobody was really speaking up for something different, much less changing company policies and resource allocations to help move the industry in the right direction.

This is no doubt a controversial matter for some, but the combination of my experience as a trans woman, my psychology education, and my communications with many of the other individuals of diverse identities in the space made it clear that there was a huge need to bring awareness to this issue and develop concrete strategies, products, and incentivization schemes to change the culture while we still have a chance. Maiden was created for this purpose, and this is only the beginning.

What did you do before you got into this?

I received my B.A. in Computer Science, worked as a web developer for 17 years, and recently received my M.A. in Contemplative Psychotherapy which augmented my speaking, teaching, and facilitation skills in addition to giving me the training and credentials to run a small private therapy practice.

What’s been the most interesting experience you’ve had in your role so far?

The early engineering challenges were interesting as well as the challenges involved in leading a team. Since then I have become more interested in cultural issues in blockchain. I have most appreciated the opportunity to speak and participate on many panels. It has given me wide exposure to the culture of blockchain and the many reasons that people get involved. I consistently connect more with those who get involved in blockchain related to aspirations around social impact.

What problem is your company, Maiden, solving? Why do you feel passionate about this?

Maiden is working on solving the problem of centralized culture and lack of diversity in tech and finance. Blockchain is defining the emerging, decentralized economy, and the culture that develops around blockchain is sure to be propagated globally. This gives us an opportunity to envision and design a more inclusive economy, financially and culturally.

My passion for this is no different than the passion of any woman, person of color, queer person, or other marginalized individual who experiences the inequalities of our current system firsthand. I am not a typical activist; I am more defined by my views from Integral Theory (re Ken Wilber) than leftist ideology. Nevertheless, the basic inequalities that exist between individuals with different backgrounds/identities represent a major hindrance to an intelligent, integral society and economy. Establishing greater inclusivity, diversity, and multiplicity of thought promises to unlock a vast amount of collective intelligence.

As you think about the evolution of the blockchain community, what do you fear will limit growth? What do you hope to see in the future?

Growth is happening. I do not think there is any risk of it slowing down at this point. The risk is that growth will occur so rapidly and so carelessly as to replicate the worst aspects of the existing tech and finance cultures. Blockchain is still small enough to influence and experiment with.

My hope is that the overarching desire to expand blockchain does not drown out the important details of how blockchain is expanded, who holds power, and what exactly we want to create together.

There is no reason with what we know today to focus exclusively on technological infrastructure while ignoring social implications. History shows us the result of this kind of applied ignorance. Instead, let’s learn from the past and take a stand for the kind of future we wish to create.

Wealth without values is just another kind of hell, not only for those who are left out but also for those who find themselves stranded at the top in a cultural myopia, absent of the rich wisdom of multiple perspectives.

Connect with Raine on Twitter and LinkedIn!