Nevin Freeman is the co-founder and CEO of Reserve Protocol, an asset-backed stablecoin platform constructed to carry worth for individuals in high-inflation economies. He first encountered Bitcoin in 2011 and concluded it moved an excessive amount of to work as on a regular basis cash, a conclusion that pushed him towards constructing Reserve as a substitute. Freeman additionally serves as president of Confusion Capital, one in every of two corporations Reserve launched in January 2024 to fund the protocol’s improvement.
Who Is Nevin Freeman?
Freeman graduated from Portland State College with a bachelor’s diploma in 2009. That very same yr, he co-founded RIABiz, a commerce publication for impartial monetary advisors, constructing the positioning’s publishing platform on Google App Engine and serving as chief know-how officer till 2011.
In response to the Hidden Forces podcast, Freeman mentioned he found Bitcoin in 2011 whereas immersing himself in a group centered on international catastrophic dangers and long-term problem-solving.
He initially discovered the idea intriguing however later questioned whether or not Bitcoin’s mounted provide might assist secure, on a regular basis use. He’s one in every of a number of founders coated in our crypto personalities sequence who describe an early skepticism of Bitcoin, somewhat than enthusiasm for it, because the spark for his or her crypto profession.
After RIABiz, Freeman co-founded MetaMed Analysis, a customized medical analysis firm, serving as chief data officer for roughly a yr. In January 2016, he co-founded Paradigm Academy, a Bay Space firm builder that skilled and recruited founders. He left that function in 2017 to begin Reserve, carrying ahead his conclusion that Bitcoin’s volatility made it a poor match for individuals attempting to guard financial savings from inflation.
Nevin Freeman’s Profession and Contributions
Freeman co-founded Reserve Protocol with Matt Elder in 2017. In his speaker bio for the upcoming Crypto Fest convention, Freeman describes the origin plainly: he and Elder got down to construct a secure cryptocurrency for individuals residing by means of hyperinflation.
As CEO, Freeman oversees technique, authorized work, and group coordination, whereas Elder, beforehand an engineer at Google and Quixey, constructed out the protocol’s technical structure as chief know-how officer.
Reserve’s product advanced from an early stablecoin pilot in Venezuela into RSV, then right into a broader system of RTokens, stablecoins backed by baskets of collateral somewhat than a single asset. In January 2024, Reserve launched two further corporations, ABC Labs and Confusion Capital, to assist the protocol’s development. Freeman took on the function of president at Confusion Capital whereas remaining CEO of Reserve.
In a weblog publish about Reserve on Medium, Freeman launched the Reserve Index Protocol, describing a objective of positioning Reserve as a decentralized different to BlackRock’s index merchandise.
By March 2026, he was posting common protocol updates on X detailing the rollout of Index Protocol 5.0, upgrades to the ETH+ yield product, and a call to wind down incentive spending because the group moved into what he referred to as a speedy exploration section for brand new DTF, or Decentralized Token Folio, merchandise.
Nevin Freeman’s Views and Positions
At Reserve’s Monetarium 2 convention in July 2025, Freeman framed the corporate’s objective in explicitly massive phrases throughout his closing keynote, evaluating the trouble to a “SpaceX-to-Mars” stage mission to remove inflation by means of decentralized finance.
He traced that ambition again to Reserve’s early stablecoin experiment in Venezuela, strolling the viewers by means of how regulatory breakthroughs and tokenized securities might allow a worldwide monetary infrastructure constructed on the corporate’s DTF platform.
Talking on the Milk Street Present in December 2025, Freeman argued that crypto’s integration into international finance has moved slower and messier than most traders anticipated, pointing to regulatory friction as the primary impediment somewhat than any hole within the know-how itself. He framed the business’s progress as an extended, extra sophisticated construct than most traders had priced in.
Nevin Freeman within the Information
Reserve submitted a joint proposal to the SEC’s Crypto Process Drive in March 2026, teaming with the Digital Greenback Initiative and the Tokenized Asset Coalition to pitch what the group calls the International Entry Protocol framework. Freeman disclosed the submitting himself in a March 2026 replace on X, the place he additionally confirmed a pause on RSR token unlocks, a part of a broader push to carry down prices whereas the group strikes into new product improvement.
Continuously Requested Questions
Listed here are fast solutions to what individuals search most frequently about Freeman and Reserve Protocol.
What did Nevin Freeman do earlier than founding Reserve Protocol?
Freeman co-founded RIABiz, a monetary business publication, in 2009 and served as its CTO till 2011. He then co-founded MetaMed Analysis, a customized medical analysis firm, adopted by Paradigm Academy, a company-building and training enterprise, in January 2016.
Who co-founded Reserve Protocol with Nevin Freeman?
Freeman co-founded Reserve in 2017 with Matt Elder, who serves because the protocol’s chief know-how officer. Elder beforehand labored as an engineer at Google and Quixey earlier than becoming a member of Reserve to architect its technical programs.
What’s Nevin Freeman’s function at Confusion Capital?
Freeman serves as president of Confusion Capital, one in every of two corporations Reserve launched in January 2024 alongside ABC Labs. He holds this function along with remaining CEO of Reserve Protocol.
Is Nevin Freeman nonetheless CEO of Reserve Protocol in 2026?
Freeman confirmed his ongoing function as co-founder and CEO of Reserve in a March 2026 replace posted to his official X account, the place he detailed the protocol’s Index Protocol 5.0 rollout and different product improvement.
What’s Reserve Protocol’s DTF platform?
DTFs, or Decentralized Token Folios, are on-chain baskets of belongings much like exchange-traded funds. Freeman has described the Reserve Index Protocol as an effort to let anybody create, personal, and govern a DTF with out counting on a centralized custodian.