Rodrigo Coelho is a serial entrepreneur and seasoned technology leader with over twenty years of expertise in engineering and decentralised infrastructure. As the first hire at The Graph, he played a key role in shaping its early architecture and ecosystem. In 2025, he became Chief Executive Officer of Edge & Node, the core developer of The Graph, where he directs the company’s vision, strategy, and global expansion.
During DevConnect in Buenos Aires, Argentina, we spoke face-to-face with Rodrigo Coelho, CEO of Edge & Node, regarding the evolution of The Graph ecosystem and the company’s strategic shift toward enterprise-grade data solutions.
Edge & Node now aims to connect open-source decentralised protocols with institutional requirements. With the launch of new products like Amp, the company is developing a verifiable data infrastructure that supports both traditional finance and the emerging realm of autonomous AI agents.
Read more about Edge & Node’s “Red Hat” model for Web3 and the role of physical communities in a decentralised world in the interview below.
You were the very first hire at The Graph and are now CEO of Edge & Node. Looking back, how did that early practical experience with the protocol influence your leadership today?
It was invaluable. Throughout my career, I founded three other companies. Working at The Graph and then Edge & Node was the first time I had ever been employed. Being on the employee side gave me a fresh perspective. Since I was there from the very beginning, I had the whole history and context. I was also involved in many operational tasks. Part of my role included onboarding new hires, so I was present on their first day to help set up their accounts and integrate them into the team.
Seven years later, when I became CEO, I already knew everyone in the company, and everyone knew me. They remembered that first day when I sat with them. It was very personal. Because of my background as a founder and operator, stepping into the CEO role felt instinctive. With my history and context, people trusted I understood the backstory and could do a good job.
Having founded and exited multiple companies before Web3, which lessons from those earlier ventures are most applicable to building a decentralised infrastructure firm?
There are many. There’s that saying about startups: they’re like chewing glass and staring into the abyss. It is not an easy game. The odds are against you. A major reason startups fail is simply that people give up, though factors like product fit, execution, and timing also play significant roles.
Those lessons are hard-won. When I stepped into the CEO role at Edge & Node, we had been around for about eight years and had a large team. It was no longer a scrappy early startup. I knew we had to switch back to “zero to one” mode. We retrenched, cut costs, and got heads-down focused this past year. As a result, we launched two new products in less than a year. It shows what happens when you align a stellar team around a singular vision and recapture that founder mindset.
What prompted the move from building open-source primitives to now developing enterprise-grade blockchain data infrastructure?
We have been managing data infrastructure for seven or eight years and have gained a lot of knowledge. The field has evolved. When we decided to develop our new product, Amp, we returned to fundamental principles. We asked ourselves, given what we know now, how would we rebuild this from the ground up?
We built for current and future realities. One of these realities is that enterprises, particularly traditional finance firms, are adopting blockchain technology. They were experimenting previously, but now they aim to integrate real financial systems onto these new rails. They have specific requirements, with compliance being at the top of the list.
Your team is pursuing SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certifications. What has that process revealed about bridging decentralised systems with enterprise security frameworks?
Compliance is a costly process that takes months and significant resources. The aim is to follow best practices to minimise the chance of a mistake that could lead to a major breach. Financial institutions face severe risks of hefty penalties if something goes wrong. There is essentially no margin for error. Everything they handle must meet the same high standards of quality and control.
Another essential requirement is auditability and data verifiability. We have integrated verifiable data into Amp as an innovative feature. If you possess a copy of data stored on your own servers, you can demonstrate that it aligns with the blockchain and has not been altered. This enables organisations to assure auditors that their data corresponds with the canonical source of truth.
Where do you draw the line between custom enterprise solutions and the open-source ethos that defined The Graph’s early days?
We remain fully committed to being open-source and continue to build all our products openly. We have found that this approach aligns perfectly with enterprise needs, as they prefer open-source software to avoid vendor lock-in. They want the absolute assurance that the technology will remain available to them, even if the original vendor goes out of business.
Our model is more akin to Red Hat’s. We offer support and services on top of open-source software, which is how we generate revenue. That income helps us sustain our operations and continue developing the open protocol. These large clients help fund the ecosystem’s growth.
Edge & Node mentions building infrastructure for “verifiable data and intelligent agents.” Can you unpack what that means in practical terms?
When dealing with agents, anyone can easily create one. Trust becomes crucial. Agents must depend on honest data, especially in finance. Imagine an agent that trades on your behalf. If it operates on poor data and conducts a million-pound trade, the result could be disastrous.
So, verifiable data for agents is a vast area. As agents come online, they must depend on data that is reliably correct. Even with a human in the loop, you can get into trouble if you follow an AI recommendation based on faulty data. Verifiability matters whether the action is automated or semi-automated.
The House of Web3 unites builders, researchers, and artists. How does this physical space support Edge & Node’s mission?
It has been a significant success. Reflecting on my own journey, I entered this field through a face-to-face connection. I strongly believe in those fortunate encounters. That’s why people still attend conferences. Even though we develop technology, there are still humans on both sides.
When people gather in physical spaces that promote spontaneity, great things happen. We established the House of Web3 as a public good to facilitate those interactions. It helped us plant a flag in San Francisco after COVID and demonstrate that this city remains a hub for Web3. We’ve even heard of individuals moving back to the city because of community hubs like this.
As Web3 evolves and regulation becomes stricter, where do you see Edge & Node’s biggest opportunity?
The greatest opportunity lies in the enterprise sector. We are witnessing more institutions getting involved. We recently attended SmartCon, which was filled with major banks and large firms. Fidelity, for instance, has a crypto team that surpasses most startups in the industry.
Increasingly, banks and institutions will transfer financial transactions onto the blockchain because it settles more quickly and offers greater transparency. They also require privacy, which is why they are exploring private chains or solutions that enable the segregation of private data.
How do you foresee the balance between open-source innovation and commercial sustainability evolving over the next five years?
As I mentioned, the open core model is significant. You have open source at its core, with services and support layered on top for revenue. In our case, we still operate The Graph Network. We adopt a multi-faceted approach.
For example, Amp can be run on-premises within an institution’s own data centres or operated in the cloud as a managed service. Behind the scenes, it utilises The Graph Network, paying the indexer network in GRT to leverage its global coverage. It functions like a content delivery network for data. We monetise enterprise features and support while fostering the decentralised ecosystem.
Besides Edge & Node, is there anything you are particularly bullish on for the next few months?
Privacy is a significant issue. I’m very eager to see that space grow. I’m also intrigued by protocols that distribute fees back to users, like Hyperliquid and similar models. I believe we’ll see more of these. The market aims for genuine use and revenue, which helps create more informed buyers rather than purely speculative behaviour.