Derek Barrera

Derek Barrera is a seasoned blockchain engineer and technical leader whose career spans the full arc of the Web3 revolution—from the earliest permission-less networks to today’s multi-chain DeFi landscape. He most recently served as Core Developer at Volmex, where he architected on-chain infrastructure for volatility-linked derivatives and helped shepherd groundbreaking protocol upgrades from concept to mainnet. Before Volmex, Derek was Chief Technology Officer at Proof, guiding product strategy and scaling a globally distributed engineering team responsible for high-throughput NFT minting and creator tooling.

Earlier roles include Principal Blockchain Engineer at Voyager Digital, where he led smart-contract development for the firm’s yield-generation and custody products, and Principal/Founding Engineer at Ethos, delivering one of the first universal, mobile-first crypto wallets. Across these posts Derek has built production systems in Solidity, Rust, Go, and TypeScript; designed token-economic models; conducted formal security reviews; and managed partnerships with layer-one chains, audit firms, and institutional liquidity providers.

Complementing his deep technical expertise, Derek holds degrees in Computer Science, Marketing, and Business—an interdisciplinary foundation that enables him to translate complex cryptographic concepts into compelling product narratives and go-to-market strategies. An active open-source contributor and mentor, he speaks regularly at industry conferences on topics ranging from MEV-resistant architecture to decentralized governance. With a track record of shipping secure, scalable protocols and leading teams through hyper-growth, Derek continues to push the boundaries of what blockchain technology can unlock for businesses and users alike.