TLDR
- Adam Simmons has been appointed CSO of the Radix Foundation to champion community goals and guide ecosystem growth.
- Adam and myself will focus on community engagement and coordination with the Foundation.
- Adam will focus on transparency, operational organization, and strategic direction.
- The community is encouraged to shape ideas and proposals and unite behind decisions that will drive Radix’s future success.
In my last update, I made it clear that for Radix to thrive, we needed sharper focus and clearer roles. We’ve been working hard to align our structure with that vision, and today, I’m excited to announce the next step. Adam Simmons, who has been a key figure at RDX Works, will join the Radix Foundation as Chief Strategy Officer (CSO). His mission? To understand and champion the community/ecosystem goals, ensure transparency, and foster the ecosystem’s growth in a way that serves all stakeholders.
Why This Move Matters
This isn’t just a shift for Adam – it’s a strategic move to put someone independent of RDX Works in charge of ensuring that the community, developers, and the broader ecosystem can engage, provide input, and find common ground. This alignment is crucial. When we get this right, everything else – marketing, user acquisition, and retention – becomes easier.
Adam has proven to be resilient, engaged, and 100% committed to Radix and its community. His new role at the foundation will play into his strengths by focusing on operational organization, resource allocation, and, most importantly, finding acceptable compromises among all stakeholders.
To achieve the above there must be more transparency between the Radix Foundation and the community. We know there’s a balance to be struck between flexibility and accountability, and Adam’s move is intended to help us meet that responsibility with the community.
Foundation Focus
During 2022, the Foundation funded a roughly 4x increase in spend on marketing activity (people and budget) to promote Radix and Scrypto ahead of the Babylon launch. This was an aggressive and calculated strategy at the time to earn market share. While these campaigns did create a lot of activity, this was not reflected in market outcomes.
Combined with the changing timelines, the approach was changed in 2023 with a focus on efficiency to conserve resources and avoid unnecessary use of tokens, which was of course reflected in the marketing budget. With the release of Babylon, the Radix ecosystem could come alive and thrive. Incredible projects like Caviar, Oci, Root, Trove, Surge, XRD Domains, WEFT, Astrolecent and many more were launched and the Foundations approach to marketing shifted from purely marketing technology releases to promoting an ecosystem.
Going forward, the Foundation is going to focus even more on supporting and catalyzing ecosystem-driven efforts. Adam will coordinate this, helping the community find ways to promote Radix and its ecosystem, supplemented by grants and other resources. While there will still be things the foundation needs to lead – like core socials, brand marketing, product launches, and institutional engagement – it’s not about a single centralized entity doing all the heavy lifting; it’s about all of us working together.
Adam’s Key Priorities as CSO
I’ve entrusted Adam with several key priorities to guide this transition:
- Strengthening Community Engagement: We can’t just listen to the loudest voices. Every voice matters, and Adam will ensure we capture the full spectrum of opinions to make informed decisions.
- Increasing Transparency: Openness is key. We can’t build trust and momentum without it. Adam will work to minimize information gaps so that you, the community, have the context to provide feedback and input.
- Understanding Compromise: Not every decision will be clear-cut. Adam’s role is to propose paths forward that balance idealism with practicality, ensuring the most achievable outcomes for all stakeholders.
- Collaboration Without Sacrificing Leadership: While input is vital, leadership must still take responsibility for strategy and decisions. Adam will ensure alignment while keeping the Foundation accountable.
- Execution by Specialists: The Foundation will focus on strategy, but we’ll leave execution to the best specialists available, ensuring measurable results and accountability.
Addressing Concerns Head-On
I know some of you have concerns. We’ve faced delays and resource challenges, and there have been moments when transparency fell short. I hear you. This is the next step in a larger strategy of doing things differently. This isn’t about vague promises—it’s about concrete action. So, to address some of the concerns:
- Coordination Between RDX Works and the Foundation: While the roles have been separated to sharpen focus, we remain tightly aligned in our mission. RDX Works and the Foundation will work hand in hand to ensure the Radix network and ecosystem are successful.
- Accountability for Execution: I know there are concerns about outsourcing execution. Let me be clear: the Foundation remains fully accountable for the results. We’ll manage the process, track progress, and ensure that everything we set out to do is delivered on, and if it isn’t, we will all understand why.
- Rebuilding Trust: I know the last few years have been tough. I share your frustration, and I know Adam does as well. We continue to learn from our missteps, and Adam’s job is to make sure we communicate openly, involve the community at every stage, and rebuild the trust we’ve lost. I’ve seen him do that internally, and that’s why I asked him to join me at the Foundation.
What’s Next: Real Progress You Can See
We’ve got exciting developments coming. Radix Labs will conduct a public throughput test of the Cassandra network before year end, showcasing Radix’s linear scalability and proving that we’re on the path to true hyperscale (more on that soon!)
The Radix ecosystem also has some big launches on the horizon, as well as technical innovations like multi-factor recovery that will bring new users, developers, and capital into the Radix ecosystem.
These are the tangible steps needed to drive trade flow, growth, and value into the ecosystem and network.
Maximizing The Opportunity
Since I started this journey in 2013, Radix has always been about community. Adam joining the foundation as CSO is to give a clear leadership role focused on creating a stronger, more aligned ecosystem that reflects the priorities of the people who make it what it is.We need your input, your engagement, and your support.
When proposals come forward, your voice will shape them. And when decisions are made, we need to unite behind them to ensure success.
Dan Hughes
Founder, Radix
