Vereign Team Talk with Dr. Felix Greve

Vereign stands for confidentiality, integrity, and actuality. Its mission is to enable you to own your digital identity, a platform where you could choose whom to trust, what they could access and retract it at any time. We designed Vereign to add a layer of authenticity and security to your day-to-day communication: Authentic Communication through Blockchain Federated Networks. We have a diverse, hardworking, and experienced team working behind the scenes to achieve this mission. Meet the team behind Vereign with our Team Talks!

Can you share a little about your professional background?

I am a German lawyer and my specialty is computer technology. I am also well versed in IT, e-Commerce, data protection, distribution and general private (international) law. My PhD Thesis was focused on governmental accountability for vendor-neutral ICT standards.

Besides being a licensed lawyer, I have been working as a legal counsel for a leading worldwide operating logistics company for over seven years now, where I am soon about to become the CISO. Overall, the intersection between legal requirements along with business demands and their implementation in information technology continues to be my major point of professional focus.

Can you describe your role at Vereign?

I am a Co-Founder of Vereign and also the Head of Legal. It is my responsibility to “reality check” our solution. By doing so, I ensure that no harm will be caused to our value proposition and that we are able to fulfil our vision. This does not only mean legal compliance (e.g. data protection) but also to ensure that we deliver the intended legal relevance and improved value from a business perspective. We are not building a solution for laboratory conditions or a mental game. We are building a solution for the “real world”. Besides that, I check each and every contractual relationship of the company and engage in contractual negotiations if necessary.

Can you explain why you love working for Vereign?

One of the many reasons why I love working for Vereign is that we tackle a crucial, and up to now, missing piece for a self-sovereign private life, a truly digital economy and a functioning e-government. We have been promised these things for decades but due to self-serving technology providers, we have not yet established the necessary founding blocks for these future visions. I firmly believe, that we at Vereign are helping to achieve and working towards that goal, which is great. Another reason why I really enjoy working with our dedicated team members, is that each one of them inspire me every day.

Vereign is all about openness, security and the Open Source community. Can you tell us why this is so important to you?

As a private user, Open Source Software and I go years back – for decades. Open Source Software has taught me what information technology is about and even the most painful experiences have proven to be the most valuable to me. I like to make the comparison of proprietary software and Open Source to “ready-made food” and “cooking yourself”. Even though I never managed to think of recipes myself, following the recipes of others has taught me much more than putting a deep-frozen pizza in the oven.

For our professional solution, one of the major reasons for Open Source is the security aspect. Although it continues to be a persistent myth, “security through obscurity” proves over and over to be a very harmful and expensive misconception. Open Source Software is the only software license and development model that offers verifiable security through its openness.

What are you passionate about?

I am a family man with a wife and very soon three kids, whom I am absolutely passionate about. Like most people, I like to spend time with my friends too. There are also some other rather obvious things like listening to music and enjoying a good read. Other things I am passionate about are society, technology and law. In particular it is the intersecting areas in between those fields that excite me.

What is your biggest accomplishment?

My kids and my wife, of course!

How would others describe you?

Hopefully, as an honest and dedicated man, who believes in what he is doing.

What’s next on your bucket list?

Out of all things that are listed on my bucket list, I would definitely like to learn how to scuba dive. But due to time restrictions, I may have to settle with learning how to beatbox first.

What is your favourite geeky quote?

"Have you tried turning it off and on again?”

Dr. Felix Greve | Location: Hamburg, Germany | LinkedIn