Projects
This page lists where my attention and small remaining crypto positions sit. It is not a list of endorsements. A few entries are there because I hold a position and believe in continuing to hold; a few are there because I find the work interesting and want to keep an eye on it.
Current as of April 2026.
🔍 Transparency Disclosure
Derek Barnes (synapz founder) is a member of the Covenant AI team. Any opinions expressed on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.
A note on direction (April 2026)
Covenant AI has left the Bittensor network. I remain with the team, and more on Covenant's direction will follow in a forthcoming post. Separately, I have personally divested from Bittensor: my TAO balance is zero and I have unstaked from every subnet. My view, briefly, is that Bittensor has not lived up to the decentralization it advertises. I may revisit that view one day. Today is not that day.
The list below has been shortened accordingly. I'm spending more of my attention on traditional AI research and open-source work.
Polkadot
I hold small positions in DOT and PEAQ. I'm not adding and not selling. Both were acquired earlier and reflect prior conviction more than current activity.
- PEAQ — machine economy and DePIN infrastructure.
- Frequency — decentralized social media parachain, backed by Project Liberty and the DSNP protocol. I still find the People's Bid work interesting, though I no longer hold a position.
- Ex Machina DAOs (DEUS) — I was a Genesis OG holder. TGE has not yet occurred; I still hold the pre-TGE tokens and intend to exit at TGE. Full analysis: Why I'm Exiting DEUS at TGE.
🔒 Privacy Infrastructure
Aztec Network
Aztec is a privacy-first Layer 2 on Ethereum: a fully programmable private world computer. After eight years of development, the network launched fully decentralized from day one with permissionless validators, decentralized proving, and community governance.
What makes Aztec different: every transaction is a zero-knowledge proof by default. Smart contracts can have private and public components that compose atomically. Users generate proofs locally, so sensitive data never leaves their device. Through "private intents," users can access any DeFi protocol on any L2 or Ethereum mainnet while maintaining full privacy.
The project also funded ZK Passport, a breakthrough in private identity verification using NFC chips in government passports. With AI deepfakes about to break traditional KYC, cryptographic identity may be the only verification that survives.
💰 Disclosure
I participated in the Aztec genesis and still hold a small amount of $AZTEC. The position is modest. Earlier analysis: The Second Crypto War: A Private Ethereum.
🤖 AI Agents
At Covenant AI we're building Basilica, an agent-first compute platform with one-click deployment. You can spin up an OpenClaw agent in a single click today, and Hermes support is coming soon.
For personal use I've been running the Hermes agent framework from Nous Research. Open source and capable. A good example of the kind of work I want to pay more attention to.
I also use Paperclip to manage a small fleet of agents. It's an open-source orchestrator that assigns roles and budgets to agents, with reporting lines across runtimes. Nicely unopinionated about which agent frameworks plug into it.
On My Radar
OpenMind — building a universal operating system for intelligent machines (OM1) and a decentralized coordination layer for robots (FABRIC). Founded by Stanford's Jan Liphardt; backed by Pantera, Coinbase Ventures, Lightspeed Faction. I have no financial position. It's on my radar because the work looks interesting.
I disclose these positions because transparency is the point of a page like this. If I write about a project, you should know whether I hold a position in it.