Aleo Network Foundation appoints Yaya Fanusie as Global Head of Policy

The Aleo Network Foundation has appointed Yaya Fanusie as its Global Head of Policy.

Fanusie joins the Foundation at a time when Aleo has recently entered into international partnerships with companies such as Paxos Labs, Global Dollar Network, Binance Alpha, Revolut, Worldpay, and Request Finance. These collaborations are part of the Foundation's efforts to enhance secure, privacy-preserving blockchain payments that adhere to regulatory standards on a global scale.

With over 15 years of experience spanning government, policy and private sector roles in finance, national security, and blockchain technology, Fanusie is taking on responsibility for the Foundation's global policy engagement and regulatory strategy. The Foundation stated that Fanusie will help drive adoption of privacy-preserving, compliant blockchain-based financial systems and stablecoins among consumers, enterprises, and institutions.

Previously, Fanusie served as Director of Policy for Anti-Money Laundering and Cyber Risk at the Crypto Council for Innovation, a global alliance focused on responsible cryptocurrency innovation. He is also a Visiting Fellow at Georgetown University's Psaros Centre for Financial Markets & Policy, where his research centres on digital assets. Additionally, he has served as an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Centre for a New American Security and led research on blockchain, central bank digital currencies and illicit use of cryptocurrencies. Earlier in his career, Fanusie worked as an economic and counterterrorism analyst at the CIA, where he briefed federal law enforcement, the U.S. military and White House officials, and later became Director of Analysis for the Foundation for Defence of Democracies' Centre on Sanctions and Illicit Finance.

Reflecting on his new role, Fanusie commented,

"Digital assets are no longer a niche experiment. They're becoming core to how the world transacts. The real question is whether this next chapter will be built on systems people can trust. Aleo is setting a new standard and showing that privacy and compliance aren't at odds with each other - they are prerequisites for mainstream adoption. I look forward to bringing that perspective into conversations with regulators and global institutions."

Leena Im, Chief Operating Officer of the Aleo Network Foundation, also discussed Fanusie's appointment, stating,

"Yaya's expertise as an eminent voice on crypto, national security, financial crime, and blockchain policy makes him an invaluable addition to the Foundation as regulatory momentum from the GENIUS Act drives digital asset adoption. Yaya's appointment accelerates our mission to establish the first blockchain privacy layer that works for the mainstream by making crypto payments private, fast, and viable for everyday life."

The Foundation describes Aleo as utilising zero-knowledge proofs to deliver private-by-design smart contracts with configurable compliance settings. This infrastructure is intended to support private and compliant blockchain applications across government, enterprise and consumer sectors, for use cases including cross-border and peer-to-peer payments, B2B transactions, institutional decentralised finance, payroll, and identity verification. The Foundation said that developers worldwide are using the network to launch privacy-preserving applications.

Aleo is supported by investors such as a16z, Haun Ventures, SoftBank and Samsung Next. The Foundation is led by a team with backgrounds spanning roles in U.S. Special Operations Forces, the White House, Meta and Circle.

The Aleo Network positions itself as a privacy-centric infrastructure for digital payments, combining end-to-end encryption with programmable smart contracts. The organisation aims to facilitate privacy, compliance and scalability for stablecoins and financial systems built on blockchain technology.