Application Form
Full Name: João Kury
Applicant / Nominee Information
Contact Information: TG @joaokury
X (Twitter): @cripto_nita_
Current Occupation: Ecosystem builder and Growth/BD operator.
Country of Residence / Time Zone: Brazil (BRT, UTC−3)
Applicant / Nominee Qualifications and Experience
Identify one of the domains described within the Desired Qualifications section in the OpCo - Oversight and Transparency Committee (OAT) Application Process Overview forum post in which you have the most experience and describe that experience:
Business Development, Venture Building, and Strategy & Operations, most of it earned inside the Arbitrum ecosystem and across LATAM.
I have spent the last years building things and running the teams behind them. As Hub Lead at ICP HUB Brazil, I ran two rounds of a local incubation program, owning the strategy and leading a team of five to take early-stage projects from idea to launch. I then co-founded Modular Crypto and built it from zero into one of Brazil’s most active crypto communities at some point, 10k+ members and 15+ events, with a team of close to ten contributors that I led.
That operating background is what I brought into the Arbitrum Foundation as Community Growth LATAM, where my job was to turn Arbitrum’s presence in the region into real activity. The clearest example was the institutional push around Merge São Paulo, where I led the Foundation’s institutional outreach: I selected and brought together 18 senior executives across banking, payments, fintech, and crypto, from institutions like Itaú, Bradesco, Visa, BTG, and Mercado Bitcoin, and held more than 10 meetings with institutional/fintech LATAM players on behalf of the Foundation to find synergies with Arbitrum. I also represented Arbitrum on stage, with talks across three countries.
The throughline is taking something from nothing to real, whether a startup, a community, or an institutional relationship, and running the operation that gets it there. It maps directly onto oversight, because the OAT’s job is to judge whether OpCo is spending the DAO’s resources on things that build durable value or just on things that look good on social media. I have spent my career on the first kind, and I know how to tell them apart.
Describe your network and reputation within the blockchain/technology industry. Have you previously represented a crypto brand and/or navigated DAO governance:
I have spent years developing a reputation in LATAM crypto as a builder. I represented the Arbitrum Foundation as Community Growth LATAM for a year, and before that I co-founded and led Modular Crypto, which I grew into a community of 10k+ members running 15+ events across Brazil. I have also worked across other ecosystems, including ICP HUB Brasil as Hub Lead, Polkadot as an ambassador, Nodle as Brazil Lead, to mention a few.
On governance specifically, I served as an Optimism DAO badgeholder across two RetroPGF rounds, helping evaluate and fund projects by real delivered impact. I am no longer a badgeholder (see Disclosures).
My network is strongest in LATAM, including close relationships across the Arbitrum DAO community in the region, but my work reaches beyond it and I operate comfortably with global teams.
Detail your experience in advisory, governance, and/or oversight roles:
My oversight experience comes from three places that, together, cover both sides of what this committee does.
First, allocation. As an Optimism badgeholder across RetroPGF rounds 3 and 4, my entire job was evaluation: deciding what had actually delivered value and allocating retroactive funding accordingly, under full public scrutiny. That is the allocator’s discipline the OAT uses when it reviews OpCo’s spending and performance.
Second, governance study. I co-hosted and coordinated a podcast focused on studying DAOs while at Bankless Brasil DAO and a Governance Study Group with Brazilian universities, which meant pulling apart how different DAOs structure power, accountability, and incentives. I was thinking critically about governance design before anyone was paying me to.
Third, my legal background. I hold a law degree, and while I do not actively practice, I have had to step into and handle a few real cases over the past years. That training and hands-on experience taught me to read agreements carefully and assess risk, the core diligence any oversight seat requires.
What ties these together is independent judgment about whether resources and mandates are being used well, informed by having both allocated funding and been accountable to it as a builder.
Have you previously contributed to the Arbitrum DAO? Describe any relevant experiences through which you’ve gained an understanding of the DAO’s current structure, contributors, and programs:
Yes, and from an angle I think is rare for this kind of seat. I have been on both sides of it.
As an external contributor through Modular Crypto, I proposed and executed an education and events initiative funded via Arbitrum’s Domain Allocator. I know exactly what it is to apply to the DAO for resources, deliver, and report back.
Then, as Community Growth LATAM at the Arbitrum Foundation, I worked from the other side. Representing the Foundation, I acted as a two-way bridge for the region: I helped people inside the ecosystem with context on LATAM communities and teams, and at the same time I connected local builders with opportunities in the DAO. Throughout, I followed governance closely and built strong relationships with delegates, especially in LATAM.
That arc, from a builder asking the DAO for funding to someone inside the Foundation connecting the region to the ecosystem, is what I would bring to the OAT. Oversight often evaluates builders from the outside. I have been the builder being evaluated, and I have been the one inside the ecosystem opening doors for others. I understand both the operational reality of an entity being judged and the standard it should be held to.
Given the scope of OpCo is relatively broad in its current form, describe how you view OpCo’s role within the DAO and what it should accomplish to deem the entity a success over the next 3-5 years:
OpCo will be judged on a lot of things, but I think one matters more than the rest: whether the best builders and institutions choose Arbitrum and stay. Everything else, treasury, reporting, coordination, exists to make that possible. OpCo is increasingly the entity that sources, onboards, and supports those teams, and that is exactly the work I did from inside the Foundation in LATAM.
The OAT’s job is to make sure that, as OpCo gains the autonomy it needs to execute, that autonomy stays anchored to the DAO’s mandate. This is where my perspective earns its seat. I have been the builder deciding whether an ecosystem was worth committing to, and I have been inside the Foundation working to win builders over. I know what makes that decision easy and what makes it fall apart. An OAT with someone who has sat in the builder’s chair can pressure-test OpCo’s programs against the question that actually matters: would a strong team find this credible and worth their time?
I would consider OpCo a success over the next 3-5 years if it delivers on three fronts:
Builders. It measurably grows the base of teams actually building on Arbitrum, including beyond the usual crypto-native circles, and those teams stay.
Spending well. It knows how to deploy the DAO’s resources with judgment, funding what builds durable value instead of what looks good in a report, and can show the difference. Having allocated funding as a RetroPGF badgeholder and been on the receiving end as a funded builder, this is the part I would watch most closely.
Institutions. It brings serious institutions into the ecosystem, the kind of banking, payments, and fintech players I worked to put in the room for Arbitrum at Merge São Paulo, and turns that interest into something lasting.
That is the lens I would bring: keep OpCo anchored to the DAO’s mandate, and constantly check its work against the test that decides everything else, whether the builders and institutions Arbitrum needs would actually choose it.
Additional Information (Only complete if relevant)
Please share any other relevant information that supports the applicant/nominee:
What I offer this committee is a perspective it does not currently have: someone who has been an independent builder funded by the DAO, then represented the Arbitrum Foundation doing institutional BD across LATAM, and who evaluated and allocated funding as an Optimism RetroPGF badgeholder. That combination lets me read both whether an entity is delivering and what the people it serves actually need. I add a strong network to a region that matters more and more to Arbitrum’s growth. My legal training adds diligence on contracts, conflicts, and risk. I work in Portuguese, English, and Spanish.
References (Only complete if relevant)
People from the Arbitrum Foundation can attest to my work and character, as can governance contributors and delegates from other ecosystems I have collaborated with.
Disclosures
Please disclose all of the applicant’s/nominee’s actual and potential conflicts of interest, including but not limited to financial, personal, DAO governance, and professional:
I previously served as an Optimism badgeholder and participated in RetroPGF rounds 3 and 4. I am no longer a badgeholder and hold no ongoing role, payment, or representative relationship with Optimism or any other Arbitrum competitor. I previously worked at the Arbitrum Foundation as Community Growth LATAM and no longer work there. I co-founded Modular Crypto and led it until joining the Foundation; during that time we executed one initiative funded through Arbitrum’s Domain Allocator. I hold small amounts of crypto assets across several ecosystems. I have no current conflicts of interest that would prevent me from acting in the best interest of the Arbitrum DAO.
Please disclose all active contributor roles and payment streams related to the Arbitrum DAO that the applicant/nominee, and entities that they have a professional or financial relationship with, have and is receiving:
None currently active. My past Arbitrum-related involvement is concluded and generates no ongoing payment stream to me.
Declarations
The applicant/nominee understands that any offer to join and hold a position in the OAT is contingent on:
Successfully completing as well as maintaining updated all relevant non-disclosure agreements, KYC requirements, and other necessary documents
Not being a direct representative or full-time employee at network competitors (e.g., Solana, Polygon, Optimism, etc)
An individual will be entitled to run as a candidate for the election. No single organisation should be overly represented in the OAT. There should be no more than 1 candidate associated with a single entity.
If a candidate is elected on behalf of an organisation, then the OAT membership is tied to them and cannot be rotated to someone else in the organisation. It will be up to the current OAT to enforce the above policy, and if a candidate is excluded from the election, then the rationale must be publicly disclosed to the ArbitrumDAO
Being aligned with the community values listed in The Amended Constitution of the Arbitrum DAO, following the Code of Conduct for delegates, being committed to prioritizing the Arbitrum DAO’s needs, and acting in absolute good faith and utmost honesty to fulfill their duties to the best of their abilities.
If nominating someone else, the nominator confirms that the nominee is aware of their nomination and the essential details related to it
The applicant/nominator confirms that they have read and understood all the content within this form and that the information submitted is accurate and complete: Yes