Horizen Labs Appoints Zain Cheng as Chief Technology Officer

Expanded role includes scaling the Horizen team and reimagining the Horizen ecosystem

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Horizen Labs, a leading blockchain innovator securing the world’s transition to Web3, announced today the appointment of Zain Cheng, an accomplished engineering leader, as Chief Technology Officer.

Previously the VP of Engineering at Horizen Labs, Zain led four Product engineering teams across Tools, Sidechains, Smart Contracts, and Infrastructure. His professional expertise includes building high-performing teams focused on rapid iterative development. He was instrumental in securely delivering Horizen’s sidechain solution from ideation to production, as well as architecting the most exciting smart contract deployments in the space, which include ApeCoin, Otherdeeds, and Ape Staking. In addition, Zain has been integral in leading Horizen’s EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) development, launching Horizen’s Cobalt Web Wallet to Mainnet, and releasing NFTs and fungible tokens on the TokenMint Platform.

“Zain’s commitment to advancing Web3 technology is unmatched. He has a passion for creating a seamless user experience and taking the Horizen Labs platform to the next level. We are excited that he is expanding his role within our organization to help meet our ambitious goals as we continue to operate in build mode and break down the barriers for widespread enterprise adoption,” said Rob Viglione, Co-Founder of Horizen and Horizen Labs.

“I could not be more excited to take on an expanded role within Horizen Labs as it enters this vitally important phase of growth. I am humbled to be leading the engineering efforts and look forward to building secure and impactful blockchain technologies. As a leader, my chief goal will be to find innovative ways to support and scale the evolution of Web3 adoption through our own network and beyond,” said Zain Cheng, Chief Technology Officer, Horizen Labs.

Prior to joining Horizen Labs, Zain Cheng spent close to seven years with premier subscription fashion service, Rent the Runway, as the Senior Director of Engineering. He also spent 2 years at another small start up (H.Bloom) and 7 years as an accomplished engineer in the banking industry. With experiences ranging from small startups to fast growing companies to large tech firms, Zain’s deep experiences will help accelerate Horizen and Horizen Labs into its next stage of growth.

Zain holds a Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) in Computer Science and a Bachelor of Science (B. Sc.) in Electrical & Computer Engineering from Cornell University. He was also a mentor at Inclusion, a nonprofit that prepares underrepresented groups for careers in technology, which includes women, LGBTQ+, refugees, people of color and immigrants.

About Horizen Labs

Horizen Labs is securing the world’s transition to Web3 by helping organizations reimagine the way they use blockchain to tackle some of their most important challenges. With a deep focus on enterprises and governments, Horizen Labs is building the secure and reliable offerings necessary to drive blockchain adoption into the mainstream.

Through a unique combination of platform capabilities, flexible architecture, sidechain compatibility, and enterprise-grade security, Horizen Labs is building the onramp for tomorrow by making blockchain safer and more accessible for Web2 organizations today.