Dominik Schiener is the co-founder and current chairman of the IOTA Foundation, a non-profit organization developing a feeless and scalable distributed ledger technology known as the Tangle, aimed primarily at the Internet of Things (IoT). Born in Italy, Schiener entered the crypto space early and co-founded IOTA in 2015 alongside David Sønstebø and others. His leadership has focused on real-world adoption, especially in sectors like digital identity, supply chain transparency, and machine-to-machine payments.

Under Schiener, IOTA has pursued major upgrades like Chrysalis and the planned Coordicide (IOTA 2.0), aiming to eliminate centralization concerns. He emphasizes utility over speculation and envisions IOTA as infrastructure for a decentralized, data-driven economy. While admired for his vision, Schiener has also faced criticism for centralization issues and controversial tokenomics decisions, including a token supply expansion. Nonetheless, he remains a prominent voice pushing for meaningful crypto adoption beyond hype.