Faces of Web3: Mauricio Zolliker, XMaquina

Faces of Web3: Mauricio Zolliker, XMaquina
August 20, 2025

In this edition of Faces of Web3, we’re highlighting Mauricio Zolliker, co-founder of XMaquina, a pioneering project at the intersection of robotics and blockchain. Mauricio’s journey into Web3 began with a fascination for Bitcoin and smart contracts, but it was the vision of a decentralised machine economy that truly captured his imagination. With XMaquina, he’s working to build an open infrastructure where robotics, AI, and blockchain converge to create a future where machines can transact, collaborate, and deliver value in ways that empower communities rather than concentrate control.

How did you get started in the Web3 space?

While finishing my master’s in International Business in Australia, I met a friend already working in the Web3 space. He was building a Bitcoin-based marketplace similar to Facebook Marketplace, and that introduction sparked my curiosity. I started researching Bitcoin to understand how it functioned as a currency, which quickly led me to explore Ethereum and smart contracts. That was the real turning point. The possibilities of programmable blockchain applications completely opened my eyes to the scale and potential of this industry. From there, I immersed myself in learning, networking, and exploring opportunities, realising Web3 could reshape how we interact, transact, and build online. I’ve been involved ever since.

What was your motivator to found XMaquina?

After six years in the blockchain industry, I was working in roles like business development across multiple networks, and diving deep into DeFi, I started searching for the next transformative use case for crypto. That’s when I discovered Peak Network, a layer-one blockchain designed for the machine economy. The concept of connecting IoT devices and smart city infrastructure on open, blockchain-based rails immediately clicked. It was clear to me that as machines became more integrated into our lives, they’d need faster, more efficient, and scalable ways to transact than traditional payment systems.

As I explored decentralised physical infrastructure networks, my interest naturally shifted toward robotics, especially as the AI boom accelerated. I could see AI moving into the physical world, and robotics was the natural bridge. About two years ago, I met my co-founder at a conference, and we bonded over a shared vision of combining robotics and crypto. At the time, it felt like a bold bet, but today it’s proving more relevant than ever. That’s how XMAQUINA was born, at the intersection of blockchain, AI, and robotics – and we’ve been building in this space ever since.

The definition of ‘Web3’ is quite broad and varies depending on the industry backgrounds of the people you speak to. How do you define the term?

I think the easiest way to define Web3 is just open infrastructure that removes the middleman and gives ownership back to the people. It’s not just cryptocurrency tokens, but networks and infrastructure that can come into the real world, and we’re seeing that now with machines and RWAs.

What do you determine to be the biggest societal opportunities that Web3 brings?

For me, the biggest societal opportunity Web3 brings is the decentralized machine economy. As machines increasingly become part of our daily lives, we’re faced with two possible futures. In one, big tech companies and governments centralize control, owning the infrastructure and dictating how value is distributed – potentially relying on systems like universal basic income to keep people included.

The other path is a decentralized, open-source model where the abundance, generated by machines, is shared across communities. Imagine fleets of autonomous cars or service robots operating in neighbourhoods, but instead of being owned by a single corporation, they’re fractionalized, operating on blockchain networks, and transparently distributing rewards to the people they serve. This model doesn’t just improve efficiency; it empowers individuals to co-own and benefit from the infrastructure that runs their world.

Web3 enables this vision by providing the trust and transparent systems needed for machines to transact, allocate value, and distribute ownership at scale. In my view, this isn’t just a technical opportunity, it’s a chance to redesign the foundations of how wealth and productivity are shared in the age of automation.

And what do you see as the biggest challenge that the Web3 community faces?

I think the biggest challenge is still, the user experience. I don’t think we’re quite there. We need to be at the point where people don’t realize they’re using a blockchain when they’re using and interacting with the tech. That’s the first thing.

And then secondly, I think, that we’re in deep tech space and then the robotics space, we’re really, kind of touching both locally and web2. We’ve kind of left a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths. And we have a credibility issue now, a lot of people just see something in crypto as a scam, without even understanding the tech.

So I think we need to, as an industry, come together and build real products that people are actually leveraging and using, in their everyday lives. So they see the value that the blockchain can bring. Besides these tokens and memes and all of that.

What are some career highlights in your Web3 journey?

Founding XMAQUINA for sure and being one of the first builders or teams to see the value at the intersection of crypto and robotics. I think it’s a really exciting space. And we were among the first to start building in this space.

I’m excited, I think most of the career highlights are yet to come, with the XMAQUINA and what we’re building here.

What’s coming up for you and your business in 2025?

So we’ve been growing a lot. The community has been growing a lot. That’s been really exciting to see. We’ve also acquired an equity stake in our first robotic company called Apptronik, one of the leading robotics companies in the US. And we’re having a couple more public sales.

We’ve already had a couple that were sold out.

Having those Genesis auctions, as we call them, leading up to TGE and we’ll continue to grow the DAO and, basically deploy capital across physical AI. So the $DEUS token is becoming a proxy for the entire physical AI space.

What inspires you to stay motivated professionally?

There’s a few things. First and foremost, I think building in such an innovative industry and field, like the convergence of robotics and Web3, is a really new technology and that’s super exciting. There’s never really a dull moment, there’s always changes. As always, things evolve. There is progress that you just see every day, and it’s just super exciting.

Secondly, the freedom that it gives you to be able to live anywhere in the world, and not have to rely on a company and go to an office every day. I think that’s also a big bonus for this. This would be the industry that we work in.

And lastly, I’d say most importantly is the mission. Something that you’re building that is actually going to benefit a lot of people. Creating something that’s impactful. I think that’s what motivates us and what made us get started in the first place.

When you’re not working, where would we most likely find you?

Definitely traveling, experiencing new cultures. And if I’m not doing that, I’ll probably be playing some sort of sport. Whether it’s snowboarding, or playing some football, whatever it might be. I just like being outside doing some outdoor activities when I can.