Charlie Rogers has spent the past five years immersed in the web3 space, dedicated to transforming how people engage with emerging digital technologies. As Head of Marketing at Nillion, he spearheads community engagement, driving adoption of innovative privacy solutions. His work focuses on enabling decentralized networks to securely process data without relying on traditional blockchain methods or storing sensitive information on public ledgers.
A conversation with Charlie Rogers, CMO of Nillion
Tell us about your background and how you became CMO at Nillion.
I originally came from the agency world, handling PR, branding, and community marketing, mostly outside of crypto.
It wasn’t until I came across a niche investment research paper that I began trading on the side and joined a community to learn more about crypto.
Fast-forward to 2022, I was introduced to Nillion’s team, and everything clicked. My background in community engagement and brand storytelling was a great fit for the company’s vision.
How would you explain what Nillion does to someone without a technical or crypto background?
Our tagline is “Privacy made simple for everyone.”
We’re developing technology that runs in the background so users don’t need to understand cryptography or complex systems.
The aim is to make privacy automatic — something users get by default, much like how HTTPS secures websites.
Ideally, projects should have to make an active choice not to protect user privacy..
What are some common misconceptions about privacy-preserving computation, and where does AI fit into this?
A common misunderstanding is that these technologies operate in isolation. In reality, the privacy space is fragmented, and we’re working to build more alignment across projects.
With AI, we’ve collaborated with researchers, including some from Meta, on how privacy can be integrated into machine learning. This includes secure data sharing for training and private inference.
We see strong potential for decentralised, privacy-focused AI that people can actually trust.
How important is it for industry leaders to use and test crypto products themselves?
It’s essential. If you’re not exploring or interacting with protocols directly, you miss the practical understanding of what works and what doesn’t.
Personally, I trade a small amount and try out various dApps — it’s similar to reading the Financial Times if you’re in traditional finance.
For leaders in the space, staying hands-on helps keep perspectives grounded and decisions informed.
About Nillion
Nillion is a privacy-focused, next-generation computation platform aiming to make secure data sharing and processing both frictionless and accessible. Using advanced cryptography and decentralised infrastructure, Nillion enables sensitive operations to run securely in the background, without requiring users to navigate complex security protocols. By combining user-centric design with transparent, peer-reviewed research, Nillion seeks to reshape how individuals, businesses, and AI applications handle confidential data, with privacy built in as the default.