Michelangelo Frigo
Michelangelo Frigo is a technology entrepreneur and privacy advocate who co-founded Zyphe, a $3 million-funded decentralized identity verification company revolutionizing KYC and AML compliance. Based in London, Frigo brings over 25 years of enterprise technology experience to the emerging field of decentralized identity management, where he advocates for blockchain-based solutions that protect user privacy while meeting regulatory requirements.
Professional Experience
Co-Founder, Zyphe (2021-Present)
Co-founded the San Francisco-based decentralized identity verification platform alongside Charlene Wang. Under Frigo's leadership, Zyphe has raised $3 million from investors including āltitude, Azimut Holding, Everywhere Ventures, ROI Ventures, and Plug and Play Tech Center. The company serves over 190 countries with 99.8% document matching accuracy, processing verification requests in as little as 15 seconds while distributing encrypted data across 60,000+ nodes using AES-GCM-256 encryption.
CEO, Togggle Ltd (2021-Present)
Founded and leads the London-based company developing what he terms "the world's first decentralized data bank." Incorporated in July 2021, Togggle provides users complete control over their digital identity through blockchain-based infrastructure, enabling seamless verification across multiple service providers while maintaining data sovereignty.
Territory Account Manager, Nutanix Italia (2018-2021)
Specialized in hyperconverged infrastructure solutions for enterprise clients. Participated in industry panels and thought leadership initiatives while achieving significant sales results in the Italian market. Left to pursue entrepreneurship in decentralized identity technology.
Enterprise Sales Roles (1996-2018)
Built extensive enterprise technology expertise through progressive sales roles at leading Silicon Valley companies:
- Citrix: Remote access and workplace transformation technologies
- VMware: Virtualization solutions during the company's rapid growth phase
- Sun Microsystems: Enterprise computing systems during the dot-com era
Academic and Teaching Roles
Professor of Decentralized Identity and NFT Technology (2022-Present)
Teaches in a master's program focused on blockchain applications in Rome. Curriculum covers Privileged Identity Management Systems (PIMS) based on decentralized storage, blockchain-based identity architectures, and privacy-preserving verification processes.
Yale Game Theory Program Participant
Completed advanced coursework in strategic analysis and game theory applications, providing analytical frameworks for understanding complex stakeholder dynamics in privacy technology and regulatory compliance.
Education
Business Administration Degree
Università Cà Foscari di Venezia, with additional studies in Computer Engineering and Economics. This multidisciplinary foundation provided both technical depth and business acumen essential for technology entrepreneurship.
Industry Leadership and Expertise
Frigo's technical expertise centers on decentralized identity systems that eliminate central points of failure common in traditional KYC providers. His solutions address core inefficiencies of legacy identity systems, achieving 70% higher completion rates and enhanced security compared to centralized alternatives.
He regularly speaks at industry conferences and co-hosts webinars on emerging threats to digital identity security, including sessions on "Deepfakes, AI, and Data Breaches." His thought leadership focuses on the intersection of privacy, compliance, and business efficiency in an increasingly digital economy.
Philosophy and Vision
Frigo advocates that "everyone has the right to take ownership of their digital identity and control which data is shared with what companies." This user-centric philosophy drives his technology development and business strategy, representing a fundamental shift from current models where businesses collect and store personal information without transparent user control.
His companies target the growing market need for privacy-preserving verification solutions that meet regulatory requirements without exposing organizations to data breach liabilities. As privacy regulations tighten globally and data breach costs escalate, Frigo's decentralized approach offers businesses a path to compliance that enhances rather than compromises user privacy.