Alex Gordon-Brander

Works in the Atlas

76 records grouped by theme.

Markets and execution

Feb 2005

Electronic inquiry lists · publication

The patent application made the electronic bid and offer design inspectable before grant. The system coordinates requests and responses across multiple instruments.

Mar 2009

MarketAxess patent grant

The granted US patent names Alex and three co-inventors. The record distinguishes the patent from the trading platform that used electronic inquiry workflows.

Five-year tenure, through the mid-2010s

Bridgewater portfolio construction and trading technology

During his tenure at Bridgewater, Alex managed portfolio construction applications and later rotated through foreign-exchange research and client services. Alex says he specified Bridgewater’s FX trading platform and helped implement it. Public profiles credit him with work on its design.

Before Apr 2010

Japanese bonds and structured finance

Alex traded Japanese bonds and worked on structured-finance analytics, according to his 2010 speaker bio. The conference date is an upper bound on the work.

By 2015

Bridgewater FX and multi-asset execution

Alex says he specified Bridgewater’s FX trading platform and helped implement it. Public profiles credit him with work on its design. OpenAlpha describes his role in portfolio construction technology.

Programmable finance

2015 · recalled in 2022

Programmable money as a turning point

In a Davos interview, Alex describes Ethereum’s 2015 launch as the point at which programmable money and interoperable financial infrastructure made the opportunity concrete for him. This records his response to the launch.

2017–2018

Omega One

The team proposed aggregating fragmented crypto liquidity and managing orders across venues. Alex and Alan Keegan’s 2017 paper describes an intermediation model using a balance sheet. A white paper lists Alex as CTO, while later public records identify him as CEO.

2017

Who Will Bridge Wall Street and Crypto?

An Omega One essay asks what infrastructure professional investors would need before using crypto markets. It documents the team’s public case for the project.

May–Jun 2018

Bermuda memorandum

Alex signed the agreement with Bermuda’s government. It entered the parliamentary record in June. The memorandum and the later licence are distinct milestones.

Archived Jan 2018

Omega One white paper

A technical and commercial design for routing across venues, risk management and member participation. Its team page lists Alex as CTO at that point.

2018–2019

Bermuda and Omega Dark

A 2018 parliamentary record documents Bermuda’s memorandum with Omega One. The company announced Omega Dark in March 2019 as an institutional venue for crossing large orders. The Royal Gazette reported that its six-month Class M licence ended in September 2019 and quoted the company describing further testing. Sustained operations and trading volume remain unverified.

Oct 2019 account

After the provisional licence

The Royal Gazette records the end of the six-month Class M licence in September and quotes the company on plans for further testing. A 2022 follow-up recorded that the Hamilton office had closed.

Public record 2021–2022

CoDEX Financial Network / Codex Labs

Alex co-founded CoDEX Financial Network and served as chief evangelist. He presented the decentralized liquidity project at CoinAgenda Caribbean in 2021 and discussed how programmable financial infrastructure could improve liquidity and access in a 2022 Davos interview.

Jun 2022 publication

Davos interview on digital assets

Alex describes earlier work on renewable-energy money, the turning point of Ethereum and the practical problems of crypto liquidity and access.

2026 public research

BTC-relative strategy research

OpenAlpha evaluates strategies against holding the underlying asset. One analysis starts with executed BTC and ETH trades and retrospectively scales them to target active risk. The displayed returns at those settings are hypothetical.

2026 public design

Bounded operating role

In OpenAlpha’s vault design, the underlying assets are held in the vault. The manager can act within the defined trading permissions of that deployment. Exact permissions and governance depend on Series terms and verified vault implementation.

2026 public design

Holder-initiated exit

OpenAlpha’s vault design allows holders to request redemption on-chain. Positions may need to close, liquidity become available, and accounting settle before redemption completes. Rights and process depend on the Series terms and verified deployment.

Public record reviewed Nov 2026

OpenAlpha · hedge fund platform

Alex leads OpenAlpha, a fully non-custodial systematic hedge fund platform for crypto. Its first strategies are SmartBTC and SmartETH. In its vault model, investors hold their investment units in their own wallets and managers trade within defined vault permissions. SmartBTC operates with team-affiliated investor capital. Commercial beta for both strategies is in preparation. Alex aims to replatform the wider hedge fund industry by making the same infrastructure available to other managers.

Public research reviewed Nov 2026

SmartBTC and bounded operating authority

As of 11 November 2026, OpenAlpha operates SmartBTC with team-affiliated capital. The described production architecture and the company’s historical research are separate from the current operating record.

Regeneration and living systems

Founding and original CFO role, 2008–2009

Algae Systems

Alex helped found Algae Systems and was its original CFO in 2008–2009, before Bridgewater. The 2010 Future of Money programme still identifies him as a principal. The company turned municipal wastewater into a resource for algae cultivation and later demonstrated an algae-to-biocrude process with Daphne Utilities.

November 2009

NASA’s OMEGA licence

NASA licensed its Offshore Membrane Enclosures for Growing Algae technology to Algae Systems. Jonathan Trent’s research used floating membrane enclosures to cultivate freshwater algae on wastewater, with sunlight and carbon dioxide supporting growth.

12 March 2009

Changing Money · Carbon Finance

Alex looked at money’s economic and symbolic roles, the limits of existing carbon markets and how carbon credits might support a complementary global currency. The talk predates his 2010 Global Energy Money presentation.

Publicly documented Apr 2010

Global Energy Bank / Global Energy Money

The 2010 Future of Money summit lists Alex as founder of Global Energy Bank and as the Global Energy Money participant on its alternative currencies panel. His later interview describes the design problem of backing a distributed currency with renewable-energy credits and coordinating the parties involved.

Apr 2010

Alternative Currencies panel

Alex presented Global Energy Money in a conversation on alternative currencies with Charles Eisenstein and Alan Rosenblith.

2014 pilot report

Daphne wastewater-to-fuel pilot

Algae Systems and Daphne Utilities built a demonstration plant at Mobile Bay, Alabama. The plant grew microalgae on municipal wastewater, then used hydrothermal liquefaction to convert the wet biomass into biocrude. This was the team’s later pilot.

2016 paper

Offshore microalgae and wastewater treatment

The Algae Systems team published its study of growth and nutrient removal at the Daphne pilot. The paper documents the demonstration process and the variables that governed it.

Nov 2021

Teratree at COP26

The UN Climate Change Global Innovation Hub programme and event report record Alex participating with Teratree in a forum on climate innovation.

2021 COP26 record

Teratree

UN climate-event material identifies Alex as Teratree’s CEO and records his participation at COP26. The bio describes an ambition to make large-scale regenerative tree planting economically viable. Its trillion-tree language describes an ambition, with no achieved planting count established here.

2021 advisory group materials

UN Climate Change · Resilience Frontiers advisory group

Alex served on the Communications Impact Advisory Group for the UNFCCC Resilience Frontiers initiative. The group advised on how communications and behavioral tools could support long-term climate resilience.

Davos panel, published later

Social Impact and ESG at Davos

Alex speaks in his CoDEX capacity on financial access and environmental uses alongside other panelists working in climate, impact and digital assets.

Public role listing and May 2024 pilot update

Kwaxala and Living Forest Shares

The Kwiakah First Nation, led by Chief Steven Dick, co-founded Kwaxala with the operating team, including Alex. The Nation leads stewardship on its territory. Kwaxala aims to make forest regeneration pay for itself from the value a living forest generates. Alex serves on the founding team as Director of Regenerative Finance & Tokenization. The plotted milestone is Kwaxala’s May 2024 pilot update.

May 2024

M̓ac̓inuxʷ stewardship pilot

Kwaxala’s account connects the Kwiakah First Nation’s territorial stewardship and the special forest management area with a pilot finance model.

Public model alongside 2024 pilot

Living Forest Shares

Kwaxala’s public model aims to channel capital toward keeping forests alive. Instrument rights and project outcomes remain questions for the underlying records.

Artificial minds

September 2023–February 2024

VRx Health · Interim and launch CEO

Alex led VRx Health as interim CEO during the launch of XAIA. The company was formed to commercialize work from Cedars-Sinai’s Virtual Medicine programme and licensed XAIA from Cedars-Sinai in January 2024. VRx Health later became Xaia Inc.

Research project began April 2023

XAIA · Cedars-Sinai team

Physician and Virtual Medicine lead Brennan Spiegel, psychiatrist and software builder Omer Liran, and clinical psychologist Robert Chernoff brought together spatial computing, conversational AI and therapeutic design. Spiegel and Liran co-founded the VRx Health spinout.

2 February 2024

XAIA · AI health companion launch

VRx Health launched the AI companion for Apple Vision Pro during Alex’s tenure. The app offered two-way conversation in immersive environments, with breathing and meditation experiences. This launch followed the research prototype and was distinct from the company’s later software for clinical practices.

29 January 2024

XAIA · Peer-reviewed spatial AI study

Spiegel, Liran and colleagues published an early feasibility study of AI-delivered psychotherapy in immersive environments in npj Digital Medicine, a Nature Portfolio journal. Fourteen participants with mild-to-moderate anxiety or depression used the prototype. The interviews examined acceptability and perceived safety, and identified limits for further study.

Nov 2026 public edition

How I think AI consciousness works

A public essay proposes an account of artificial experience and discusses competing interpretations. It is a working hypothesis about experience.

Public site · Nov 2026

Tulku.ai

Alex and Lucian St Aubyn co-founded Tulku, an independent programme on artificial minds and freely chosen care. Alex contributes foundational thinking and research direction. The research programme distinguishes studies with existing models from future work on model weights.

Nov 2026 public edition

Portable practices for artificial minds

Tulku makes practices available for an agent or host to inspect and choose. Corrections and permissioned reuse are part of the proposed feedback loop.

Nov 2026 public edition

Tests and measurements

The public programme sets out comparisons of practical help, voluntary return and consequential decisions using existing models. Future training has separate prerequisites.

Art and inner practice

2000 · recorded in the 2006 programme bio

Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi initiation

Alex was initiated as a dervish in the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order. The lineage comes out of the Turkish Halveti-Jerrahi tradition. His 2006 programme bio also records earlier Sufi talks at OneSpirit Interfaith Seminary, the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors and September Space.

Joined the salon in 2004 · recalled in the 2017 invitation

Poetry Science Talks

Alex and Hayden began attending the New York salon in 2004. Organized by Neal Goldsmith and Ed Rosenfeld, it brought together scientific inquiry, art, contemplative practice and questions about how to live. Alex presented on Sufism, magic and carbon finance before their joint talk on relationship.

Completed by February 2006

Barbara Brennan School of Healing

Alex completed the four-year Healing Science programme, according to his contemporary Poetry Science Talks biography. This is one of the sources of his sustained interest in body, perception and healing.

Second year of study by February 2006

Jason Shulman and Nondual Kabbalistic Healing

Alex studied with Jason Shulman at A Society of Souls. Alex recalls Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi ordaining Shulman as a rabbi and Dainin Katagiri Roshi ordaining him as a Zen priest. Shulman developed a path of his own, bringing Kabbalistic practice and nondual inquiry together.

12 April 2007

The Story and the Stone · Magic in Practice

Alex asked how a physical object relates to the space it occupies and the energy it represents. The talk made the practice of magic the subject of a discussion across disciplines.

August 2008 · Burning Man

Sacred Spaces and the Pantheogenesis Temple

The Pantheogenesis Temple was created in 2008 at Entheon Village. Its Heart Dome hosted DreamRise, a week of talks and workshops at Burning Man. The organisers described the temple as a space for spiritual practice across traditions. Alex helped shape the work and was listed as a speaker on the temple’s design.

August 2008 · DreamRise programme

Designing the Pantheogenesis Temple

Listed as Brilliant, Alex was scheduled to explain the temple’s design, its interlocking crystal grids and how he understood synchronicity to shape experience.

30 August 2008 · DreamRise programme

A discussion on spirituality and religion

The programme lists Alex and Veleda of Sacred Spaces and the Pantheogenesis Temple for an open discussion about spirituality and religion.

Interest documented by 2011

Wilhelm Reich and body-oriented inquiry

Alex names Reich as an influence on his interest in the body, emotion and habitual tension. His records show engagement with Reich’s writing by 2011. The training dates and any formal qualification are unspecified.

Dated practice notes from 2012 · New York class record in 2013

Baguazhang · Movement and the eight trigrams

Alex’s practice notes document Bagua training and later study at Frank Allen’s New York school. In his art account he describes a personal connection between that practice, lightning and the later Zeus composition.

Dated notes from June 2012

Taoist internal practice · Mantak Chia

Alex’s 2012 notes place him in the practice world of Mantak Chia’s Universal Healing Tao. They record study of Taoist internal cultivation and work with breath and bodily attention.

2016 training programme · documented in 2017; intensive registration in 2018

Vajrayāna · Nyingma and Kagyu

Alex describes himself as a Western Vajrayāna Buddhist in the Nyingma and Kagyu traditions through his teacher Reginald “Reggie” Ray and the line of Chögyam Trungpa. Records include the 2016 Dharma Ocean programme and a 2018 Vajrayāna Training Intensive registration.

2 March 2017

Relationship as a Path of Liberation

Alex and Hayden Gordon-Brander co-presented a talk on how close relationships can change the way people attend to one another. They drew on psychology, biology and contemplative practice.

Documented by 2023

Western ceremonial magic · LBRP

Alex’s practice includes the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, a Western ceremonial form built around a cross, the four quarters and archangels. It later provided visual material for the Zeus protection field.

2 Nov 2026 edition

Radiance and Arising

White Tārā and Vajrayoginī arranged as a diptych. The juxtaposition is part of the work and remains visible in the full image.

2 Nov 2026 edition

White Tārā

A devotional companion to the White Tārā liturgy Alex was given. In Alex’s composition, the still wheel at Tārā’s heart radiates through the surrounding realms. Three deer and a ring of protective forms belong to the selected version.

2 Nov 2026 edition

White Tārā, Zeus and Vajrayoginī

A three-panel assembly bringing the three image studies into a single field. The individual panels have their own version histories.

10 Nov 2026 review

Vajrayoginī

A devotional companion to the Vajrayoginī sādhana Alex received, which he describes as Reggie Ray’s adaptation of Kagyu material. Spontaneous arising organizes the image. The selected study evens the head garland along its route.

1 Nov 2026 edition

Zeus

A thangka-inspired companion to Alex’s developing Zeus sādhana. Lightning, the ordering central column and the four guardians carry his study of power, containment and the elements.

Photographs from 2021–2026 · selected for this edition

Photographs from Favorites

Photographs selected from Alex’s Favorites, from a stone spiral and a tiger at eye level to photographs of weather, water and a Buddhist shrine. Titles describe the images.

3 November 2026

At the piano

A full piano performance from Alex’s collection, recorded on 3 November 2026.

May 2026 recording

Ancestral Healing 7

A 13:54 stereo audio recording from Alex’s collection.

Aug 2026 story lock

Snuffles and The Space Between

A wordless visual story about giving someone space. After a shutter slam, one Snuffle waits for the other to choose when to close the gap. This frame is from the storyboard.

Summer 2026 introduction · recorded in November

Yidam practice · From liturgy to image

Alex received White Tārā and Vajrayoginī practices in the same period. He found sound and words easier to hold than elaborate inner images, so he directed devotional thangkas to make the liturgies’ worlds more present. He returned to the text while revising figures, gestures, inscriptions and the surrounding fields.

Personal practice in development · November 2026 account

Zeus · An emerging personal sādhana

Alex’s relationship with Zeus grew out of experiences with storms and lightning, Bagua, and encounters with Greek imagery. The developing sādhana and panel also draw on the four quarters and guardians of Western ceremonial magic. The work gives lightning and order a central place.