In this episode, we sit down with Clara Tsao—entrepreneur, former CTO of the US department of Homeland Security, and founding officer of the Filecoin Foundation. Clara dives deep into the role of decentralized storage in preserving critical data, from archiving freedom of information requests to combating link rot. We talk about AI, attribution, and how decentralized infrastructure can help creators and institutions alike build a more transparent internet. This one’s for the builders who care about transparency, digital preservation, and building a better internet from the ground up.

Episode Highlights with Timestamps

[00:00] Intro — Clara’s family roots and uploading her grandmother’s music to Filecoin

[08:00] From tech policy to crypto: The early days

[16:00] Joining the U.S. government and working on election security

[21:00] Why decentralized storage matters: link rot, public archives, and global data access

[32:00] Use cases in war zones and journalism — capturing truth [34:00] Attribution, cold cases, and surfacing lost information with AI [55:00] How to get started building on Filecoin & grants available [56:30] Final thoughts — why great talent flocks to decentralized infrastructure

About Our Guest

Clara Tsao is a founding officer at the Filecoin Foundation and former Chief Technology Officer at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. A longtime advocate for a safer and more open internet, Clara has co-founded the Trust & Safety Professional Association, advised global initiatives like Tech Against Terrorism, and worked with Mozilla on emerging tech policy. Her work sits at the intersection of digital rights, open data, and decentralized technology.

Resources & Links Mentioned

Clara’s Twitter [https://x.com/tweetclarita]

Clara’s LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/claratsao/]

Filecoin Twitter [https://x.com/filecoin]

Filecoin Foundation Twitter [https://x.com/filfoundation]

Filecoin Foundation Website [https://fil.org/] IPFS