By Raisa Bruner, March 3, 2022
Nadya Tolokonnikova has held many titles over the past decade: performance artist, feminist, Pussy Riot co-founder, prisoner, foreign agent (according to the Russian government), poet, mother. Some things she is not: a tech mastermind, a scam artist, a hype entrepreneur.
But this month, Tolokonnikova, 32, is launching UnicornDAO, a cryptocurrency investment fund and the first component of the “Pussyverse” she’s building in Web3. She sees the move as a new phase for her as a leader building the feminist future she has been fighting for since she was a teen. “For the first time in years, I don’t feel like I’m the only one person in the room who is encouraging people to think further than just the electoral cycle,” she says over Zoom from an undisclosed location.
Because of her political status as a designated foreign agent in Russia, she has to be cautious about sharing her whereabouts publicly. But her excitement is palpable, even through a screen. “It’s the first time when anarchy is not just a promise, it’s actually something achievable,” she says. “Anarchy means, for me, decentralized, self-governing systems.”
