Fred Teumer serves as the Chief Information Officer at Grove, bringing a wealth of experience from health tech, fintech, and startups to the rapidly evolving world of decentralized networks. With a background in software development and infrastructure, Fred leads Grove in its mission to make Web3 infrastructure more accessible and usable. Under his guidance, Grove maintains and develops the Pocket Network, a permissionless, decentralized platform that supports blockchain data access, privacy tools like Signal and Tor, and even AI services.
As CIO, Fred is not just driving technical innovation—he’s reshaping how users and developers think about anonymity, accessibility, and incentive-driven infrastructure. His approach combines real-world IT and security concerns with bleeding-edge crypto solutions, making Grove a standout in the world of Web3.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- How Grove and Pocket Network create decentralized, anonymous API access
- Why Grove is building privacy-focused alternatives to services like Signal and Tor
- How tokenomics incentivize infrastructure scale and reliability
- Why LLMs (Large Language Models) hosted on Pocket could disrupt current providers
- How Grove is bridging the usability gap between Web2 and Web3
- The security and SoC2 compliance challenges of decentralized infrastructure
- Fred’s journey from StarCraft maps to CIO in a fast-evolving crypto world
In this episode…
In this episode of the Cyber Business Podcast, Matthew sits down with Fred Teumer to explore Grove’s role in Web3 and the transformative potential of the Pocket Network. Fred unpacks how their decentralized infrastructure allows developers to anonymously and securely access blockchain data—without relying on centralized cloud providers like AWS. By leveraging token-based incentives, the network scales to meet demand while maintaining privacy and redundancy.
Fred dives into Grove’s focus on making Web3 usable for developers and enterprises alike. Their API portal mimics familiar Web2 tools, easing the transition to a decentralized environment. But Grove isn’t stopping with blockchain; they’re also piloting support for privacy tools like Signal and Tor, as well as LLM services that could one day rival offerings from OpenAI and Anthropic—at a fraction of the cost.
The conversation also explores the harsh reality of security in decentralized environments. Fred highlights how Web3 presents new SoC2 compliance challenges and why most vulnerabilities don’t come from code, but from humans—citing social engineering as a persistent threat. He emphasizes the need for an open-source, community-driven security posture—something Grove embraces through its bounty program and open development model.
Finally, Fred shares his unconventional career path—from building StarCraft maps as a kid, to leading infrastructure strategy at Grove. He talks about the thrill and volatility of startups, the importance of aligned incentives, and why crypto is not for the faint of heart—but offers massive upside for those willing to embrace the chaos.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Matthew Connor on LinkedInCyberLynx
Fred Teumer on LinkedIn
Grove Website
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