From Banking to Blockchain: Tegan Kline’s Full Pivot Story

• Tegan Kline shifted from Wall Street to Web3, co-founding Edge & Node to drive decentralized data access with The Graph.
• As CEO of Edge & Node, she leads the Sunrise transition and pushes AI integration into decentralized data indexing systems.

Tegan Kline’s name may not be widely known, but in the Web3 world, she is one of the big drivers behind the data engine that is the backbone of many crypto applications: The Graph. Interestingly, Kline’s journey began far from the crypto world. She is not a genius programmer who learned to code since childhood. On the contrary, her background is in the tall buildings of Wall Street.

Initially, Kline worked at two major banks: Barclays and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Her career in investment went as many finance graduates would hope. But, like many pivot stories in this industry, there was a saturation point. The traditional world full of formalities and the same rhythm apparently did not provide enough space for wild ideas and a more open approach.

She then switched to the crypto industry, specifically at the startup Orchid. There, she was involved in development and investor relations, helping the company launch to a valuation of hundreds of millions of dollars and a listing on Coinbase.

From here everything changed. The world that was once rigid, is now replaced by a decentralized system that opens opportunities for anyone who wants to build. Tegan Kline seems to have found a more suitable stage for her.

Tegan Kline: Reshaping the Blockchain Data Map

Together with a number of colleagues, Kline then co-founded Edge & Node—the core development team of The Graph. This project is referred to as the “Google of Web3,” because it allows blockchain data to be accessed quickly, easily, and in a structured manner.

In analogy, The Graph is a machine that makes data from networks such as Ethereum, Polygon, and NEAR readable and usable by Web3 applications, without having to disassemble hundreds of thousands of blocks one by one.

However, it is not just about facilitating data access. Tegan and her team are trying to make the system truly decentralized. She led a massive migration from a hosted system to The Graph Network, which is fully managed by the community.

This process was not always smooth. There were technical challenges, resistance from developers, and high expectations from the growing ecosystem. But that’s where Kline came in: not only as a co-founder, but also as a spokesperson who was able to bridge the technical side and the long-term vision.

On the other hand, Kline also rose to become CEO of Edge & Node. She replaced the previous CEO and began to overhaul the company’s internal structure, including injecting speed into project execution and removing unnecessary layers of bureaucracy. One of the major projects she oversaw was the Sunrise of Decentralized Data—a critical phase in the migration of data to a fully open network.

Furthermore, she has often voiced her belief that the future of Web3 is not just about tokens and speculation, but about access. She applauds standards like ERC-20 and ERC-721, which she believes give anyone the opportunity to build from anywhere. Without permission, without large capital. Just an idea and an internet connection.

Tegan and Her Ambition to Push AI into Crypto Infrastructure

Somewhat surprisingly, Kline has also recently begun exploring the relationship between AI and blockchain. She says language models like GPT can help more efficiently retrieve data from decentralized networks. On the one hand, this opens up huge opportunities for automation and scalability. But on the other, it also presents new challenges around accuracy and bias.

She’s not too busy building a grand narrative about “the future.” Instead, she did more concrete things: fixing R&D, supporting IPFS and Arweave integration for sensor-resistant data storage, and creating a seamless developer experience. For Kline, building Web3 is a marathon. Sometimes it feels like running in the fog, but as long as you know where you’re headed, even small steps matter.

To this day, she still regularly appears on podcasts, Reddit AMAs, and community forums, answering questions that are sometimes offbeat and sometimes very technical. Her communication style is straightforward but relaxed. She doesn’t like overly grandiose terms. Maybe because she knows that jargon isn’t what keeps developers engaged—it’s tools that work and data that works.