Accumulate's story starts with the founding of Factom in 2015, a data publishing layer atop major blockchains. In 2021, Factom was acquired by Inveniam Capital Partners, bringing along lead engineers Paul Snow and Jay Smith. Inveniam Capital Partners created the Defi Devs subsidiary to be lead developers in the Accumulate community.The Accumulate protocol is dependant on many of the best concepts that came of the Factom protocol, including data and identity focus while combining the components in a fresh and unique configuration.The Accumulate protocol is designed by Paul Snow. Paul Snow may be the Chief Blockchain Scientist at Inveniam and Defi Devs. Previously, he was the CEO and chief architect of the Factom protocol and co-author of the Factom White Paper, developing and implementing a “multi-leader” consensus algorithm for the blockchain network. Of note, he was founder and chief architect for DTRules, an open-source project providing decision table-based rules engines. He is listed as inventor on a lot of Factom's 40+ patents, both issued and happening, which serve as a base for Accumulate.