Rodney Prescott does not hesitate when asked what shaped his leadership philosophy. “In the Navy, if you have the authority, you have the responsibility,” he says. “You cannot be responsible for something if you don’t have the authority to act. And inaction in combat will get you killed. Make a decision, even if it’s the wrong one, but make it.”
Prescott’s direct, pragmatic style was forged over seven years in the Royal New Zealand Navy, where he learned to lead in unforgiving conditions. “You’re trained to get things done,” he says. “Ninety percent of the time is routine, but the ten percent when it matters, that’s what you train for. You act decisively, and you trust your people.”
Today, as the new Chief Executive Officer of Entry, he brings that same clarity of purpose to a very different arena: digital asset compliance. Entry’s mission is to build the “rails” for the next generation of financial systems – infrastructure where both the people and the assets behind each transaction can be verified, trusted, and compliant.
“The two critical elements are knowing the parties and knowing the assets,” Prescott explains. “If you don’t know who you’re dealing with, or if the assets are tainted, you’re in trouble. It’s about knowing before you transact, not after.”
Prescott’s approach reflects a deep understanding of operational risk. His naval training taught him the cost of hesitation; his technology career taught him the value of precision. Before joining Entry, he worked across enterprise systems, data governance, and regulatory integration, blending military decisiveness with corporate discipline.
Entry’s vision, he says, is to create a framework as ubiquitous and trusted as SWIFT, but built for digital assets. “Think of it as a SWIFT for modern finance,” he says. “It’s a set of rails where counterparties can transact confidently, knowing both the participants and the provenance of the assets.”
The challenge, however, is scale. “You can’t take on the JP Morgans of the world head-on,” he says. “That would be foolish. We’re following what I call the Lancaster Strategy – it comes from a case study I learned years ago. Fuji didn’t take on Xerox in London directly. They went after the regional markets, built loyalty and service quality, and eventually surrounded London. We’ll do the same. We’ll focus on emerging markets, Africa, Asia, Latin America, where innovation is welcome and infrastructure gaps are real.”
That global focus is matched by a clear-eyed realism. “We’re apolitical,” Prescott stresses. “We’re not choosing sides. We’re providing tools for financial inclusion and compliance. If you’re serious about participating in the digital economy, you need clean assets, verifiable identities, and community trust.”
Community is central to his strategy. “Entry won’t succeed by building alone,” he says. “This is about partnerships. We’re working with organisations that share our vision, from federated AI developers to blockchain analytics firms. Our role is to make compliance seamless, so institutions can focus on innovation rather than regulation.”
Prescott’s leadership style carries the imprint of his naval years. “The Navy teaches you teamwork and humility,” he says. “You can’t survive at sea without trusting the person beside you. It’s the same in Web3, you need cooperation to build resilience.”
As for the future, Prescott sees a world where digital transactions are instant, compliant, and borderless. “Web3 will succeed when compliance becomes invisible,” he says. “When knowing the people and knowing the assets is automatic, secure, and private. That’s the goal.”
For now, Entry is charting its course with focus and precision, building partnerships, developing zero-knowledge identity verification, and designing tools for asset traceability.
Prescott pauses when asked what drives him. “I think it’s the same thing that drove me at sea,” he says. “You prepare for the ten percent that matters. You plan, you train, you act and you keep your crew safe. In this case, the crew is the ecosystem.”
