Pussy Riot's Nadya Tolokonnikova marries John Caldwell

Pussy Riot founding member Nadya Tolokonnikova and John Caldwell always prioritized being “helpful,” he said , rather than happiness.

When Nadya Tolokonnikova, one of the founding members of the protest punk collective Pussy Riot, contacted John Caldwell on Discord, a messaging application cryptically, he asked her if she was a robot. .

"She just said 'haha,'" said Mr. Caldwell, who was already familiar with her work. “I was very suspicious.”

Mrs. Tolokonnikova had developed an interest in cryptocurrency and blockchain and heard about Mr. Caldwell, a partner at a financial services firm specializing in crypto, from a friend. “I was jumping on Zoom with random people with no romantic intentions, just learning about cryptocurrencies,” she said.

They met for a dinner a few days later, in mid-September 2021. “It ended horribly,” Mr. Caldwell said. “She faked a call to Europe and left.”

Mrs. Tolokonnikova, an activist, musician and artist, describes herself as a “super introverted person” and says she usually spaces out meeting new people. But at the time, she was learning about a new topic, so she had scheduled several meetings in a day, and the dinner with Mr. Caldwell was the last one.

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