Stani
Kulechov
is
the
founder
and
CEO
of
Avara,
the
software
development
company
behind
decentralized
finance
(DeFi)
protocol
Aave;
the
stablecoin
GHO,
which
launched
this
year;
and
the
upstart
Web3
social
protocol,
Lens
Protocol,
which
recently
arrived
on
the
Polygon
layer
2.
The
main
Aave
protocol
upgraded
to
V3
this
year,
improving
user
accessibility
and
introducing
security
features.
Aave,
a
DeFi
lending
platform
primarily
based
on
the
Ethereum
blockchain,
lets
users
take
out
instant
loans
denominated
in
cryptocurrency
using
other
cryptocurrencies
they
own
as
collateral.
It
also
allows
users
to
lend
out
their
crypto
to
earn
returns.
The
smart
contract-based
system
sets
rules
for
how
funds,
collateral
and
fees
are
distributed
and
assessed,
effectively
creating
a
self-executing
model
of
finance
with
few
or
no
intermediaries.
This
profile
is
part
of
CoinDesk’s
Most
Influential
2023.
For
the
full
list,
click
here.
This
isn’t
an
easy
time
for
DeFi
players.
The
total
value
locked
in
DeFi
protocols
is
about
a
quarter
($40
billion)
of
what
it
was
at
the
height
of
the
market
in
November
2021.
Kulechov
says
the
last
year
has
been
dedicated
to
building
better
infrastructure
for
DeFi,
including
improved
accessibility
and
user
interfaces
to
increase
participation.
“The
amount
of
value,
like,
it
really
depends
obviously
on
what’s
the
need,
for
example,
for
liquidity,”
Kulechov
told
CoinDesk.
“It
depends
on
the
opportunities
in
finance
and
how
much
there’s
actually
access
to
participate
as
well.”
In
other
words,
the
amount
of
deposits
or
“total
value
locked”
(TVL)
on
Aave
is
a
function
of
the
market
as
much
as
the
performance
of
the
technology
itself.
Kulechov
was
born
in
1991
in
the
former
Soviet
Republic
of
Estonia,
before
his
family
emigrated
to
Finland
and
settled
in
Helsinki
amid
the
economic
crisis
that
followed
the
Soviet
Union’s
collapse.
In
2015,
while
at
Helsinki
University
School
of
Law,
he
came
across
Ethereum
and
started
learning
about
smart
contracts.
Kulechov
built
“ETHLend,”
the
precursor
to
the
Aave
Protocol,
while
in
his
dorm
room
at
the
same
university.
Kulechov
now
lives
in
London,
where
Avara
is
based.
In
2024,
Kulechov
expects
to
see
further
expansion
of
staking
(which
had
a
breakout
year
in
2023)
and
further
integration
of
“real-world
assets”
including
tokenized
Treasuries
and
securities.
He’s
also
excited
about
Lens
and
decentralized
social
media,
which
he
expects
to
build
slowly
but
surely
as
more
people
turn
away
from
centralized
services
like
Twitter
and
start
to
control
their
own
online
data.
“There’s
a
lot
of
social
capital
that
we
create
in
our
internet
and
in
real
life
and
Lens
helps
to
preserve
that
capital
in
ownership
directly
for
the
users,”
he
said.
“It’s
still
in
the
very
early
stages,
but
we
already
have
that
infrastructure
of
decentralized
social
media
that
is
quite
significant
for
our
space.”
Finally,
Kulechov
expects
to
see
more
talk
of
blockchain
technology
offering
verifiability
and
tracking
for
artificial
intelligence
development.
“I
think
we’ll
start
to
see
how
to
govern
AI
from
the
perspective
of
using
blockchain
as
well.
I
think
that’s
another
interesting
area
that
gets
less
attention
from
our
industry,
and
could
be
an
interesting
tool,”
he
said.
