# Kedar Kshatriya

**DeFi Business Development Associate** — New York, NY

> Technical-commercial operator who closes DeFi and trading deals while building the systems behind them. 5+ years spanning market making, venture investing, and smart-contract engineering.

Career Archetype: **Horizon Trailblazer** (RB-MG) — One of the first Horizon Trailblazers on Saywise

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/kedar-kshatriya
- GitHub: https://github.com/KedarKshatriya

## Experience

### DeFi Business Development Associate, GSR (2025-04 – 2026-07)
New York, NY · Closed 25+ market-making deals end-to-end, including perpetual futures on a regulated U.S. exchange. Own relationships with 150+ clients across market making and OTC; drove renewals worth $15M in projected value. Rebuilt GSR's DeFi BD function, closing a Tier-1 partnership with $50M capital deployment and 5+ live liquidity deals. Onboarded 5+ FX clients and expanded regionally. Ran diligence on 30+ venture deals. Led product requirements for an internal AI tool and built Grafana dashboards that cut reporting time by 50%.

### Investment Research Blockchain, Foresight Ventures (2024-09 – 2024-12)
New York, United States · Screened 30+ early-stage startups across DeFi, AI, stablecoins, and infrastructure. Published 2 PayFi research pieces that shifted the fund's thesis toward payment rails and on/off-ramps.

### Crypto Venture Investment Research, Franklin Templeton (2024-06 – 2024-08)
New York, United States · Diligenced 10+ investments including founder interviews and technical analysis. Led technical analysis of Ethereum and Bitcoin restaking platforms and published research informing fund strategy. Built 7+ Python dashboards for on-chain data modeling.

### Founder & Infrastructure Lead, Blockatena (2022-02 – 2023-07)
Pune District, Maharashtra, India · Founded a B2B SaaS enabling indie game studios to issue and trade digital assets via APIs and marketplace; secured $50K grant and onboarded 5+ clients. Led a team of 8 across engineering, design, and marketing through a 9-month product cycle, shipping 10+ features. Architected backend, smart-contract, and API stack, cutting client setup costs 80% versus competitors.

### Mentor, DappCamp (2022-01 – 2022-01)
Mentored and guided 3 teams from Cohort 2 in their bootcamp projects as they were new to the Ethereum development ecosystem. Contributed in their project ideation, designing system architecture and resolving any technical roadblocks.

### Backend & Blockchain Engineer, PencilDATA (2021-11 – 2023-06)
Remote · Shipped 13+ Python backend APIs and wrote 5+ PRDs that sped delivery by 25%. Built CI/CD pipelines using Docker and Jenkins.

### Software Engineer, CLICK (2021-01 – 2023-01)
• Engineered and rolled out 8 backend API services delivered in codebase of Python, to enhance the efficiency of the platform by 25%. • Collaborated with the CTO to architect a beta version, instrumental in securing an USD xxxxxx investment for the client. • Crafted and rigorously tested Smart Contracts on Polygon and Ethereum Blockchain using Solidity, reducing transaction costs by 20% and improving execution speed. • Designed a Discord Bot streamlining user onboarding, resulting in a 18% increase in user engagement on the platform.

### Blockchain Researcher, Koç University (2020-09 – 2021-04)
Remote · • Developed on LightChain, a Distributed Hash Table based Blockchain. Worked with Professor Oznur Ozkasap & Yahya Hassanzadeh-Nazarabadi • Pioneered a transformative solution integrating Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) into LightChain, introducing plug-and-play capabilities for smart contracts. Leading to the development of 10+ custom applications and use cases. • Achieved recognition for the project, obtaining a publication in the prestigious IEEE Infocom Conference Paper in 2021.

### Technology Intern, RBL Bank (2020-01 – 2020-01)
Remote · • During the internship at RBL I with my team have created an open repository called Neeti for all their approved policies, guidelines, and processes in a searchable, readable form using MediaWiki (the engine that runs Wikipedia). • Everything on Neeti will be open for edits forever. The idea is to debate, decide, define how they want to run IT in an efficient, yet democratic manner.

### Blockchain Research Fellowship, Athens Information Technology (2019-01 – 2019-01)
Athens, Greece · Selected from India to complete research project in AIT. The projects concerned the development of an application for tracking and monitoring the transportation of sensitive goods in two phases. A number of simulated sensors was assumed for monitoring contextual parameters like temperature and humidity, whose monitoring values were recorded in a blockchain. The application used the Ethereum blockchain and tools like Remix, Metamask and Web3.js for the development of the application. The second phase of the project concerned the development of advanced functionalities like order acceptance and respective payment, which was automated and governed through smart contracts that implemented the Service Level Agreements, including clauses, of the involved stakeholders.

## Education

### Master of Science - MS in Management, Science and Engineering, Columbia University (2023-09 – 2024-12)
Courses: Computer Science: Engineering Blockchain and Web3 Apps IEOR: Recommendation Systems Operations Consulting Stochastic Modelling Optimization Models & Methods Probability, Statistics & Simulation

### BE - Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Engineering, Savitribai Phule Pune University (2017-09 – 2021-07)
First Class with Distinction

### Master of Science - MS in Management Science Engineering, Columbia Business School
Courses: Foundation of Entrepreneurship Digital Product Lab Game Theoretic Business Strategy Product Management Operations Strategy Service Operations

## Projects

### Smart Contract Implementation on Lightchain Test network
Integration of Ethereum VM into DHT-based blockchain · Collaborated with Koç University on research integrating the Ethereum VM into a DHT-based blockchain architecture. Demonstrated feasibility and presented findings at a top-tier networking conference.

### Hackathon Wins
Multiple competitive hackathon victories · Won multiple blockchain and Ethereum-focused hackathons, demonstrating rapid prototyping and implementation skills across smart contracts and decentralized applications.

### GamesToWeb3
The GamesToWeb3 API provides a set of endpoints for Game developers to deploy and mint their Nfts to our MarketPlace with our easy API Integration. Our API is Fast and Secure.It hardly takes couple of mintutes for Game Developers to Integrate it with their Games, but it requires compliance with GamesToWeb3's Terms of Service and offers equivalent access to data. An API key is needed for production use and is rate-limited. We Support Multi-Chain Environment , Where You can deploy and mint Ethereum , Polygon and FileCoin.

### DBeats
❖ Developed a decentralized platform where the artists can publish their tracks without the need for any fees or complicated rules, the project is hosted using IPFS. ❖ The motto behind developing this project was to provide independent artists with a medium for incentivizing their talent.

### Crypto Num-Juggle
❖ Provides an average user easy onboarding with this blockchain-based game using portis wallet. ❖ The auto rewarding system checks the user's best score, which is stored on the Matic blockchain using their wallet addresses. Interaction with blockchain is much faster because of Matic's Plasma framework. ❖ The game depends on the Player's Best score, the more the player scores the more Matic tokens he would be rewarded.

### CovidCare
Prototype developed for HackOn Hackathon. This app was developed while thinking for solutions like: 1.) This application will be able to track the quarantined as well as non-affected person's and their symptoms will be monitored through our application continuously. 2.) We have provided machine learning 🤖 models which will help doctors to further confirm if a patient has a possibility or not just by clicking a picture of the persons CT Scan or X-RAY. 3.) There is also a system implemented which will let the authorities like police or doctors know about the location of infected person for tracking. 4.) We have also developed a system which will keep the location of affected person's location anonymous but all the other users will know about the area's affected through our IV Hotspot feature. 5.) The affected person has option to share his location with his friends so they can be notified about his conditions through the continuous tracking of application. Do try both the apps Web App and Android App both are fully functional 🤩.

### 101 Different Food Recognition Application using Machine Learning:
• Developed an android application that recognizes 101 different food items by taking a picture. • The mobile_net V2 architecture with some additional dense layers was used for training the model on the data by using a supervised learning approach. • After the model was trained it was hosted on a Django-based python server. • The android mobile application was developed using Apache Cordova. • The application after recognition gives more information about food like calories, nutrients.

### Invoice data extractor using Tesseract OCR and OPEN_CV:
• In this project we developed a python-based application that scans an image or pdf of the invoice and extracts data from it. • This application reduces the inconvenience to extract individual data from invoices like Company name, items, total cost, taxes, etc. • This extracted data is then saved in an Excel Sheet with respective categories for each company.

### Timify App for Automatic Timetable Generator
• Developed an android application developed for reducing the efforts to manually create a timetable. • Using this one can generate the timetable using just a single click for different divisions considering the workload of the subject. • It displays subjects as well as practicals and the name of the teacher associated with the subject. • The app makes sure that there are no clashes between subjects while generating the time table.

### Advanced Blockchain support for Transportation of Sensitive Goods using IoT
This Project was the second phase of the Blockchain Basic original project. This project aimed for Transportation of Sensitive Goods (eg. wine) and payment by the distributor to producer if product is recieved. We also quality checked the products using IoT sensors like Temperature and Luminosity. Skills used: Solidity, Web3 Js,Python, HTML, CSS, JavaScript.

### Basic Blockchain support for Transportation of Sensitive Goods.
This project aimed for the Transportation of Sensitive Goods (eg. wine) and payment by the distributor to the producer if the product is received. • Implemented a Blockchain Proof of Work for the transportation of Wine through a decentralized Ethereum network and used IoT sensors to track the temperature and luminosity data for maintenance of the quality of Wine. • The payment was done through a blockchain-based extension called Metamask. • The project's main focus was to develop a more secure and transparent supply chain management system. • A smart contract was created which would check every time if the quality of the product which is been transported is maintained. • If it is not maintained then there will be a reduction in the cost of the product according to the conditions set in the smart contract. Skills used: Solidity, Web3 Js, HTML, CSS, JavaScript.

## Skills

Market Making, Liquidity Strategy, OTC, Institutional Sales, Deal Structuring, Technical Diligence, Commercial Diligence, GTM, Product Requirements, Python, Solidity, SQL, EVM, Hardhat, OpenZeppelin, Rollups, AWS, GCP, Docker, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, Grafana, Dune Analytics, Messari, Artemis, Salesforce, Jira, Figma, Claude, Codex, Grok, Blockchain, DeFi, Smart Contracts, Trading, Venture Investing, Backend Engineering, API Design, Business Relationship Management, Business-to-Business (B2B), Lead Generation, Soft Skills, Attention to Detail, Management, Quantitative Analytics, Marketing, Partner Development, Business Development, Business Analysis, Open-Source Software, Product Road Mapping, Public Speaking, Negotiation, Coaching, Team Building, Strategy

## Credentials

- **Forbes Web3 Legacy Pass** — Forbes (issued 2024-09)
- **ETHOnline 2020** — ETH Global, Compound Finance, Audius (issued 2020-10)
- **ETHIndia DappJedi: Hackathon 2020 Winner** — ETHIndia, Matic Network and Portis (issued 2020-09)
- **Smart India Hackathon Internal round organized by DYPIEMR** — Dr. D.Y. Patil Institute of Engineering, Management and Research, Akurdi (issued 2020-02)
- **Debate Competition** — DY Patil Institute of Engineering Management and Research (issued 2018-02)
- **Blockchain Developer Nano-Degree** — Udacity (issued 2020-06)
- **Blockchain Specialization (4 Courses)** — University at Buffalo ( Coursera ) (issued 2020-05)
- **Python Specialization (5 Courses)** — University of Michigan (Coursera) (issued 2020-05)
- **Introduction to TensorFlow for Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning ( Coursera )** — deeplearning.ai (issued 2020-04)
- **Blockchain Architecture Design and Use Cases** — NPTEL (issued 2019-12)
- **MTA: Introduction to Programming Using Python - Certified 2019** — Microsoft (issued 2019-01)
- **Smart Contract-enabled LightChain Test Network**
- **Blockchain in Medical Supply-chain**

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Source: https://saywise.com/kedar (last modified 2026-10-05T18:40:20.894Z)