Armaan Kalsi
Armaan Kalsi is the co‑founder and CEO of Genius Trading, a multi‑chain trading terminal designed to aggregate liquidity and simplify cross‑chain execution for professional traders. Kalsi has also been associated with Shuttle Labs, the studio behind Genius, and earlier founded Lore, a project focused on making block data legible using transformer models. Media coverage has highlighted his emphasis on resolving DeFi’s fragmentation and transparency frictions through an “interface‑first” terminal strategy and privacy‑preserving execution workflows. [1] [2]
Career
Early projects and pivot to trading
Before Genius Trading, Kalsi founded Lore in 2022 with the goal of making on‑chain block data “legible” using transformer models for natural‑language querying. As analytics products commoditized and market value clustered around trading/financialization, he pivoted away from Lore to focus on execution and trader workflows. This trajectory led to co‑founding Shuttle Labs, a New York–based software studio focused on non‑custodial, cross‑chain infrastructure that would later build the Genius terminal. [1]
Shuttle Labs
Shuttle Labs is described in reporting as the developer of the Genius terminal, with Kalsi in a founding and leadership role. Coverage characterizes Shuttle Labs’ work as non‑custodial infrastructure that abstracts multi‑chain complexity for end users, aiming to reconcile professional trading needs with on‑chain settlement and portfolio control. [3]
Genius Trading
Genius Trading (often referred to as “Genius” or the “Genius terminal”) is a cross‑chain trading terminal that connects to decentralized exchanges and networks through a unified interface. The product is positioned as a non‑custodial terminal rather than a wallet, exchange, or bridge, and targets professional and prosumer traders who value execution quality, privacy, and a familiar centralized‑exchange‑like workflow. Across interviews and press coverage, Kalsi has emphasized an “interface‑first” strategy: becoming the primary trading surface for users and, over time, internalizing liquidity access and execution infrastructure. [1] [4]
Under Kalsi’s leadership, Genius has been reported to support multiple product surfaces—spot trading, perpetual futures, and copy‑trading—through a non‑custodial design that abstracts keys and cross‑chain operations in the background. Reported supported networks and venues include several layer 1 and layer 2 ecosystems, with sources naming Ethereum, BNB Chain, Solana, Base, Avalanche, Sui, and Hyperliquid among the platforms surfaced through the terminal. Coverage varies on breadth claims, citing “10+ blockchains” and more than 500 decentralized exchanges accessible via the terminal as of early 2026. [5] [4]
Achievements and Media Coverage
Kalsi’s leadership of Genius Trading has drawn attention in crypto and business media that focus on cross‑chain execution, trader privacy on public ledgers, and the rise of multi‑venue trading terminals. Features and interviews have explored his emphasis on aggregating fragmented liquidity while preserving on‑chain settlement visibility, and on designing a terminal that makes non‑custodial mechanics unobtrusive for professional users. Coverage in Forbes situated Genius among a broader cohort of trading interfaces responding to DeFi’s cross‑chain complexity during early 2026. [1] [8]
Interviews
Non-Custodial Terminals and Exchange Models #01
In an interview published on March 15, 2026, on the YouTube channel Synopsis Web3 Summit, Armaan Kalsi addressed the role of non-custodial trading terminals in relation to traditional exchange models and discussed developments in Web3 trading infrastructure.
Kalsi described the development of Genius Trading as a response to limitations observed in on-chain execution. He noted that earlier efforts in blockchain data analysis highlighted challenges in how users interact with decentralized systems, leading to a shift in focus toward transaction execution and usability.
He stated that non-custodial trading terminals are designed to provide an interface comparable to centralized exchanges while maintaining self-custody. This approach involves enabling users to interact directly with blockchain-based assets without transferring control of funds to an intermediary.
According to Kalsi, such systems allow access to assets at earlier stages of their lifecycle, including at the point of issuance on-chain. He also referenced the role of tokenization in expanding the range of tradable assets within blockchain environments, including fractionalized representations of various asset types.
Kalsi further explained that Genius Trading operates as a non-custodial platform, where users retain control over private keys. At the same time, the system incorporates features associated with centralized trading environments, such as execution mechanisms, pricing structures, and transaction interfaces.
He also outlined a conceptual shift toward an asset-focused framework, in which trading activity is organized around asset availability rather than specific blockchain networks. This perspective reflects the increasing interoperability and cross-network interaction within the digital asset ecosystem.
In this context, Kalsi characterized non-custodial trading terminals as part of an ongoing development in trading infrastructure, combining elements of centralized exchange design with decentralized control over assets. [9]
Cross-Chain Trading and Terminal Competition #02
In an interview published by CNN on April 21, 2026, Armaan Kalsi outlined his views on cross-chain trading terminals and their function within crypto market infrastructure. He described such platforms as interfaces that consolidate access to multiple decentralized exchanges across different blockchains, allowing users to interact with assets without directly handling processes such as bridging or gas management.
According to Kalsi, the continued use of centralized exchanges is primarily associated with three factors: user experience, market structure, and privacy. He stated that decentralized terminals attempt to reproduce aspects of these conditions while maintaining non-custodial frameworks. In this context, he referred to “management fatigue” as a limitation in multi-chain environments, where users must manage assets across numerous networks.
Kalsi also characterized “terminal wars” as a shift in competition from exchanges to access points that aggregate trading opportunities. In his account, these interfaces influence user behavior by providing exposure to assets at earlier stages, including tokenized instruments and prediction-based markets that may not be listed on centralized platforms at the same time.
On the subject of privacy, Kalsi described a model based on separating wallet activity rather than concealing transactions at execution. He indicated that this approach is intended to maintain compatibility with regulatory requirements while offering a degree of transactional separation, noting that it may involve additional steps or delays.
He framed cross-chain terminals as part of an ongoing development toward multi-chain trading environments, where interface design, asset accessibility, and privacy configurations contribute to how participants interact with on-chain markets. [10]
