Jake Stolarski is the founder and CEO of NERO Chain, a blockchain project focused on providing innovative solutions for application developers within the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) ecosystem. Stolarski has an extensive background in both scientific research and finance, having worked in various high-profile organizations across both fields. ^[7]

Early Life & Education

Jake Stolarski studied Physics at New York University, where he completed a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) between 2002 and 2007. During this period, he was captain of the NYU varsity soccer team and participated in the Society of Engineering Students and the NYU Society of Physics Students. He also presented at the SPIE BIOS Conference.

From 2005 to 2007, Stolarski also studied Electrical Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology, earning a Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.). During his time at Stevens, he was a member of the Society of Engineering Students. ^{[2] [3]}

Career

Early research career

Jake Stolarski began his research career as a seasonal researcher at the Air Force Research Laboratory, where he studied laser eye protection under different laser parameters. His work included assisting with the installation of a terawatt laser system and supervising two computer programming students, which later proved useful for working with blockchain.

He later joined Northrop Grumman IT as a Research Contractor. His research examined the nonlinear optical properties of DNA and other materials exposed to ultrashort laser pulses. His responsibilities included designing nonlinear absorption experiments, conducting laboratory work, and maintaining laser equipment.

Stolarski subsequently became a Fellow at the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area. During this period, he developed computational models for nonlinear laser effects, derived equations related to thermal lensing, conducted experimental validation of theoretical models, and contributed to scientific journal publications.

Financial trading

In 2007, Stolarski joined Chicago Trading Company as a Director. He traded exchange-listed derivatives as a Specialist and Designated Primary Market Maker for contracts including the Nasdaq-100 and Russell-2000. His trading activities also included S&P 500 contracts, emerging market ETF options, and VIX futures and options. He worked on the trading floors of the American Stock Exchange, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), participating in volatility arbitrage strategies across multiple markets.

Stolarski became a Partner at Barrow Street in 2013. There, he developed an energy-focused volatility trading fund using proprietary capital. According to the firm, the fund returned 70% on at-risk capital over three consecutive years and ranked among the top three globally by trading volume on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Intercontinental Exchange for crude oil, gasoline, and heating oil options. His responsibilities also included establishing brokerage relationships, managing over-the-counter energy derivatives risk, and developing trading analytics and risk management systems.

Digital asset trading

In 2018, Stolarski joined Cipher Technologies Management LP as Head of Trading. He was responsible for trading operations and risk management for a digital asset investment fund registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). His work included developing trading infrastructure across multiple alternative trading systems, creating risk aggregation and reporting tools, implementing SPAN and GARCH-based risk models, and managing the firm's quantitative research team.

During his time at Cipher Technologies Management, he also developed bilateral ISDA standards for over-the-counter digital asset transactions and collateral lockbox standards. He participated in an early application process for a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).

Blockchain

In 2022, Stolarski served as Chief Technology Officer of Cube.Network, a Layer 1 ​blockchain project. Later that year, he co-founded NERO and assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer.

At NERO, his work has included the development of infrastructure intended to support decentralized applications. The project introduced a Paymaster model that allows developers to define gas token acceptance and sponsor transaction fees through configurable payment mechanisms. The network also includes mechanisms intended to address maximum extractable value (MEV) and token utility within its protocol design.

Advisory roles

Since 2025, Stolarski has served as Blockchain Technology Advisor at Silverbear Capital Inc. He has also served as an Advisor to the Decentralised Digital Asset Fund.

Public speaking

Stolarski has participated as a speaker and panel moderator at blockchain and cryptocurrency conferences. His conference appearances include WebX 2024 and EVM Summit 2024, where he has presented and moderated discussions on subjects including Web3 custody, blockchain infrastructure, liquidity fragmentation, security, and decentralized application architecture. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]}