Kirill Kutakov is an entrepreneur and blockchain specialist who co-founded StakeWise, a liquid staking protocol on Ethereum.

Education

Kutakov graduated from the University of Warwick’s Warwick Business School with a BSc in Accounting and Finance in 2014 and later received another BSc in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics in 2017. ^[3]

Career

Kutakov began his professional experience in 2013 as a course representative at Warwick Business School, where he relayed feedback from first-year accounting and finance students to the student-staff liaison committee. In early 2014, he contributed to a student-led consulting project at the University of Warwick, where he was involved in market research and financial planning. He completed a summer internship at Gunvor Group's credit department the following year.

From 2016 to 2017, he served as president of the Warwick Russian Speaking Society, managing the executive team and organizing the society's activities. Between 2017 and 2020, he worked as an analyst at Avaron Asset Management, focusing on value-based investments in Central and Eastern Europe. In 2020, he co-founded StakeWise, a protocol for permissionless liquid staking on Ethereum and Gnosis Chain, where he continues to work. ^{[2] [4]}

StakeWise

Kutakov entered the crypto industry after working in traditional finance as an equity analyst in Scandinavia. Initially holding ETH as a speculative asset, his interest in the Ethereum ecosystem deepened as decentralized finance applications like Uniswap gained traction. A conversation with a friend building a prototype staking product led to a collaboration that evolved into StakeWise.

Throughout 2020, Kutakov worked on StakeWise while maintaining his full-time job. As remote work became more common during the pandemic, he increasingly focused on the project. With limited funding, he and his co-founder, Dmitri Tsumak, bootstrapped the early development and testing phases. Eventually, he left his finance job to work on StakeWise full-time, marking the project’s formal start and the beginning of efforts to raise external capital.

He kept his resignation private until funding was secured, moving in with his parents to minimize expenses and extend the project’s financial runway. His employment status was unintentionally revealed when a doctor informed his mother, during a routine conversation, that he no longer had health insurance. This led to questions at home and prompted him to admit the situation. He had not told his then-girlfriend or friends, choosing to share the news only once the project had begun to show progress. ^[1]

Interviews

About Stakewise

In an interview with Token Terminal, Kutakov discussed the features and evolution of their liquid staking protocol for Ethereum. Launched in March 2021, StakeWise aimed to make staking accessible to users with less than the standard 32 ETH required for independent validators by aggregating smaller deposits. The protocol utilized a dual token model to separate users' principal deposits and earnings, allowing for more flexible rewards management. Despite the initial offering of a solo staking product, StakeWise focused solely on the pooled staking service due to business challenges, such as maintaining competitive pricing for solo customers. The interview also highlighted StakeWise's revenue model, which involved taking a percentage of staking rewards, and pointed to plans for a new version of their service to enhance decentralization in liquid staking while attracting institutional clients. Kutakov emphasized adapting to market demands and improving user experience as central strategies for StakeWise's continued growth. ^[7]

ETH Liquid Staking

In an interview with Blocmates, Kutakov discussed his journey from traditional finance to the cryptocurrency sector, specifically focusing on the development of liquid staking. Initially working in equity finance in Scandinavia, he found traditional finance unfulfilling and became interested in Ethereum and decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. In early 2020, he transitioned to working full-time on StakeWise after realizing his commitment to the project surpassed that of his finance job. StakeWise aimed to simplify the staking process for Ethereum users through innovative mechanisms like a dual token system to maximize yield while minimizing complications. With the upcoming Shanghai upgrade allowing for unstaking, StakeWise anticipated an increase in Ethereum staked as users would find it easier to enter and exit the staking ecosystem. The new iteration, StakeWise Be Free, was designed to allow validators to mint liquid staking tokens while ensuring collateralization, making the system safer against slashing risks. ^[1]

StakeWise Overview

During a presentation for Deepdao, Kutakov provided an overview of Stakewise, a liquid staking platform for Ether. He highlighted that Stakewise was the second-largest liquidity pool for staking assets in the DeFi space, with over 38,000 Ethers deposited and around 3,000 users. The platform utilized a dual token system, represented by deposit and reward tokens, to enhance user experience and yield generation. Kutakov explained how the system separated stake and rewards, enabling users to reinvest earnings easily. He noted that by avoiding the socialization of rewards for new deposits until activation, Stakewise could consistently offer a higher annual percentage rate than its competitors. The presentation concluded with a discussion on the farming yield opportunities available on the platform, including double-digit APRs in specific liquidity pools. ^[5]

Liquid Staking

In Episode 6 of the WholesomeCrypto podcast, host Rudy Dogum interviewed Kutakov, who shared insights about his background and journey into cryptocurrency. Kutakov, originally from Estonia, discussed his early fascination with economics and behavioral finance, which led him to work in an investment fund. He initially encountered Bitcoin during high school but did not see its value until later, particularly during the rise of Ethereum. Kirill highlighted the importance of understanding people's behaviors in crypto, viewing the market as a complex system driven by altruistic and self-interested motives. He also expressed concerns about speculative practices in crypto and NFTs while reflecting on his transition from traditional to decentralized finance, fully committing to Stakewise before Ethereum's major upgrades. The episode concluded with him sharing the dynamics of his current team and his passion for the evolving cryptocurrency landscape. ^[6]

Panels

Staking Innovation

The "Staking Innovation and What Comes Next?" panel was held during the IOSG Old Friends Reunion in Singapore on September 12, 2023. Moderated by Mara Schmiedt, CEO of Alluvial, the conversation brought together leaders from major staking-focused projects to explore the evolving landscape of staking infrastructure and protocols. Panelists included Collin Myers, Founder and CEO of Obol Network; Kutakov; Laszlo Szabo, CEO and Co-founder of Kiln; Daniel Dizon, Founder and CEO of Swell Network; and Lorien Gabel, Founder and CEO of Figment.

The conversation focused on recent advancements in staking, particularly the emergence of liquid staking solutions and their growing influence on network participation. Panelists explored how restaking mechanisms could enhance validator incentives and strengthen network security. There was also significant emphasis on decentralizing staking infrastructure to create more resilient systems and improving user experience and accessibility for broader adoption.

In addition to technical and structural innovations, regulatory considerations were a recurring theme. The speakers highlighted the importance of adapting staking models to evolving compliance requirements without sacrificing decentralization. Each panelist shared how their projects—Obol Network, StakeWise, Kiln, Swell Network, and Figment—tackle these challenges and shape the future of staking. ^[8]