Daniel Perez
Daniel Perez is a computer science researcher, software engineer, and entrepreneur specializing in blockchain systems security, decentralized finance (DeFi), and applied machine learning. He is a co-founder of the DeFi protocol Gyroscope and the decentralized leveraged token protocol TLX. His academic work, including a PhD from Imperial College London, has focused on enhancing the security of distributed ledgers and their applications, with notable research on liquidation events and potential vulnerabilities in major DeFi protocols. [1] [2]
Education
Perez's academic background is in computer science, with his higher education beginning in Japan. He studied Computer Science at the Tokyo University of Science from 2009 to 2011, then transferred to Waseda University, where he completed his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from 2011 to 2013. He continued his studies at the University of Tokyo, earning a Master’s degree in Computer Science between 2014 and 2018. During his master's program, his research focused on applying machine learning techniques to programming languages under the supervision of Professor Shigeru Chiba. Perez then moved to the United Kingdom to pursue doctoral studies at Imperial College London from 2018 to 2023. His PhD research, sponsored by the Ethereum Foundation, investigated methods for securing distributed ledgers and their ecosystem using programming language techniques. Professor Ben Livshits supervised his work, and he officially graduated on June 14, 2023. [1] [3]
Career
Daniel Perez's career began in Japan, where he held several technical roles while completing his undergraduate and master's studies. He served as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Aetel Inc. from 2011 to 2012. He then worked as a software engineer at GREE, Inc. in 2012, followed by a series of concurrent software engineering roles from 2013 to 2014 at Fringe81, the Institute of Information Technology, and Life is Tech. During this period, he also began a longer-term role as a software engineer and researcher at Recruit Holdings, which lasted from 2013 to 2017. While pursuing his master's degree, Perez co-founded his first company, Claude Tech, in 2014, where he served as co-founder and CTO until 2018. In the later part of his time in Japan, he also worked as a software engineer and researcher at Megagon Labs from 2017 to 2018. After moving to London for his PhD, Perez took a position as a machine learning engineer at Uzabase, where he worked from 2018 to 2021.
The period during his doctoral studies was marked by significant involvement in the decentralized finance space. He served as an advisor to the Interlay Network from 2020 to 2021 and completed a research internship at Meta in 2021. In 2021, he co-founded two ventures: Aurora Labs and the DeFi protocol Gyroscope, remaining involved with both until 2025. He also co-founded the decentralized leveraged token protocol TLX. From 2022 to 2023, he advised Oasis Good Games. Following the completion of his PhD, Perez served as a guest lecturer at his alma mater, Imperial College London, from 2023 to 2025. In 2025, his career continued with the co-founding of Arvina Technologies and a role as a technical advisor at Maxxxima. [1] [5]
Major Projects
Gyroscope
Perez co-founded Gyroscope, a decentralized finance protocol, in 2021. The project, developed by FTL Labs, is designed to simplify optimal liquidity provision in DeFi under the tagline "Superliquidity, made simple." The protocol's central product is GYD, a non-custodial stablecoin designed to be a "superliquid" hub asset that improves liquidity efficiency across the DeFi ecosystem. [2] According to the team, the project was in development for over three years before its mainnet launch. [4]
The Gyroscope stablecoin (GYD) was launched on the mainnet in December 2023. The protocol's stated goal is to implement risk management features that can operate with a high degree of automation. It utilizes a mechanism termed "asymmetric liquidity" to enhance capital efficiency. The GYD stablecoin is designed to maintain more concentrated liquidity around its price peg compared to other stablecoins and supports on-demand minting and redemption. [2] [4]
The protocol offers distinct liquidity pools for different asset classes:
- Volatile Pairs: Designed for high-volume assets like ETH and BTC, allowing liquidity providers to earn yields from swap fees.
- Stable Pairs: Lower-risk pools for stable assets that use the protocol's asymmetric liquidity mechanism for improved efficiency.
As of December 2025, Gyroscope reported a Total Value Locked (TVL) of 178.77 billion. The protocol's stablecoin, GYD, had a trading volume of $1.46 billion. The protocol has been audited by several security firms, including Nethermind, Runtime Verification, and Trail of Bits. It is supported by investors and partners such as Galaxy Digital, Maven 11, Robot Ventures, Archetype, Balancer, Aave, and Polygon. Integrations include Aave, Spark Fi, Rocket Pool, 1inch, and KyberSwap, among others. [2]
TLX
Perez was a co-founder of TLX, a decentralized leveraged token protocol. On December 10, 2024, the project was acquired by Synthetix, a major derivatives liquidity protocol in the DeFi space. [1]
Claude Tech
Perez's first entrepreneurial venture was Claude Tech, which he co-founded in 2014 while studying at the University of Tokyo. He served as the company's Chief Technology Officer until 2018, overlapping with his master's studies and other professional roles. [5]
Research and Publications
Perez's academic research is a cornerstone of his professional identity, focusing primarily on blockchain systems security, payment infrastructure, and vulnerabilities within the decentralized finance ecosystem. [1]
Research Focus
During his PhD at Imperial College London, Perez's work centered on applying programming language techniques to improve the security of blockchain virtual machines and the decentralized applications built on them. This research was sponsored by the Ethereum Foundation, indicating its relevance to one of the largest smart contract ecosystems. His master's research at the University of Tokyo explored the intersection of machine learning and programming languages. [1]
Key Publications
Perez has co-authored several papers accepted at major security and computer science conferences:
- "Dissimilar Redundancy in DeFi": Co-authored with Lewis Gudgeon, this paper was accepted at the MARBLE 2022 conference. [1]
- "Liquidations: DeFi on a Knife-edge": This paper, co-authored with Sam Werner, Jiahua Xu, and Ben Livshits, was accepted at the Financial Cryptography and Data Security (FC) 2021 conference. It explored the systemic risks associated with liquidation events in DeFi lending protocols. [1]
- "Smart Contract Vulnerabilities: Vulnerable Does Not Imply Exploited": Co-authored with Ben Livshits, this work was accepted at the USENIX Security 2021 symposium. The paper investigated the real-world exploitability of publicly known smart contract vulnerabilities. [1]
- "Revisiting Transactional Statistics of High-scalability Blockchains": Co-authored with Jiahua Xu and Ben Livshits, this paper was accepted at the ACM Internet Measurement Conference (IMC) 2020. [1]
MakerDAO Flash Loan Vulnerability Disclosure
In a pre-print paper from February 2020 titled "The Decentralized Financial Crisis," Perez and his co-authors described potential attack vectors using flash loans against DeFi protocols. Perez stated that his team had privately disclosed these specific attack vectors to the MakerDAO protocol's team in January 2020. This risk was later highlighted in an urgent MakerDAO governance forum discussion in October 2020, which acknowledged a potential "governance attack" using flash loans, confirming the significance of the vulnerability Perez's team had identified earlier that year. [4]
Tezos Foundation Fellowship
In November 2020, Perez's PhD supervisor, Ben Livshits, publicly stated that the Tezos Foundation had canceled a fellowship that had been awarded to Perez. Livshits suggested the cancellation was related to Perez's paper, "Revisiting Transactional Statistics of High-scalability Blockchains," which analyzed the performance of various blockchain networks. [4]
Community and Academic Involvement
In addition to his research, Perez has been involved in organizing academic events within the DeFi space. In 2020, he was an organizer for the 1st Workshop on Decentralized Finance (DeFi), which was co-located with the FC '21 conference, one of the premier academic venues for crypto and security research. This role highlights his efforts to foster a formal academic community around the emerging field of decentralized finance. [4]
Based on his public profiles and professional history, Perez is located in London, England. He has expressed a strong interest in both programming languages and natural languages, demonstrating fluency in English and Japanese. [4]