Amitej Gajjala is the Co-founder of Stader Labs, a non-custodial, smart contract-based staking platform designed to streamline the utilization of staking solutions.. ^[1]

Education

Gajjala earned his Bachelor’s in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, in 2009. He later graduated from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, with an M.B.A. in Management in 2014. ^[1]

Career

Gajjala worked as a business analyst at ZS Associates, a management consulting and technology firm, until 2012 when he returned to school to earn his Master’s. ^[1]

After earning his M.B.A., he worked as a senior business analyst and later as an associate at A.T. Kearney, a management consulting firm in Mumbai, until 2017. He became an assistant vice president at Zapr Media Labs, a media-tech startup, until 2018. In August 2018, Gajjala worked as the assistant vice president at Swiggy, an on-demand delivery platform in India.

Stader Labs

In April 2021, Gajjala and Sidhartha Doddipalli co-founded Stader Labs. Stader Labs is dedicated to crafting decentralized financial protocols and solutions tailored for effective asset staking management across public blockchain networks. ^[1]

Stader ETHx

Stader ETHx is a liquid staking solution for Ethereum, allowing users to stake ETH and receive stETHx, a liquid staking token. This product allows users to earn staking rewards while retaining liquidity, facilitating participation in decentralized finance (DeFi) activities without locking up assets. ^[5]

It was launched by Stader Labs in July 2023, ETHx ensures continuous staking rewards, enabling the growth of Ethereum holdings while integrating with dApps to allow users to explore additional yield farming and lending opportunities. Additionally, ETHx contributes to Ethereum's decentralization efforts, promoting scalability and resilience within the network.

SD Token

The Stader (SD) token serves as the value accrual and governance token for the Stader ecosystem. It conforms to the ERC-20 standard with a total supply capped at a total of 150 million tokens. ^[6]

Funding

In January 2022, the Stader Labs team raised $12.5 million in a funding round led by Three Arrows Capital, valuing the company at $450 million. Blockchain.com, Accomplice, GoldenTree Asset Management, Accel, and other investors also provided funding. ^[7]

In October 2021, Stader Labs raised $4 million in a seed round, led by Pantera Capital. Coinbase Ventures, True Ventures, Jump Capital, and Ledgerprime also participated in the round. ^[8]

Interviews/Panels

Restaking Rewards & DeFi

During Restaking and Infra Day at L2con in Dubai, Gajjala, as a keynote speaker, provided insights into the liquid restaking landscape, emphasizing its potential for higher rewards than traditional staking. He discussed users' complexities in selecting validators, managing rewards across multiple protocols, and challenges such as high gas fees and liquidity constraints. ^[2]

Gajjala introduced liquid restake tokens (LRTs) like rsETH by Kelp DAO as a solution, simplifying asset liquidity and reward claiming while offering risk-adjusted rewards. Additionally, he highlighted the development of proprietary technology enabling native restaking on Layer 2 solutions, aiming to save users gas fees and expand accessibility. ^[2]

Pioneering LRT

At ETHStaker 2023, Gajjala delved into the evolution of liquid staking as a new paradigm in decentralized finance (DeFi) following the emergence of Ethereum as a global value exchange network in 2015. He discussed the democratization of staking and the introduction of liquidity to staked assets through platforms like Lido and Rocket Pool. ^[3]

The presentation identified key challenges facing liquid staking adoption, including complex user interfaces, multi-token rewards systems, and liquidity loss during restaking periods. The Liquid Restake Tokens (LRTs) concept is introduced to simplify user experiences, provide liquidity, and mitigate risks such as slashing and centralization in restaking networks to address these challenges. ^[3]

DeFi For Everyone

At FILBangalore 2023, Gajjala introduced liquid staking, where users stake Ethereum or other PoS tokens to obtain representative tokens usable in DeFi protocols. This innovation democratizes staking by removing large capital requirements and enabling broader participation. The liquid staking market has a total capitalization exceeding $35-40 billion, as seen on platforms like Aave. Additionally, Gajjala discussed liquid restaking as the next innovation frontier, aiming to enhance efficiency and unlock liquidity for restaked assets. ^[4]