# Nikil Viswanathan

> Nikil Viswanathan is the co-founder and CEO of Alchemy, a leading web3 developer platform. He also co-created the viral social app 'Down To Lunch'. A Stanford U...

- Canonical URL: https://iq.wiki/wiki/nikil-viswanathan
- Categories: People in crypto
- Tags: DeFi, AI Token, Developer, Founder
- Created: 2026-02-08T04:59:30.848Z
- Last updated: 2026-02-14T01:09:07.000Z
- Source: IQ.wiki — the world's largest blockchain and crypto encyclopedia (https://iq.wiki)

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**Nikil Viswanathan** is an American entrepreneur and computer scientist known as the co-founder and CEO of the web3 development platform [Alchemy](https://iq.wiki/wiki/alchemy), and the co-creator of the viral social application Down to Lunch. He is an alumnus of Stanford University, where he specialized in Artificial Intelligence. [\[1\]](#cite-id-3fJjPk7WTg2RTyWf) [\[2\]](#cite-id-Jmq7fNoSvo5rzVYc)​

## Education

Nikil Viswanathan earned both his undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science from Stanford University. He completed a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Computer Science, followed by a Master of Science (M.S.) in Computer Science at the same institution.  [\[4\]](#cite-id-uhmbRPmvNcYLi39f) 

## Career

Nikil Viswanathan is a technology entrepreneur and executive whose career has focused on software platforms, developer tools, and consumer applications. He co-founded [Alchemy](https://iq.wiki/wiki/alchemy) in 2017 and has served as its chief executive officer since its founding, overseeing the development of a [blockchain](https://iq.wiki/wiki/blockchain) infrastructure and developer platform. Prior to Alchemy, he co-founded and led Down To Lunch, a social networking application active between 2016 and 2017. Earlier in his career, Viswanathan founded Fountainhop, a campus events platform, and held engineering, product management, and teaching roles, including positions at Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Stanford University, where he also served as a course and teaching assistant for multiple computer science courses.  [\[4\]](#cite-id-uhmbRPmvNcYLi39f)  [\[1\]](#cite-id-3fJjPk7WTg2RTyWf)  [\[5\]](#cite-id-OCwIavdLTs7M4qAW) 

## Media Appearances

In an interview from November 2025, Viswanathan discussed the origins of [Alchemy](https://iq.wiki/wiki/alchemy), the infrastructure challenges faced by early [blockchain](https://iq.wiki/wiki/blockchain) developers, and his vision for the platform's role in the broader adoption of web3 technologies.

[YOUTUBE@VID](G7hg8LI2X4w)