Blockchain × AI Engineer

Gustavo
Guimaraes

Building the financial infrastructure of the open internet

8+ years in production DeFi · $1B+ AUM protocols · AI-augmented output

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About

T-shaped engineer at the intersection of blockchain, AI, and compliance

I'm a blockchain and smart contract engineer with over a decade of experience shipping production-grade DeFi protocols. My work spans liquid staking, restaking, stablecoins, appchain infrastructure, and cross-chain systems — protocols collectively managing over $1B in user assets.

What differentiates me is breadth alongside depth. I bring AI-augmented development workflows that compress iteration cycles, hard-won compliance awareness from building regulated financial products at 21Shares ($2B AUM ETF/ETP) and M0Labs (US Treasury-backed stablecoin), and a track record of leading engineering teams through security audits and protocol launches.

I build for the open financial internet — the infrastructure layer that most people will interact with without ever knowing it exists.

8+
Years in blockchain
$1B+
AUM managed
3+
Regulated products
10×
AI-augmented output

Expertise

Core competencies

Four pillars that define how I approach engineering — each reinforcing the others.

Smart Contracts & EVM

Production Solidity and Rust across Ethereum mainnet, L2s, and custom appchains. Deep experience with Arbitrum Orbit, OP Stack, and rollup internals — from protocol design through security audit remediation.

Solidity Rust EVM Arbitrum Orbit OP Stack Rollups Foundry Hardhat

AI-Augmented Development

Integrating LLMs as first-class engineering tools — from code generation and review pipelines to autonomous agent workflows. Consistently achieving 10× output multipliers on complex protocol work through systematic AI leverage.

Claude API LLM Integration AI Agents Prompt Engineering Agentic Workflows

DeFi Protocol Architecture

Designed and shipped liquid staking, restaking, cross-chain bridges, and stablecoin systems. Comfortable owning the full arc from whitepaper through mainnet launch, including tokenomics design and economic security analysis.

Liquid Staking Restaking Stablecoins Cross-chain AMMs Token Design

Compliance & Security

Regulated financial product experience from multiple jurisdictions — Swiss ETF/ETP infrastructure, US Treasury-backed stablecoin, and institutional staking. Familiar with security audit processes, best-practice standards, and the constraints that come with managing real-world capital.

Security Audits Regulated Finance Risk Management Access Controls Incident Response

Experience

Career timeline

8+ years building blockchain infrastructure — from early dApps through billion-dollar DeFi protocols and regulated financial products.

2023 — 2025
KernelDAO / Kelp Protocol
Blockchain Engineer — Team Lead & Architect

Led engineering for KernelDAO's staking and restaking ecosystem on BNB Chain and Ethereum.

  • Kelp Protocol — liquid restaking protocol on Ethereum, grew to $1B+ AUM
  • KernelDAO BNB native staking product on BSC
  • Engineering team lead: architecture decisions, code reviews, hiring
  • Oversaw security audit processes and remediation
Jul 2022 — Dec 2025
Syndicate
Smart Contract Lead

Built appchain infrastructure enabling DAOs and onchain organizations to launch their own L3 rollups with dramatically reduced operating costs.

  • Syndicate Chain — onchain sequencing reducing protocol operating costs by 10–100×
  • Arbitrum Orbit and OP Stack appchain deployment tooling
  • Cross-chain messaging and bridge infrastructure
Jan 2023 — May 2023
M0Labs
Senior Smart Contract Engineer

Authored the first version of the dual-governance smart contracts and architecture for the first institutional stablecoin directly backed by US Treasury bonds.

  • Designed the dual-governance system — separating monetary policy control from protocol governance
  • Core minting, redemption, and collateral management contracts
  • Compliance-aware architecture for regulated institutional minters and validators
Aug 2022 — Sep 2022
Dapper Labs
Smart Contract Engineer (Contractor, Remote) · Vancouver, Canada
  • Revamped developer tutorials for the Cadence smart contract programming language
Mar 2022 — Jun 2022
VatnFörn / Deepwaters
Blockchain Architect

Protocol architecture for a high-performance onchain orderbook DEX.

  • Gas optimization work resulting in 40% reduction in execution costs
  • Orderbook matching engine design and smart contract architecture
Mar 2019 — Feb 2022
21Shares
Blockchain & Software Engineer

Core engineering role at the world's largest crypto ETP issuer during period of rapid product expansion across European exchanges.

  • Blockchain infrastructure supporting $2B AUM ETF/ETP products
  • Custody integrations, on-chain proof-of-reserves, rebalancing systems
  • Regulatory compliance tooling for Swiss and EU financial regulations
Feb 2021 — May 2022
Clam Island
Blockchain Engineer & Founder · Cayman Islands
  • Founded blockchain company and released a product at the intersection of gaming and DeFi
  • Spearheaded development of web and blockchain application; managed 4 engineers from entry to senior levels
  • Received funding from Tachyon, the startup incubation branch of Consensys
Aug 2012 — Nov 2018
Freelancer
Blockchain & Software Engineer (Remote)
  • Provided consulting in blockchain and web-based product development for companies including OpenZeppelin, Pillar.fi, and TopTal
  • Wrote blog posts on blockchain best practices and engineering at gus-tavo-guim.medium.com

Notable Projects

Protocols that ship and scale

Selected work from the past five years — protocols managing real capital at production scale.

01

Kelp Protocol

$1B+ TVL · Ethereum mainnet

Liquid restaking protocol built on EigenLayer. Users deposit LSTs and receive rsETH in return, unlocking restaking rewards while maintaining liquidity. Grew from launch to $1B+ AUM within months of mainnet deployment.

EigenLayer Solidity Liquid Restaking Ethereum
02

Syndicate Chain

10–100× cost reduction · Arbitrum Orbit

Onchain sequencer infrastructure for Syndicate's appchain platform. By moving transaction sequencing onchain, Syndicate Chain eliminates centralized sequencer costs and enables onchain organizations to operate at a fraction of traditional costs.

Arbitrum Orbit OP Stack Sequencing L3
03

M0 — The Money Protocol

First US Treasury-backed stablecoin

Institutional stablecoin protocol where registered minters can issue $M against US Treasury bill collateral. A compliance-first design enabling regulated financial institutions to participate in onchain money markets.

Stablecoin US Treasuries Solidity Regulated Finance