Author: Akshay
Published On: Wed, 15 Oct 2025 17:27:08 GMT
JD Gagnon is the co-founder and CEO of BENQI, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol built on the Avalanche blockchain that specializes in lending and liquid staking. He is also a co-founder of Rome Blockchain Labs Inc., which developed BENQI. Before entering the blockchain space, Gagnon held roles in financial planning and business consulting, including as Division Director at Investors Group and as a Business Strategy Consultant at Trend Shifter.
Launched in 2021, BENQI offers the BENQI Liquidity Market (BLM) for lending and borrowing digital assets and BENQI Liquid Staking (BLS), which tokenizes staked AVAX to improve capital efficiency in DeFi. Under Gagnon’s leadership, the protocol emphasizes robust risk management and security measures, aiming to provide a safer and more efficient DeFi experience while educating users on mitigating financial risks.