DeFi
Jack Melnick of Polygon Labs now leads Berachain DeFi
Jack Melnick, former head of decentralized finance (DeFi) at Polygon Labs, has joined Berachain in the same role. Melnick began his tenure at Berachain on Monday after working at Polygon Labs since January 2023.
His announcement on social media platform X highlighted his long-standing involvement in the Berachain community and his enthusiasm for this new role.
Today is my first day as Head of DeFi at @Berachain!
For those who don’t know me –
I’ve been in the trenches of the Berachain community for almost three years, and like @SmokeyTheBera I said: “when, not if” I arrived full time.Grateful to have found the ultimate…
-Jack Melnick 🐻⛓ (@jackmelnick_) May 13, 2024
Melnick’s tenure at Polygon Labs
During his time at Polygon Labs, Melnick’s work included contributing to DeFi initiatives, infrastructure development, and product enhancements related to the zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM).
Additionally, he worked on the Polygonal Chain Development Kit (CDK) and proof-of-stake technology. Melnick expressed his continued enthusiasm for Polygon Labs’ developments, wishing his former colleagues every success in their future endeavors.
Recent funding and ecosystem of Berachain
Berachain recently secured $100 million in Series B funding, co-led by Brevan Howard Digital’s Abu Dhabi branch and Framework Ventures. This funding round included investments from Polychain Capital, Hack VC, Samsung Next, Nomura Group’s Laser Digital, Hashkey Capital, Nomad Capital, Hypersphere, Arrington Capital and others.
The Berachain ecosystem is built around three main tokens: BGT, HONEY and BERA. These tokens facilitate staking, providing liquidity to DeFi protocols, governance, and payment of transaction fees within the Berachain network.
Melnick’s transition to Berachain marks a new chapter in his career, bringing his expertise and experience to the growing layer 1 developer.
Read also: Polygon unveils Miden Alpha Testnet for private and scalable dApps