Former Polygon Labs Head of DeFi Jack Melnick joins Layer 1 developer Berachain in same role
Quick Take
- Melnick started at Berachain on Monday after serving for about 17 months as Polygon Labs’ Head of DeFi.
Jack Melnick, former head of decentralized finance (DeFi) for Polygon Labs, has joined the Layer 1 developer Berachain in the same position.
Melnick started his position at Berachain on Monday. He had served as Polygon Labs' Head of DeFi since January 2023.
"For those who don't know me — I've been in the trenches of the Berachain community for almost three years, and as Smokey The Bera used to say: 'it's when, not if' I came on full time," Melnick wrote on the social media platform X. Smokey the Bera is a pseudonym for one of Berachain's founders.
Melnick added that he's "grateful to have found the ultimate culture and work fit — getting to do the job I love, with friends I've built alongside and respected for years."
Polygon Labs develops the Ethereum Layer 2 network Polygon and other web3 technology. As the firm's head of DeFi, Melnick contributed to projects related to DeFi, infrastructure and products related to zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM), the Polygon Chain Development Kit (CDK) and proof-of-stake technology.
"I remain tremendously excited about the things getting built on Polygon, and know that everyone involved will crush it in the near future," Melnick stated in an X post announcing his departure from Polygon Labs.
On April 12, it was reported that Berachain raised $100 million in Series B funding co-led by the Abu Dhabi branch of Brevan Howard Digital and Framework Ventures, which saw further support from Polychain Capital, Hack VC, Samsung Next, Laser Digital from Nomura Group, Hashkey Capital, Nomad Capital, Hypersphere, Arrington Capital and others.
The Berachain ecosystem involves three main tokens, letting users stake assets while also providing liquidity to DeFi protocols. Users can obtain Berachain's governance token, BGT, by performing certain tasks, swap BGT for the dollar-pegged stablecoin HONEY and pay transaction fees with the token BERA.
The Block reached out to Berachain and Jack Melnick for comment.
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