Thought it was just mixer in Kollam, but somewhere between the conversations and the code, it turned into a room full of people quietly building what’s coming next
thanks to @superteam@SuperteamIN to make it happen
Founder Highlights by W3K #11
Charles Hoskinson is the founder of @Cardano, a research-driven blockchain project. Cardano was founded in 2015 and launched in 2017.
Before Cardano, @IOHK_Charles was a co-founder of Ethereum. He chose a different path centered on formal methods and governance. Academic peer review became part of the development. Security and correctness were prioritized over speed. Governance was built into the protocol design.
Progress was measured across long time horizons. Community participation remained central. Cardano continues to rely heavily on peer-reviewed research.
Founder Highlights by W3K #10
Illia Polosukhin is the co-founder of @NEARProtocol, a Layer 1 blockchain. NEAR was founded in 2018 and launched in 2020.
Before NEAR, @ilblackdragon worked at Google on large-scale machine learning systems. That background influenced NEAR’s focus on abstraction. Usability was treated as a primary constraint. Developer ergonomics were prioritized. Complexity was hidden from end users. Tooling investments supported onboarding. Mainstream adoption remained the long-term goal. NEAR later emphasized chain abstraction as a core direction.
Founder Highlights by W3K #09
Jae Kwon is the original creator of @cosmos, a modular blockchain ecosystem. Cosmos was founded in 2016 and launched in 2019.
Before Cosmos, @jaesustein worked on distributed systems and consensus research. He questioned the idea of a single dominant blockchain early on. Sovereignty became a core design principle. Interoperability was treated as foundational infrastructure.
Modularity enabled application-specific chains. Governance remained locally controlled. The ecosystem expanded organically through shared tooling. Tendermint consensus now powers dozens of independent blockchains.
Founder Highlights by W3K #08
Jinglan Wang is the co-founder of @Optimism, an Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain. Optimism was founded in 2019 and launched publicly in 2021.
Before Optimism, @jinglejamOP worked across startups and operational roles. That experience shaped a focus on coordination and sustainability. Scaling was treated as both a technical and social challenge. Incentives were designed to align long-term behavior.
Public goods funding became a core pillar of the ecosystem. Infrastructure was framed as shared responsibility. The Superchain later extended this coordination model. Optimism redirects protocol revenue toward open-source public goods.
Founder Highlights by W3K #07
Steven Goldfeder is the co-founder of @Offchain and @arbitrum. Arbitrum was founded in 2018 and launched publicly as an Ethereum Layer 2 solution in 2021.
Before Arbitrum, @sgoldfed worked in academic cryptography research. Security assumptions were treated as foundational. The team prioritized stability before rapid expansion. Development progressed quietly without heavy promotion.
Trust was built through production reliability. Governance evolved alongside real usage. Scaling decisions remained research-driven. Arbitrum relies on optimistic rollups secured by fraud proofs.
Founder Highlights by W3K #06
Emin Gün Sirer is the founder of @avax, a Layer 1 blockchain platform. Avalanche was founded in 2018 and launched publicly in 2020.
Before Avalanche, @el33th4xor was a professor at Cornell University. His research focused on distributed systems and digital currencies. That academic background shaped Avalanche’s consensus design. Correctness under adversarial conditions was prioritized. Configurability became a core principle.
Subnets enable application-specific blockchain environments. This architecture attracted institutional and enterprise interest. Sirer had been researching digital cash systems well before Bitcoin existed.
TKM College of Engineering successfully conducted its club inauguration for the academic year, welcoming the newly appointed club representatives.
Gokul Alex delivered an introductory session on Web3, providing students with insights into the ecosystem and its opportunities within the college.
@web3_tkmce is one of the most active college Web3 clubs in Kerala, and W3K looks forward to collaborating closely to conduct more impactful events and initiatives on campus in the coming months.
Thankful for ecosystems that lift one another.
Appreciate @Web3_kerala for supporting Web3 TKMCE through our inaugural event.
Looking ahead to continued learning, building, and growth together. 🌐
#web3kerala#web3tkmce
Founder Highlights by W3K #05
Sandeep Nailwal is the co-founder of @0xPolygon, an Ethereum scaling blockchain project. The project began in 2017 under the name Matic Network before later rebranding as Polygon.
Before entering blockchain, @sandeepnailwal worked in software engineering and startup environments. That experience pushed a deployment-focused mindset. Scaling was treated as an engineering constraint rather than a theoretical debate.
Polygon explored multiple architectural paths over time. The project aligned closely with Ethereum’s roadmap. Partnerships and integrations were emphasized early. Polygon positioned itself as infrastructure rather than a competing chain. The AggLayer later emerged to unify Polygon’s broader scaling approach.
The Dialogue - Kerala Bitcoin Edition is happening at Innerspace Co Working, Thrikkakara
Hear from Bitcoin OGs - @josepaul_jp and Sarath
RSVP link below.
from an on-contract college student to a full-time employee —
my 1.5 year journey at @reclaimprotocol comes to an end.
while the content and posters I worked on crossed ~30M impressions, what mattered more was the impact:
→ custom sales demos helped close ~$500K in sales
→ shot, edited, and acted (really bad) in marketing videos for client products with @adiiHQ
→ ran Starknet hacker games with , which opened the door to building some really cool things together (Still shipping bangers)
→ and yeah, had a lot of fun along the way
if you want someone who just doesn't “makes things look good.”
but understood, adopted, and shared.
hmu, dms are open!
here’s a small video I made to sum everything up.
The Dialogue - Kerala Bitcoin Edition is happening at Innerspace Co Working, Thrikkakara
Hear from Bitcoin OGs - @josepaul_jp and Sarath
RSVP link below.