Key Takeaways
- Lucas Bruder is the CEO and co-founder of Jito Network, focusing on liquid restaking on the Solana blockchain.
- Bruder’s early career included roles as a firmware intern and model at Tesla Motors, contributing to automotive projects.
- Bruder became CEO of Jito Network in October 2021, leading the development of a platform for liquid restaking in Solana.
Who Is Lucas Bruder?
Lucas Bruder is the CEO and co-founder of Jito Network, a platform dedicated to liquid restaking on the Solana blockchain. He graduated in 2016 with a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. Bruder’s professional journey includes valuable experience as both a model intern and a firmware intern at Tesla Motors, where he contributed to innovative projects in the automotive sector.
Early Career at Mindtribe
After finishing school, Bruder started his career as a firmware engineer at Mindtribe Product Engineering, a company focused on developing connected devices. In this job, he worked on different firmware and embedded systems projects, gaining important experience. He stayed at Mindtribe until March 2018, improving his technical skills and learning more about hardware development.
Transition to Built Robotics
After working at Mindtribe, Bruder joined Built Robotics, a company that develops self-driving construction machines. He worked as a robotics engineer and technical lead, helping to create advanced robotics systems to change the construction industry. Bruder was an important part of making new ideas at the company, staying with Built Robotics until September 2020.
Firmware Engineering at Ouster
In December 2020, Bruder started working at Ouster, a company that makes lidar technology used in industries like cars, robotics, and mapping. As a firmware engineer, he helped develop lidar technology, which is key for making accurate 3D maps and supporting self-driving systems. Bruder worked at Ouster until October 2021, gaining experience in the fast-growing lidar industry.
Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) Work
While at Ouster, Bruder also worked part-time on maximal extractable value (MEV) for a company he didn’t name. MEV is the value that can be gained from blockchain transactions by using strategies like acting ahead of other transactions and changing the order of transactions. Bruder’s work in this area helped him better understand blockchain optimization and grow his skills in the crypto world.
Becoming CEO of Jito Network
In October 2021, Bruder moved into a leadership role as CEO of Jito Network. In this role, he leads the development of a platform focused on liquid restaking within the Solana blockchain, guiding the company to create new solutions for the blockchain industry. Under his leadership, Jito Network keeps growing and making a bigger impact on the industry.
Jito’s Journey and Shift to Liquid Staking
On the Bell Curve podcast, Bruder talked about the Jito Network and its goal to bring staking to Solana. He shared that Jito started with a focus on MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) and saw that adding JitoSOL to the MEV stack could create a strong effect. As the project moved forward, the team transitioned to liquid staking, leading to the creation of StakeNet in mid-2023 to decentralize stake pools and liquid staking tokens on Solana.
Solana’s DPoS
Solana uses a Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) system, where stake pools handle delegated stakes and choose validators. Many of these pools use hot wallets to manage the process. Bruder and his team saw that using hot wallets could be a security risk for liquid staking to grow on Solana, especially with the chance of hacks. This led them to create StakeNet.
Decentralization and EigenLayer’s Impact
By late 2023, Bruder saw EigenLayer’s success and understood that StakeNet needed more decentralization, especially in areas like oracles. With more liquid staking tokens being used, the team decided to push for more decentralization to support long-term growth.
Flexibility and Security
Jito’s restaking model was designed to be flexible, letting protocols choose between using LSTs or their own governance tokens. At first, the design kept each AVS (Automated Validator Set) separate to manage security and reduce the risk of penalties. However, the team realized that a pooled model might sometimes work better. This could help improve liquidity and security.
Innovating Blockchain Technology
Bruder’s work with Jito Network shows his focus on improving blockchain technology. Through Jito’s development of liquid restaking, Bruder is helping create more efficient and scalable solutions within the blockchain world. By adding restaking, Jito Network aims to create new opportunities for liquidity while boosting security and decentralization, which are key for the long-term success of blockchain networks like Solana.
Future Goals and Vision for the Jito Network
Bruder has big plans for the Jito Network. As liquid staking and decentralized finance grow, Jito wants to expand and improve its platform to support the global blockchain community. Bruder sees Jito helping power dApps, validators, and protocols with solutions that make Solana faster and more scalable. Bruder’s leadership at Jito Network makes him an important figure in the growth of decentralized finance, especially with Solana’s growing blockchain.
Final Thoughts
Lucas Bruder’s work at Jito Network has made him a key figure in improving the Solana blockchain. His past jobs in firmware, robotics, and lidar technology helped him understand difficult systems and how to improve them.
With Jito Network, Bruder is focused on decentralization and security to help blockchain grow safely and last longer. His goal for Jito goes beyond just liquid staking; he wants to help decentralized finance grow.
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