> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.inkwell.finance/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Team

> The engineering practice behind Inkwell — frontier cryptography in production.

> **CONFIDENTIAL & PROPRIETARY © 2026 Inkwell Finance, Inc. All Rights Reserved.**
>
> This document is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or investment advice, nor an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security or other financial instrument. Any examples, structures, or flows described here are design intent only and may change.

## Leadership

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Lars van der Zande" icon="user-tie">
    **Founder & CEO (Technical Architect)**

    * 5+ years building on Solana, 10+ years full-stack & DevOps
    * Designed Inkwell's cross-chain enforcement architecture and the Encrypt-program integration powering Dagon
    * Active Ika RFP contributor with direct code review from the Ika core team
    * Previously: senior DevOps engineer, blockchain infrastructure specialist
  </Card>

  <Card title="Gregory Nicholas" icon="handshake">
    **Head of Business Development**

    * Strategic partnerships, capital introduction, and product distribution
    * Owns institutional LP relationships and the ecosystem flywheel across products
    * Deep network across TradFi credit and crypto-native funds
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## What the team is built for

Inkwell is a small, deep engineering practice — not a single-product
company. The same bench ships:

* **Products** — Leviathan (credit infrastructure), Dagon (confidential
  matching), Synthase (basis-yield), IKA Staking + LIKA (validator
  allocation and liquid staking).
* **Services** — Ika dWallet integration, Encrypt FHE integration,
  cross-chain enforcement design, confidential-compute architecture.

That means each engineer works across primitives — 2PC-MPC, FHE, ZK,
threshold cryptography — and across chains — Solana, Sui, EVM.
Specialisation here is by primitive, not by product.

## Key hires (in progress)

We are hiring against the practice, not against a single product:

| Role                                   | Focus                                                                                    | Status    |
| -------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------- |
| **Senior FHE / cryptography engineer** | Encrypt-program op-graphs, REFHE bootstrap economics, threshold decryption design        | 🔄 Hiring |
| **Senior on-chain engineer**           | Move/Sui + Solana Anchor, Ika dWallet integration, capability hierarchies                | 🔄 Hiring |
| **Chief Risk Officer (CRO)**           | SPV structure, ISDA mapping, counterparty risk for Leviathan + institutional engagements | 🔄 Hiring |
| **Senior data scientist**              | Credit scoring, revenue analytics, validator scoring models                              | 🔄 Hiring |
| **Institutional sales lead**           | LP relationships, partnership pipeline across products and services                      | 🔄 Hiring |

<Note>
  **CRO scope**

  The CRO will bridge traditional finance and crypto credit markets for
  Leviathan and for institutional services engagements:

  * SPV structure and waterfall design
  * ISDA documentation mapping for crypto-native loans
  * Counterparty risk frameworks
  * Regulatory gap analysis across CIMA, MiCA, SEC
</Note>

## Why this team

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Frontier primitives, in production">
    Lars designed the full Ika integration architecture, the Encrypt
    op-graph behind Dagon's matcher, and the Leviathan cross-chain
    enforcement model. Direct collaboration with both the Ika and
    Encrypt core teams keeps the architecture grounded in what those
    primitives can actually do today — not in the marketing version.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Distribution across multiple surfaces">
    Gregory brings the relationships needed to place capital into
    Leviathan, to recruit pilot partners across products, and to source
    services engagements for teams that need our stack in theirs.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Skin in the game">
    \$300k first-loss from the seed round goes into Leviathan's SPV —
    founders eat their own cooking. We only win when counterparties win.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Ecosystem partners

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Ika Network" icon="network-wired" href="https://ika.xyz">
    Core 2PC-MPC partner. Direct code review and architecture validation
    from the Ika core team. Active RFP contributor.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Encrypt (dWallet Labs)" icon="lock" href="https://encrypt.cc">
    FHE partner. Early SDK integration via the `encrypt-program` on
    Solana devnet, including production op-graphs and benchmarking.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Sui Foundation" icon="cube" href="https://sui.io">
    Ecosystem partner. IKA Staking, LIKA, and Leviathan's policy
    gateway run on Sui Move.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Solana" icon="bolt" href="https://solana.com">
    Ecosystem partner. Leviathan's lending programs and Dagon's
    matching venue ship as Anchor + Pinocchio programs on Solana.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Contact

**Services & partnership inquiries:** [partnerships@inkwell.finance](mailto:partnerships@inkwell.finance)

**General:** [support@inkwell.finance](mailto:support@inkwell.finance)

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