{"id":"hannu-kuusi","title":"Hannu Kuusi","content":"**Hannu Kuusi** is the  co-founder of [BENQI](https://iq.wiki/wiki/benqi) Finance and Rome Blockchain Labs Inc., both entities in the [decentralized finance](https://iq.wiki/wiki/defi) (DeFi) and blockchain sectors. He has a background spanning over two decades in software development, technology consulting, and [blockchain](https://iq.wiki/wiki/blockchain) innovation. [\\[1\\] ](#cite-id-Nz9wndfR9V)[\\[4\\]](#cite-id-P2vwDgFT1v)\n\n## Career\n\nHannu Kuusi began his professional career with trainee positions at Nokia from 2001 to 2004, where he gained experience in content management and business-to-consumer (B2C) sales support. Following this, he worked as a developer at NastaaNet in 2004.\n\nFrom July 2007 to October 2017, Kuusi operated Studio Hillo as its owner, designer, and coder. In this role, he provided technology consulting and application development services to a diverse international client base. Subsequently, he joined Eficode in November 2017, serving as a Scrum Master until June 2021.\n\nIn 2021, Kuusi co-founded Rome Blockchain Labs Inc., a software development firm focused on [decentralized finance](https://iq.wiki/wiki/defi) applications and broader [blockchain](https://iq.wiki/wiki/blockchain) technology. Concurrently, he also co-founded [BENQI](https://iq.wiki/wiki/benqi), a decentralized non-custodial liquidity market protocol built on the [Avalanche](https://iq.wiki/wiki/avalanche) blockchain. BENQI offers various DeFi solutions, including a [Liquid Staking](https://iq.wiki/wiki/liquid-staking) protocol that allows users to stake AVAX for [sAVAX](https://iq.wiki/wiki/benqi-liquid-staked-avax) (a liquid token earning [staking](https://iq.wiki/wiki/staking) rewards), and BENQI Markets for lending, borrowing, and earning interest on digital assets. The platform also supports the Ignite program for deploying Avalanche [validators](https://iq.wiki/wiki/validator) and Subnets, and [Node](https://iq.wiki/wiki/node) Voting for AVAX validator operators to receive delegations and rewards. [\\[1\\]](#cite-id-Nz9wndfR9V) [\\[2\\]](#cite-id-zX1szIIqM1) [\\[3\\]](#cite-id-QvGNkwqUw0) [\\[4\\]](#cite-id-P2vwDgFT1v) [\\[5\\]](#cite-id-ZPOllJ1dLn)","summary":"Hannu Kuusi, co-founder of BENQI Finance and Rome Blockchain Labs, specializes in decentralized finance and blockchain, leveraging extensive software development and tech consulting experience to contribute to Avalanche DeFi solutions.","images":[{"id":"QmPA7uZuzbuputS5gcwPGrwcRjwstuyWtGGUpRKB3FwZoa","type":"image/jpeg, image/png"}],"categories":[{"id":"people","title":"people"}],"tags":[{"id":"Founders"},{"id":"PeopleInDeFi"}],"media":[{"id":"QmPd7vDbXeLeBnsiSDtCFpBHYS5zJPWLJNSgETMmErmfJr","name":"1616490353648.jpeg","caption":"","thumbnail":"QmPd7vDbXeLeBnsiSDtCFpBHYS5zJPWLJNSgETMmErmfJr","source":"IPFS_IMG"}],"metadata":[{"id":"references","value":"[{\"id\":\"Nz9wndfR9V\",\"url\":\"https://theorg.com/org/benqi-finance/org-chart/hannu-kuusi\",\"description\":\"Hannu Kuusi profile on The Org\",\"timestamp\":1752971244142},{\"id\":\"zX1szIIqM1\",\"url\":\"https://theorg.com/org/rome-blockchain-labs/org-chart/hannu-kuusi\",\"description\":\"Hannu Kuusi profile on The Org\",\"timestamp\":1752971244142},{\"id\":\"QvGNkwqUw0\",\"url\":\"https://www.rzlt.io/avalanche/benqi\",\"description\":\"BENQI on Avalanche RZLT\",\"timestamp\":1752971244142},{\"id\":\"P2vwDgFT1v\",\"description\":\"LinkedIn: Hannu Kuusi\",\"timestamp\":1752971691467,\"url\":\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannu6\"},{\"id\":\"ZPOllJ1dLn\",\"description\":\"RocketReach: Hannu Kuusi\",\"timestamp\":1752971736488,\"url\":\"https://rocketreach.co/hannu-kuusi-email_643991738\"}]"},{"id":"previous_cid","value":"\"https://ipfs.everipedia.org/ipfs/QmVNMn5gFZskJYn1yxF1GwchjJQhYdG5JnY8qu19DC8Dxt\""},{"id":"commit-message","value":"\"Refactored media: Replaced main image, removed two gallery items, and cleaned up outdated tags.\""},{"id":"previous_cid","value":"QmVNMn5gFZskJYn1yxF1GwchjJQhYdG5JnY8qu19DC8Dxt"}],"events":[],"user":{"id":"0x8af7a19a26d8fbc48defb35aefb15ec8c407f889"},"author":{"id":"0x8af7a19a26d8fbc48defb35aefb15ec8c407f889"},"language":"en","version":1,"linkedWikis":{"blockchains":[],"founders":[],"speakers":[]}}