Meet the 13-year-old boy who built a successful DeFi protocol on Polygon
Age is truly just a number when it comes to developing technology and there’s no better proof of this than Gajesh Naik from Goa, India. Naik is the 13-year-old boy genius who created PolyGaj, a DeFi protocol based on the Polygon blockchain. Polygaj currently manages nearly $7 million in crypto.
“I had the basic math skills, like addition, subtraction. That’s all which was required. Then afterwards I started learning all the programming languages,” Naik said over a phone interview with Decrypt. Naik is reportedly knowledgeable in C, C++, Java, JavaScript, and Solidity.
This isn’t the first time Naik put his genius to good use. Just last year, as COVID-19 swept through the globe, Naik created educational materials out of concern for his younger brother’s education as schools remained closed.
But Polygaj wouldn’t be where it is today if it wasn’t for Naik’s skill and persistence.
According to Arjun Kalsy, Polygon’s Vice President of Growth, Naik got in touch with him through LinkedIn a month ago to ask for guidance about a project but he didn’t respond because Naik claimed to be 13 years old. “I was 100% sure this guy was a scammer. Like, no way. Really? 13 years old? He’s probably some big hairy dude,” Kalsy said in an interview with Decrypt. He only discovered that Naik told the truth when he conceded to a Telegram chat and a Zoom meeting after the boy’s persistent messaging.
Despite the young genius’ success, however, there are still some who are not as supportive. However, Naik also seems persistent to change their minds through results.
“I have also been accused of rugging projects and masterminding other such events with baseless evidence ,…] The only way to clear my name is to build products which the community loves. I can only hope that over a period of time with sustained efforts, I can earn the love and respect of this awesome community,” Naik said in a blog post.
As of writing, Naik announced that they have already accomplished all the second quarter items they promised in the roadmap.
Source: Decrypt, Polygaj Blog
