The Boy Who Could DeFi: Meet the 13-Year-Old Who Built a $7M Money Manager on Ethereum
He’d just received a LinkedIn message from someone named “Gajesh Naik”—a crypto developer looking for guidance on a new project. This in itself wasn’t necessarily suspect. As vice president of growth for the fast-rising Indian crypto company Polygon , Kalsy is used to working with coders across the world.
“I was 100% sure this guy was a scammer,” Kalsy told Decrypt , “Like, no way. Really? 13 years old? He’s probably some big hairy dude.”
This was about a month ago—and at first, Kalsy didn’t bother to reply. It was only after a few more unanswered messages that he conceded to a Telegram chat, which evolved into a face-to-face video call on Zoom.
Gajesh Naik is, in fact, 13 years old. But he’s also chief architect of PolyGaj , a DeFi protocol built on the Polygon blockchain . Today, PolyGaj manages around $1 million in cryptocurrency. Late last month, after the billionaire Mark Cuban made an investment in Polygon , that number was nearly $7 million.
Consider the fact that Naik even knows what a “DeFi protocol” is. DeFi is an umbrella term for non-custodial software programs that handle your cryptocurrency for you, without the need for mediators like banks or investment managers. When you entrust your money to a DeFi protocol, you’re funneling it directly into a series of smart contracts—essentially just code that dictates how your funds are invested; PolyGaj is a hub for these sorts of investment mechanisms, asking users to pony up crypto for a risky shot at appealing returns.
