Dan Mgbor is the co-founder of BENQI, a suite of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols built on the Avalanche blockchain. His work has focused on enhancing liquidity and yield opportunities within the DeFi ecosystem, particularly through BENQI's lending and liquid staking platforms. ^[1]

Education

Dan Mgbor earned a Master’s degree in Business Analytics and Management Sciences from the University of Southampton in 2012. Prior to that, he completed a Bachelor’s degree in Electronic and Computer Engineering at the University of Nottingham, graduating in 2006. ^[10]

Career

Dan Mgbor began his professional trajectory in 2007 as a Network Engineer at Pipex Communications in London. Between 2008 and 2011, he held the position of Incident Manager at Easynet Global Services. In 2012, he served as an Analytics Consultant at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. The following year, he joined Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in London as a Risk Consultant, which served as a basis for later work with blockchain technology.

From 2013 to 2015, Mgbor worked as a Technology Consultant at BBC TV Licensing. He continued in this capacity at MBDA in Stevenage between 2015 and 2017. In 2017, he transitioned into project management, taking on a role at Royal Berkshire Hospital. Shortly after, he joined DXC Technology in a similar position. Between 2018 and 2021, he was a Project Manager at Plan International UK, where he coordinated technology-focused initiatives.

In 2021, Mgbor co-founded BENQI, a decentralized finance protocol built on the Avalanche blockchain. The protocol launched a suite of financial tools, including a liquid staking mechanism allowing AVAX holders to receive sAVAX tokens, which are compatible with decentralized applications and designed to accumulate staking rewards. BENQI also introduced lending and borrowing markets, organized into Core and Ecosystem segments to address different risk and liquidity profiles. Additional components include the Ignite program, intended to support the onboarding of Avalanche validators and Subnets, and Node Voting, a system that facilitates delegation and rewards for AVAX validator operators through the BENQI Miles framework.

Throughout BENQI’s development, Mgbor has engaged publicly with topics related to the Avalanche network and digital asset infrastructure. In 2020, he commented on technical updates expected to impact Avalanche adoption, including cross-chain compatibility and reduced finality times. In 2021, he referenced early usage metrics of BENQI following its mainnet launch, citing user numbers, total value locked (TVL), and exchange integrations.

In 2023, Mgbor reiterated BENQI’s alignment with Avalanche’s broader ecosystem, noting its timing in launching lending and staking services during phases of increasing activity. He has also made comparisons between BENQI and existing protocols within other blockchain ecosystems, referencing similarities in utility and function.

In early 2025, he addressed developments such as the Avalanche9000/Etna upgrade, which was projected to reduce gas fees and lower deployment costs for developers. He also highlighted governance-related roles held by Ava Labs’ co-founders, referencing their regulatory engagement in the United States . Beyond Avalanche, Mgbor has occasionally shared commentary on decentralized finance strategies involving emerging protocols and infrastructure, including participation in systems associated with the Eigenlayer ecosystem. ^{[1] [2] [8] [4] [5] [10]}