Who Is Kadan Stadelmann, and How Is He Empowering the Unbanked?

Kadan Stadelmann is a blockchain developer, operations security expert, and Komodo Platform’s CTO. His experience ranges from working in operations security in the government sector and launching technology startups to application development and cryptography. Kadan started his journey into blockchain technology in 2011 and joined the Komodo team in 2016.

The son of an Austrian diplomat and African school teacher, Stadelmann has always had a keen interest in technology. He began coding his first applications before primary school and went on to study IT and economics at universities in Germany and Vienna, where he began exploring the cypherpunk world. 

In a past life, Stadelmann worked as a government-employed cybersecurity expert and software developer in the operations security division. Ultimately, he saw the seeds of a better world in crypto, so he left his government job in 2011 to pursue this exciting new technology headlined by Bitcoin. 

In the early days, Stademann spent a lot of time on the early Bitcoin forums, including the well-regarded BitcoinTalk, as well as the subreddit r/Bitcoin, where he kept abreast of the latest developments in a nascent industry. Over the years, he witnessed the evolution of the crypto industry from its earliest beginnings.

He joined the Komodo Platform core developer team in 2016 and was quickly promoted to the role of CTO the following year. The goal was to create an unparalleled and decentralized financial architecture that empowered individuals. 

As an open, composable blockchain platform, Komodo comes with a unique multi-chain design, with Komodo being primarily focused on providing fully composable blockchain solutions for independent developers, startups, and enterprise businesses alike.

“Our goal is to empower people with their own personal, private digital spaces,” says Stadelmann. “The radical ideas of Satoshi Nakamoto are the bedrock of my work in blockchain.” 

Since joining Komodo Platform, Stadelmann has worked on the biggest problems facing Decentralized Finance (DeFi). His technology is on the front line of DeFi applications, including non-custodial wallets, cross-chain DEXs, IDO portals, or all-in-one solutions. All of it comes back to banking, a world in which so many are unbanked.

“Many of the unbanked are now on centralized crypto exchanges,” Stadelmann laments. “The next challenge is to get them off the centralized crypto exchanges and onto decentralized environments. This is how we can really begin to shift the balance of power globally from large institutions to the individual.” Stadelmann has had a singular focus when it comes to building applications. 

“I wanted to help make the world a better place,” said Stadelmann. “Defending freedom of speech and permissionless networking seems like the best way for me to do that.” It was his father who first got him interested in computers and mathematics as a young toddler. 

“My early heroes are Archimedes, Pythagoras, and Leonardo da Vinci,” he said. “I am in awe of their ability to perceive connections between different areas of knowledge that resonated deeply with me.” That’s the road that led him toward building decentralized applications for a better tomorrow. 

At Komodo, Stadelmann has been the technical mind behind the Komodo Wallet (formerly known as AtomicDEX), which is a non-custodial wallet, cross-chain bridge, and p2p crypto DEX all rolled into one app. It is an application that allows you to manage your KMD private key and send, receive, or swap cryptocurrency. 

“This type of technology helps foster a more fair and equitable world,” said Stadelmann. “A world of personal liberty and self sovereignty.” 

He believes one way to achieve this is by making crypto technology easy to use for all generations. One big issue to overcome is trust. “Overcoming trust is something we are always fine-tuning at Komodo,” said Stadelmann. “It is a big part of the equation. That’s why everything we are doing is 100% open source. Anyone can check the code in real-time.” 

The way Stadelmann sees it, robust crypto technology must have certain features. It must allow people to self-custody cross-chain crypto assets, exchange crypto assets in a peer-to-peer fashion, participate in the ecosystem, and support business applications. That’s exactly what the Komodo Platform and Komodo Wallet provide.