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A new year has just begun and Kiln has come a long way since January 2022. While there were ups and downs around the world, we celebrated many successes. We grew our team from 12 to 35 Kilners, partnered with Tezos, Binance US, and Ledger. We've launched new products: Kiln Connect and Kiln On-Chain, building the staking aggregation layers that the industry will use next year.
Let’s go through all of the major milestones that we have achieved this year and what we are planning for the next!
Much of this year for us was spent developing the company we had already been working on for so long. We have put a lot of effort into improving processes, increasing our suite of products for our clients, and backing up what we’ve built so far for the benefit of our clients.
Arguably one of the biggest pieces of news out of the crypto world was the Ethereum Merge which happened in September of this year. The Kiln team was at the ready for the Merge having spent months validating on the testnet prior to the merge itself. As a long-time operator on the Ethereum Beacon chain, we were happy to actively participate in #TestingTheMerge.
Notably, we were also the first node operators on the Ethereum testnet to utilize the MEV Boost system by Flashbots. This gives our users optimized rewards for higher returns on their staking investments.
Kiln Connect and Kiln On-chain were launched this summer. These new products allow our customers to offer staking faster than before, enabling programmatic staking, dispatch rewards automatically on-chain and showcasing the correct data in a validator-agnostic manner. They make possible a multi-staking provider future, ameliorating decentralization and risk management.
This year we also sought out a security audit to keep abreast the essential needs of our clients. When dealing with assets that count in the many millions, you need to be sure that the system you use is protected.
We completed our audit in compliance with SOC 2 type 1 standards. This audit looks through SaaS systems for bugs and faults, in our case, we can say for certain that we are compliant according to Prescient Assurance.
I am proud of the successes that we have achieved this year. Despite the issues that the crypto market has faced, Kiln has continued to grow and contribute to the development of the blockchain industry. We look forward now to another year of continued ambitions and success in our endeavors.
As we moved steadfast to build on our previous years we also worked hard to contribute where and when we could. This was seen in our work to secure a greater community and motivate the hardcore members of the Web3 and blockchain world. We have built partnerships, attended conferences and reached out as far and wide as we could.
With all that has been going on it was a tough year for many in the crypto space. Kiln has kept active and did everything we could to lift up our community.
Our work both online and offline is our way of signaling that we are sure of the future and are ready for things to turn around in the coming year. This year we joined discussions with industry experts on the Ethereum Merge and collaborated with the Ethereum Foundation. We released various articles on our progress with MEV-boost software and played a part in #TestingtheMerge.
We have built up from where we were at the beginning of the year and consistently aimed higher to produce results and outshine our competition. This is most notable in our continued partnerships and work with other giants of the industry.
Many big names partnered with Kiln to offer enterprise grade staking options to more people around the world. Our belief that only through tireless efforts to increase decentralization by offering a lower barrier of entry to all crypto enthusiasts has shone through and given us the chance to work with some amazing people in the industry.
This year alone we have partnered with, just to name few of them:
Earlier this year, Kiln was proud to announce that both old and new partners came together to invest $17million in Series A funding into our infrastructure. Contributors from around the world like Illuminate Financial, GSR, Kraken Ventures, Consensys, Leadblock Partners, Sparkle Ventures, XBTO, and previous investors 3KVC, Alven, Blue Yard and SV Angel among others, came together to help support Kiln.
We appreciate and are humbled by the great faith that these big players of the crypto space have in Kiln and we intend to keep our ambitions high going forward.
We are also exceptionally pleased that we have been nurturing and connecting with those in the space. In our constant aim of driving the next wave of adoption into Web3 tech we have continued to bring the best people to the table so we can make meaningful connections, long lasting relationships, and a greater sense of connectivity.
We have put our budget to work this year to make sure our next steps are decisive ones. This has included building up our team and bringing in new people we feel will only enhance our brand and build our reputation further.
Our latest members include new heads of marketing and revenue (Marie Siegrist and Duncan Hoffman), a new talent acquisition manager in Myriam Bouclier, and a variety of software engineers (Joël R, Julien Boulanger, Matthieu Willay and Michel Bartz).
We continue to search out the next great members to our team and are sure that as our team grows, each new member will help make a name for Kiln individually.
Our mission has always remained consistent; we aim to bring staking to anyone who wants to be involved. We achieve this through our technical excellence. Our products are meant to fasten integration for our partners, bring transparency to them, and foster decentralization while they can focus on building more valuable products. We see a positive future in staking and want to share that belief with everyone.
This year we have seen the development and completion of many new products:
We will continue to add more protocols to Kiln Connect in the first half of the year as well as more features to Kiln On-Chain (pooling, validator-NFTs, etc.).
We have also been working the conference scene around Europe trying to spread the Kiln name and connect with other developing projects and those working in blockchain. In total this year, Kiln has joined, sponsored, and organized over 15 events. This gave us the great opportunity to connect with industry elites and make new connections along the way.
Now that the Covid pandemic has largely passed we are glad to be attending more in-person events to discuss the development of the blockchain business. We look forward to seeing you at more conferences and summits in the coming year.
Finally, the most obvious change that has come with the year 2022, was our name change! We have done away with the name SkillZ and replaced it with our new brand Kiln!
The future looks bright for Kiln. In 2023 we intend to build on all the momentum that we have built up over 2022. We aim to over deliver to our customers once more in the coming year and progress the staking and Web3 world for everyone.
We intend to do this by adding more functionality and lessening the necessity for technical knowledge in our products. We will do this by making staking easier through more available pools, and adding more protocols to our Kiln Connect platform.
Furthering our integration of new partners and Web3 leaders is a priority in the coming year. This will include non-custodial solutions, exchanges, and asset managers. Increasing the accessibility of our products to users wherever they may be will continue to form the cornerstone of our philosophy.
Finally, we intend to strive for our original mission, to bring staking to the world wherever crypto is held. As the industry evolves and the need to integrate multiple staking players proves real, Kiln seeks to maintain our ideal position and play the role of aggregator and accelerate our objectives even further.
We look forward to continuing to build the future of staking together, and we wish you all a very happy new year!
Let's build!
Laszlo Szabo, CEO and co-founder
