👋 Hi, I’m Wasif Ul Islam Shah
🧠 Protocol Engineer & Senior Software Engineer
I’m a Protocol Engineer and Senior Software Engineer with 4+ years of Rust and 10+ years of backend experience, specializing in privacy-preserving and real-time systems.
I design high-performance blockchain infrastructure across Solana and Substrate, with hands-on expertise in protocol-level DeFi systems including collateralized stablecoins (CDPs), oracle-driven pricing, liquidation mechanisms, confidential execution, zero-knowledge systems, and cross-chain interoperability.
My recent work focuses on Decentralized Confidential Computing using Arcium MPC, including encrypted input handling, confidential execution flows, and verifiable on-chain settlement for Solana programs.
I complement my technical work with strong finance fundamentals, having completed the CFA Institute Investment Foundations® Certificate, covering market structure, risk, portfolio construction, and ethics—knowledge that directly informs protocol incentive design and execution models.
Previously, I worked on large-scale real-time messaging systems at Botim, building low-latency, fault-tolerant backend services in Rust and gRPC.
🔬 Recent Technical Focus
- Building Solana DeFi protocols including CDP stablecoins, lending protocols, asset exchanges, and token vesting systems.
- Currently leading architecture and protocol development of FintraDex, a next-generation orderbook DEX on Substrate/Polkadot, integrating Risc0 zkVM for trustless, zero-knowledge off-chain order matching and verifiable settlement.
- Implementing ISMP + Hyperbridge interoperability for cross-chain trading across Substrate, Solana, and EVM.
- Delivered production Solana applications using compressed NFTs (cNFTs), including minting flows, on-chain metadata handling, and cost-efficient asset management.
🚀 Featured Work
🔐 Senior Software Engineer – FintraDex
Next-generation orderbook DEX for decentralized finance
- Leading architecture and protocol development of FintraDex, built on Substrate/Polkadot.
- Integrating Risc0 zkVM for trustless, zero-knowledge off-chain order matching and verifiable settlement.
- Actively implementing ISMP + Hyperbridge to enable cross-chain interoperability with Substrate, Solana, and EVM ecosystems.
Production Solana application with compressed NFTs
- Delivered a production Solana application using compressed NFTs (cNFTs), including minting flows, on-chain metadata handling, and cost-efficient asset management.
- Leveraged Solana compression primitives to enable scalable, cost-effective NFT minting and management at scale.
- Implemented comprehensive minting workflows and on-chain metadata handling for efficient asset lifecycle management.
💰 Solana DeFi Engineering (Independent Protocol Builds)
WS Stablecoin — Solana CDP Stablecoin Protocol
- Designed and implemented a SOL-collateralized CDP stablecoin on Solana using Rust + Anchor 0.30.1.
- Integrated Pyth Network oracles (PriceUpdateV2) for real-time SOL/USD price feeds, enabling accurate collateral valuation and health factor calculations.
- Implemented comprehensive liquidation mechanisms with automated health factor monitoring, liquidation bonus calculations (10% default), and debt repayment flows.
- Built secure PDA-based account architecture for configuration, collateral tracking, and stablecoin mint management.
- Features Token-2022 support with program-controlled mint authority and freeze capabilities.
- Implemented overcollateralization system (200% default) with configurable liquidation threshold (50%) and minimum health factor validation.
- Core instructions include: deposit & mint, redeem & withdraw, liquidation, and admin configuration management.
- Comprehensive error handling for price validation, health factor checks, and protocol safety enforcement.
WS Lending — Solana Decentralized Lending Protocol
- Designed and implemented a production-ready decentralized lending protocol on Solana using Rust + Anchor 0.30.1.
- Built sophisticated share-based accounting system enabling efficient interest accrual without constant on-chain updates, using continuous compounding with exponential growth.
- Supports dual asset lending (SOL and USDC) with deposits, withdrawals, borrowing, and repayment flows.
- Integrated Pyth Network oracle for real-time price feeds with staleness checks, enabling accurate collateral valuation and liquidation calculations.
- Implemented automated liquidation mechanisms with health factor monitoring, close factor calculations, and liquidation bonus incentives.
- Features PDA-based treasury accounts for secure token management and automated interest accrual on deposits and borrows.
- Core instructions include: deposit, withdraw, borrow, repay, and liquidate with comprehensive validation and error handling.
- Interest accrues continuously using exponential compounding formula, ensuring fair and accurate interest calculations for both depositors and borrowers.
WS Swap — Solana Asset Exchange Prototype
- Implemented token swap flows and conversion logic to explore pricing paths, execution costs, and account modeling on Solana.
- Built PDA-secured vaults to securely hold tokens during swap operations, preventing unauthorized access.
- Designed swap offer system allowing users to create and accept token swap offers for various Solana tokens.
- Leveraged Anchor framework for efficient and secure Solana program development with comprehensive instruction handlers.
WS Vesting — Solana Token Vesting Protocol
- Built on-chain vesting schedules with cliff logic and secure token release using PDAs and Token-2022.
High-throughput, real-time messaging backend systems
- Contributed to large-scale consumer messaging infrastructure.
- Designed and implemented low-latency Rust + gRPC services, focusing on performance, correctness, and fault tolerance.
- Built and optimized event-driven pipelines for messaging, presence, and system coordination in production.
🛠️ Senior Rust Engineer – Taif UI Jaud
Consulting & Product Development
- Architected and delivered blockchain and backend systems for international clients, specializing in Rust, Solana, and privacy-preserving protocols.
- Designity: Designed and shipped an Anchor-based Solana program for tamper-evident reviews, with PDA modeling, Node.js APIs, and workflow orchestration.
- Hoopas: Developed and maintained Solana NFT smart contracts using Metaplex; project live on Magic Eden.
⚡ Lead Rust Engineer – Invo Technology
Blockchain-integrated application architecture
- Designed and implemented a scalable Rust microservices architecture.
- Built high-performance async APIs using Actix-Web, with strong focus on reliability and clean architecture.
- Integrated Subxt for off-chain to on-chain interactions with a Substrate-based blockchain.
- Implemented event-driven pipelines with Kafka and Redis, and deployed services via Docker/Kubernetes on AWS.
🛠️ Core Technologies & Expertise
Blockchain & Web3
- Solana: Anchor framework, Token-2022, Light Protocol, compressed NFTs (cNFTs)
- Substrate: Runtime pallets, governance, ISMP
- Interoperability: ISMP + Hyperbridge
- Zero-Knowledge Proofs: Risc0 zkVM, zk-SNARKs, Pinocchio
- Confidential Computing: Arcium MPC
- DeFi Protocols: CDP stablecoins, lending protocols, asset exchanges, oracle integration, liquidation mechanisms
Backend & Infrastructure
- Rust: Tokio, Actix-Web, Subxt, gRPC
- Event-driven systems: Kafka, Redis
- Databases: PostgreSQL, Redis, MySQL
- Cloud & DevOps: Docker, Kubernetes, AWS, GCP
🎓 Certifications
- CFA Institute – Investment Foundations® Certificate
- Polkadot Blockchain Academy (PBA-X), Wave 5
- Certified Solana Builder — HackQuest × Solana Foundation
📫 Get In Touch
- LinkedIn: Wasif Ul Islam Shah
- GitHub: @wasif1024
- Email: wasif1024@gmail.com
- Mobile: +971(58)-6899257
- WhatsApp: +92(345)-4767257
- Telegram: @wasif1024
I’m always open to discussing protocol engineering, DeFi systems, confidential computing, and blockchain infrastructure. Let’s build the future of decentralized finance together. 🚀