# David Cao

> David Cao is the co-founder and self-styled 'Chief Get Shit Done Officer' of N1, a Layer 1 blockchain built for finance that promises ultra-low latency and 100,000+ transactions per second. With co-founders Dima Romanov and Sheheryar Parvaz, he spent years building 01, a fully on-chain Solana derivatives exchange, weathered a two-year crypto winter, pivoted through Layer N, and relaunched the whole effort as N1 in December 2024. Backed by Founders Fund, dao5, Multicoin Capital and Arthur Hayes, the New York-based, Harvard-schooled builder is betting that congestion-free, developer-friendly infrastructure is the missing piece for moving real markets onchain.

- **Role:** Co-founder & Chief Get Shit Done Officer at N1
- **Organizations:** N1, Layer N, 01 (Zero One)
- **Education:** Harvard University
- **Known for:** Co-founded N1, a finance-focused Layer 1 blockchain targeting 100,000+ TPS with sub-millisecond latency, Raised roughly $7M total from Founders Fund, dao5, Kraken Ventures, Mirana Ventures, Amber Group, Multicoin Capital and Arthur Hayes, Earlier built 01, a fully on-chain Solana derivatives DEX whose order book reportedly processed $500M+ in volume

## Career timeline

- **~2021-2022** — Co-founds 01, a fully on-chain derivatives exchange on Solana, with Dima Romanov and Sheheryar Parvaz
- **2022-2023** — 01 goes on indefinite hiatus during the crypto downturn; team keeps building through Solana's outage-plagued period
- **2023-09** — Layer N raises $5M seed co-led by Founders Fund and dao5
- **2024-12** — Layer N officially rebrands and relaunches as the N1 Layer 1 blockchain
- **2025-02** — N1 confirms investors including Multicoin Capital and Arthur Hayes ahead of mainnet
- **2025-03** — 01 relaunches as the flagship perp DEX in the N1 ecosystem with a native Solana bridge
- **2025-05** — Raises an additional ~$2M community round via Echo, bringing total funding to ~$7M

## Achievements

- Co-founded N1, a finance-focused Layer 1 blockchain targeting 100,000+ TPS with sub-millisecond latency
- Raised roughly $7M total from Founders Fund, dao5, Kraken Ventures, Mirana Ventures, Amber Group, Multicoin Capital and Arthur Hayes
- Earlier built 01, a fully on-chain Solana derivatives DEX whose order book reportedly processed $500M+ in volume
- Shipped NTS, a TypeScript smart-contract environment, lowering the barrier for mainstream developers to build onchain

## Latest updates

- **2025-03** — 01 relaunches as the flagship perpetuals exchange in the N1 ecosystem with a native Solana bridge
- **2025-05** — N1 closes a community round via Echo, taking total funding to roughly $7M

## Links

- Website: https://n1.xyz
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidcao7
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/davidfucius

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/david-cao
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-24