Max Kaplan
Max Kaplan is Chief Technology Officer and Head of Staking at SOL Strategies, a publicly traded company focused exclusively on the Solana ecosystem. Kaplan is a seasoned technology leader and entrepreneur with a proven track record in scaling high-performance systems, optimizing operations, and driving innovation in cryptocurrency infrastructure. He was Founder and CEO of Orangefin Ventures, one of Solana’s leading validators, which eventually was acquired by Sol Strategies. He also spent six years most recently as Senior Director of Engineering at Kraken Exchange, where he was the first engineers ever hired and led the DevOps and Data Engineering departments.
Max Kaplan Professional Experience / Academic History
Professional Experience
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Chief Technology Officer and Head of Staking
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Senior Director of Engineering
Academic History
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M.S., Computer Science
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B.S., Computer Science
KRAKEN EXCHANGE
In early 2017, Kaplan joined Kraken as one of its first engineers and early employees.
He eventually grew into Senior Director of Engineering, overseeing 60+ engineers working on the DevOps and Data Engineering departments.
Under his guidance, his teams reduced trading latency by 75%, led scaling efforts to support the 10x growth we saw, and lowered cloud costs by 30%.
EARLY CAREER
Kaplan started his career as a Software Engineer for Focus School Software and Sourcetoad.
He was Senior Vice President of Engineering at Edgevana, where he built the company's Solana Mainnet server and led a team of 5.
In 2024, SOL acquired Orangefin Ventures after growing the firm as one of the biggest validators on the Solana network with $140 million in AUM.
MEDIA & PUBLICATIONS
He has been a guest on various podcasts and appeared as a guest on Real Vision.