Ben Lakoff is a Web3 entrepreneur and investor best known as the co-founder of Charged Particles, an NFT infrastructure project focused on making non-fungible tokens programmable containers for on-chain value. His work sits at the intersection of NFTs and decentralized finance, aiming to expand NFTs beyond static collectibles into composable assets that can hold tokens, accrue yield, and support new creator and community mechanics.
Overview
Lakoff’s public profile in crypto is closely tied to the development of Charged Particles, a protocol built around the idea of “asset-backed NFTs,” often described as NFTs that can carry deposits of ERC-20 tokens or yield-bearing positions inside the token itself. The concept targets creators, collectors, and builders who want NFTs to function as vaults, memberships, incentives, or on-chain financial primitives. Lakoff has also been active on the investment side of the industry, including work as a general partner at Bankless Ventures.
History and Background
Before focusing on crypto-native product development, Lakoff built experience across traditional finance and technology, with an emphasis on product strategy and market structure. He has described a career spanning fintech and capital markets, and he is known for holding the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. In Web3, Lakoff has participated in the early DeFi and NFT cycles as both a builder and an advisor, and he has engaged with startup ecosystems through mentorship and accelerator style programs.
Charged Particles and the “Asset-backed NFT” Concept
Charged Particles is positioned as middleware for NFTs, enabling builders to create tokens that contain other assets and, depending on the integration, allow those assets to earn yield via DeFi venues. In practical terms, the protocol introduces standardized actions that let users deposit assets into an NFT and later withdraw them, while optionally preserving creator rules such as fees, timelocks, or other constraints enforced at the smart contract layer.
This approach reframes NFTs as programmable wrappers rather than only scarce media references. It can support use cases such as NFTs that contain liquidity, gaming items that are “charged” with tokens, creator drops that include redeemable value, or community NFTs that accumulate yield for treasuries or initiatives. For broader context on the NFT ecosystem, CryptoSlate maintains ongoing coverage in its NFT section.
Technology and Features
Charged Particles is built for EVM environments and has been associated with deployments on Ethereum and scaling networks in that ecosystem. The protocol’s documentation and public materials commonly describe core actions for “energizing” an NFT with tokens and “discharging” value later. The design is typically presented as composable, meaning other applications can integrate the primitives to create new NFT behaviors without reinventing custody and accounting logic.
- Programmable custody: NFTs can act as containers for ERC-20 deposits or other tokenized positions, with rules enforced by smart contracts.
- Composability: Projects can build new NFT experiences by integrating deposit and withdrawal mechanics into marketplaces, games, or membership tools.
- DeFi adjacency: The model is often paired with yield strategies or lending market integrations so NFTs can represent both identity and productive capital.
- Creator and community mechanics: Implementations may include fees, timelocks, or constraints that shape how and when embedded value can be accessed.
Because many NFT experiments rely on low fees and faster finality, the project’s presence in the Polygon and other scaling ecosystems is relevant for builders tracking that landscape. Related coverage is available in CryptoSlate’s Polygon news section.
Market Position and Use Cases
Charged Particles fits into a broader category of NFT infrastructure projects that emphasize composable standards, programmable royalties, and tokenized utility. The primary differentiator is its focus on NFTs as financial containers, which overlaps with trends like token-gated access, on-chain incentives, and hybrid collectibles that combine media with redeemable value. The concept also aligns with the broader convergence between NFTs and DeFi, a theme frequently explored across CryptoSlate’s DeFi coverage.
Risks and Considerations
As with most DeFi-adjacent infrastructure, the asset-backed NFT model introduces layered risk. Smart contract vulnerabilities, integration risk with external protocols, and liquidity constraints can affect user outcomes. If an NFT’s value depends on embedded positions or yield sources, changes in those underlying markets may materially change the NFT’s behavior and perceived value. Regulatory uncertainty around NFTs that embed financial features, including yield mechanics or pooled capital behaviors, may also influence how platforms and marketplaces support these designs over time.
Overall, Ben Lakoff is recognized for advancing a technical thesis that NFTs can be more functional and capital-efficient, with Charged Particles serving as a notable experiment in composability between NFTs and DeFi primitives.
