Cais Manai

Cais Manai is a blockchain product executive and entrepreneur, best known as a co-founder and product leader of TEN Protocol, a privacy-focused Layer 2 network built around confidential computing. With a background spanning investment banking at UBS and Credit Suisse and senior product roles at enterprise blockchain firm R3, Manai works at the intersection of institutional finance, privacy-preserving infrastructure, and next generation Web3 applications.

Overview

Manai’s career centers on designing and shipping digital asset infrastructure that meets institutional requirements while enabling new forms of on-chain activity. At R3, he worked with major banks and financial institutions on blockchain-based products and tokenization initiatives. At TEN Protocol, he focuses on encrypted execution, confidential smart contracts, and tools for developers building private DeFi, AI-native applications, and Web3 gaming experiences on top of Ethereum.

His profile reflects a broader trend in the crypto ecosystem, where experienced finance and enterprise technology professionals move into public chain infrastructure and specialized Layer 2 networks that emphasize privacy, composability, and regulatory compatibility.

History and Background

Before entering the blockchain sector, Manai spent around a decade in investment banking roles at UBS and Credit Suisse. In these positions he worked on capital markets and structured products for institutional clients, gaining direct exposure to how large financial institutions manage risk, settlement, and regulatory obligations. This background informs his later work in translating traditional finance requirements into digital asset infrastructure design.

Manai began working in blockchain development in 2012, a period when institutional interest in distributed ledgers was still nascent. He subsequently joined R3, one of the earliest and most prominent enterprise blockchain consortia focused on financial services. As Product Lead for Digital Assets at R3, he worked with global banks and market infrastructure providers to explore tokenization, digital cash, and private ledger applications for capital markets.

• Investment banking experience at UBS and Credit Suisse
• Early involvement in blockchain development beginning in 2012
• Former Product Lead for Digital Assets at R3
• Co-founder and product leader at TEN Protocol

Role at TEN Protocol

TEN Protocol, often described as “The Entertainment Network,” is a privacy-first Ethereum Layer 2 that executes transactions and smart contracts inside Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs). Within this project, Manai serves as a co-founder and core product architect, shaping how the network’s technology stack is exposed to developers and integrated into applications.

His responsibilities include defining the product roadmap, coordinating with engineering teams on confidential execution features, and engaging with early partners across sectors such as gaming, AI, and institutional-grade applications. Under his product leadership, TEN is positioned to support:

• Encrypted execution of smart contracts for private DeFi and trading
• Confidential, MEV-resistant transaction ordering
• AI-native applications that operate on encrypted data
• Web3 games with hidden logic and tamper-resistant mechanics
• Enterprise use cases that require privacy and auditability

Technology and Focus Areas

A central theme in Manai’s recent work is confidential computing. TEN Protocol leverages TEEs so that contract logic, user inputs, and intermediate state remain encrypted, while the final outcomes settle back on Ethereum. This model aims to combine the security of Ethereum with a privacy layer suitable for sensitive financial flows, proprietary trading algorithms, or entertainment experiences that rely on hidden information.

The network maintains EVM compatibility and supports Solidity-based smart contracts, which is intended to lower migration friction for existing Ethereum applications. TEN also introduces design elements such as decentralized rollup sequencing and verification mechanisms designed to mitigate extractable value (MEV) and provide fair transaction ordering.

Use Cases and Market Position

Manai has positioned TEN Protocol at the intersection of several growth areas in crypto and Web3:

• Private DeFi: Enabling privacy-preserving lending, trading, and yield strategies where positions and order flow are shielded from the broader market.
• AI-native applications: Supporting AI agents that operate on encrypted data, enabling secure decision making, confidential modeling, and automated microtransactions.
• Web3 gaming and entertainment: Providing infrastructure for on-chain games and interactive content that require hidden state, secure randomness, or tamper-proof logic.
• Enterprise and institutional use cases: Offering privacy and compliance-friendly design aligned with expectations of banks, fintechs, and other regulated institutions.

In this context, Manai’s mix of institutional finance, enterprise blockchain, and privacy engineering experience gives him a distinctive role as a bridge between traditional markets and emerging privacy-centric Web3 infrastructure.

Industry Engagement and Considerations

Beyond product responsibilities, Manai appears in industry media, podcasts, and conference panels focused on topics such as private Layer 2 networks, confidential computing, and the convergence of AI, gaming, and crypto. These engagements emphasize themes like privacy finance, user sovereignty over data, and the need for infrastructure that can support both consumer entertainment and institutional-grade requirements.

As with many emerging privacy-focused networks, the initiatives that Manai leads carry several uncertainties. TEN Protocol competes in a crowded Layer 2 landscape and faces technical challenges associated with TEEs, including hardware supply chains, attestation frameworks, and long term security assumptions. Regulatory treatment of privacy technologies and AI-driven applications also continues to evolve in key jurisdictions, which could affect adoption by consumer platforms and institutions.

Even with these challenges, Cais Manai is regarded as a notable figure in the development of privacy-preserving, application-focused Layer 2 infrastructure that seeks to combine entertainment, institutional requirements, and advanced cryptographic techniques.

• TEN Protocol Co-Founder & CPO 2022 - Present