BENQI (QI) is a decentralized liquidity market and liquid staking protocol that operates on the Avalanche smart contract network. It provides a platform for users to lend, borrow, and potentially earn market yields using their digital assets. Additionally, BENQI aims to enhance capital efficiency by enabling users to unlock their staked AVAX for use on decentralized financial protocols. The protocol was developed by Rome Blockchain Labs Inc., a software development firm with a focus on decentralized finance (DeFi). BENQI was launched in 2021 and has been striving to provide an alternative to Ethereum users that is potentially less expensive and faster.

BENQI operates by providing a platform for users to lend and borrow digital assets. Users can supply liquidity to the shared market and borrow from it using their supplied assets as collateral. The protocol also offers a liquid staking solution that tokenizes staked AVAX, giving users the ability to use, swap, or collateralize the yield-bearing asset within decentralized finance applications. BENQI's interest rate models dynamically adjust the interest rates of each asset market depending on the utilization rate, with the aim of ensuring healthy levels of available liquidity. The protocol also includes a governance mechanism, where QI token holders can vote on proposals affecting the protocol's key parameters.

BENQI aims to provide a platform for users to lend, borrow, and potentially earn market yields with their digital assets. It also seeks to offer a solution for capital efficiency by allowing users to unlock their staked AVAX for use on decentralized financial protocols. Developers can use BENQI to create financial products using the protocol and governance tokens. BENQI also aims to provide an alternative to Ethereum users that is potentially less expensive and faster, with the intention of easing the overloading of the Ethereum network. Furthermore, BENQI's governance mechanism allows QI token holders to participate in the development of the project, initiate proposals, and vote on issues.

BENQI was founded in 2021 by Rome Blockchain Labs Inc., a software development firm with a focus on decentralized finance (DeFi). The founding team includes JD Gagnon, Hannu Kuusi, and Alexander Shul. Prior to Rome Blockchain Labs, Gagnon created the Velox algorithmic trading platform and is also the founder and CEO of Scotch & Ramen Media, Inc. Kuusi has experience building institutional-grade infrastructure for financial technology and military applications, while Shul manages the development of the BENQI liquidity market platform. The protocol launched its own QI token on April 28, 2021, with a total supply set at 7,200,000,000 tokens.