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.