BENQI is a decentralized finance protocol on the Avalanche blockchain that provides liquid staking, lending, borrowing, and validator infrastructure services. Launched in August 2021, BENQI has grown into one of the most widely used DeFi platforms within the Avalanche ecosystem, offering users a non-custodial way to earn yield, access leverage, and participate in network security. The BENQI protocol consists of three core products: BENQI Liquid Staking, which issues the sAVAX yield-bearing token; BENQI Markets, an algorithmic money market for supplying and borrowing crypto assets; and BENQI Ignite, a validator launch service that lowers the capital requirements for running an Avalanche validator. BENQI is governed by holders of the QI token through on-chain proposals and operates with no custodial intermediary at any point in the user experience.