Led architecture for the new Sail Protocol and permission layer, including contract development, the 4337-to-7702 migration, workflow orchestration tooling for agent iteration, and the bridge between smart contracts, backend services, SDKs, and agent runtimes.
Samuel Schmitt
Building non-custodial managed-account infrastructure for autonomous finance.
I lead protocol and agent infrastructure for Sail: runtime-enforced mandates, self-custodial smart accounts, scoped permissions, workflow orchestration, and DeFi execution systems that let agents act continuously without taking custody of user funds.
US citizen Autonomous finance infrastructure
Measured results
Beta traction, protocol architecture, and external validation.
Quantified Sail beta metrics and third-party signals across YC-backed engineering, ETHGlobal awards, and Stevens founder work.
Processed during Sail beta across swaps, bridges, deposits, and redeems.
161,776 On-chain transactionsBeta activity, separated from the new protocol release.
$600K+ Assets managed$600K+ AUM during Sail beta.
SMA Protocol architectureLed non-custodial managed-account architecture with mandates enforced by code.
Sail story
Beta traction, new protocol direction.
Sail moved from an AI-agent beta into deeper infrastructure for non-custodial managed accounts.
Sail Beta
Sail's beta proved demand for self-custodial autonomous financial execution. Users deposited stablecoins into Sail Accounts, configured preferences, and let agents execute DeFi actions such as swaps, bridges, deposits, redeems, and yield allocation.
- $700M+ autonomous execution volume
- 161,776 on-chain transactions
- $600K+ assets under management
- Self-custodial accounts, session keys, stablecoin automation
New Sail Protocol
The new protocol direction is non-custodial managed-account infrastructure for DeFi: owners keep custody, managers or agents execute within approved mandates, and runtime checks reject out-of-policy actions before funds move.
- Mandates enforced by code
- Owner custody separated from execution authority
- Scoped permissions, revocation, pausing, expiry, and replacement
- Workflow orchestration, SDK surfaces, and evidence reports
Company-level evidence for performance, risk controls, and allocation infrastructure.
Q1 2026 yield outperformance
Public Q1 report showing Sail's USD stablecoin APY against the market median, with +47.1% relative outperformance and risk-controlled execution across active DeFi sources.
Full Q1 report Risk systems Live DeFi risk responseSonar security-agent evidence
Public Sail article describing Sonar's detection and response model across major DeFi risk events. This supports Sail's risk-infrastructure credibility without positioning Sonar as a solo project.
Sonar article Optimization engine Cross-chain, multi-assetCost-aware allocation logic
Technical report on Sail's optimization engine: source scoring, transaction-cost awareness, concentration penalties, and adaptive allocation behavior across DeFi venues.
Optimization reportCareer
Roles, startups, and shipped systems.
Operating track record across autonomous finance, YC-backed product engineering, civic infrastructure, hackathon systems, and identity research.
Built a Launchpad-backed civic governance platform with a bootstrapped team of three. Quae partnered with Stevens Student Government and expanded into Hoboken community work with local organizations and city relationships.
Built a decentralized identity and authorization prototype for application-level trust, access control, and portable user authority at Stevens Institute of Technology, presented as an Ansary finalist project.
Awarded experiments under Cabal Labs
Articles
Public essays on agents, DeFi, product, and founder work.
Dated writing across autonomous finance, agent infrastructure, product design, and company-building.
A Founder's Unfiltered Take on AgentFi
ETHCC notes on account-layer trust, scoped execution, onchain fee logic, and per-user agents.
DeFAI is stuck in the same boring loop
User-defined financial agents, protocol-level trust rails, agent identity, and machine-native payments.
Sail: Building the Future of Autonomous Finance
Fungi-to-Sail journey across agent tooling, Studio, session keys, stablecoin yield agents, and the 7702 upgrade path.
The importance of hobbies in entrepreneurship
How personal hobbies support resilience, measurable growth, emotional outlets, and better networking as a founder.
Solving Social Media's Toxicity
Smile Now product thesis: friend-based social media, private groups, healthier notifications, and memory capture.
The New Web3 Branding Principles
Making protocol systems legible to people who do not live inside the terminology.
A Universal Analytics Layer for the Internet
Opt-in data ownership, anonymized analytics, creator monetization, and fairer internet data markets.
The Quae Summer Summary 2022
Quae product update covering voting UX, team growth, Hoboken outreach, verification, and Stevens expansion.
Skills
Systems skills across agents, DeFi, and product engineering.
Practical capability across product surfaces, agent tooling, smart accounts, DeFi integrations, and platform operations.
Core languages
Production code across product surfaces, agent services, and smart contracts.
Product systems
Full-stack interfaces, APIs, workflow tools, and backend services.
AI and agents
Agent runtime design, MCP/tool interfaces, CLI workflows, local models, and orchestration.
Account infrastructure
Smart accounts, scoped permissions, protocol execution, and DeFi integration paths.
Data and platform
Databases, cloud deployment, auth boundaries, and engineering operations.
Field notes
Builder work in rooms, campuses, and hackathons.
A visual pass through Sail events and workshops, Stevens Launchpad, Quae community work, and Cabal Labs build sprints.
Contact
For Sail diligence, technical work, and founder conversations.
Best for investor diligence, customer or partner evaluation, senior technical roles, and conversations around autonomous finance infrastructure.