Benjamin Kilimnik
| Benjamin Kilimnik | |
| Occupation | Software engineer, entrepreneur |
|---|---|
| Known for | Co-founder of PAX Markets |
Benjamin Kilimnik is an American software engineer and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of PAX Markets, a cryptocurrency exchange that integrates exchange and high-frequency trading (HFT) technology on a single chip. PAX Markets was part of the Y Combinator Winter 2025 batch.[1]
Career
Prior to founding PAX Markets, Kilimnik worked as a software engineer at New Relic, where he developed eBPF-based observability tooling and contributed to CNCF Pixie, an open-source observability platform for Kubernetes. His work on Pixie and related research focused on personally identifiable information (PII) detection and redaction, including work with synthetic data. He has written about eBPF (extended Berkeley Packet Filter) and its applications in cloud-native observability. Kilimnik also has a background in cryptography and systems research at Brown University and experience in distributed systems.[2]
Kilimnik co-founded PAX Markets alongside Pete Stevenson. The company is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, with Kilimnik located in Mountain View, California. PAX Markets describes itself as the first cryptocurrency centralized exchange (CEX) to operate on a single chip, eliminating the need for a traditional data center infrastructure. The company's core technology integrates both the exchange matching engine and HFT capabilities into a single piece of silicon, providing what it describes as deterministic nanosecond tick-to-trade latency through an on-chip API.[1]
PAX Markets offers a tiered service model: a free tier for retail traders that provides zero-cost trading with rebates through a legacy API, and an integrated on-chip API for algorithmic and high-frequency traders. The company has characterized its approach as an alternative to payment for order flow (PFOF), instead offering on-exchange trading incentives with built-in price competition. The exchange's architecture pairs HFT traders with retail traders through what PAX describes as "non-adverse counterparty selection."[2]
The company states that it uses patented technology and is building a new generation of exchange co-location facilities that unite HFT with exchange infrastructure, monetizing through the vertical integration of exchange and platform technology.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "PAX Markets – Y Combinator". 'Y Combinator}'. Retrieved 2026-03-18.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "PAX Markets – Jobs". 'PAX Markets}'. Retrieved 2026-03-18.