Eric Coley is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Indigo Laboratories. ^{[1] [2]} He leads the development of the Indigo Protocol, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol built on the Cardano blockchain that enables the creation of synthetic assets. ^{[3] [4]}​

Education

Coley attended the University of Central Florida from 2010 to 2014, where he earned a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in Computer Science. His academic background in computer science provided the technical foundation for his later career in software engineering and blockchain development. ^[2]​

Career

Coley's career spans roles in defense technology, startups, and blockchain development, culminating in his leadership role at Indigo Laboratories. ^[2]​

Early Career and Entry into Blockchain

After graduating, Coley began his professional career as a Software Engineer at Northrop Grumman, an aerospace and defense technology company, where he worked from June 2014 to December 2015. He then transitioned into the startup world, serving as CEO of BookitLookit from January 2016 to November 2017. Following this, he had a brief tenure as a Software Developer at Simetri from April 2018 to September 2018. One source also notes that prior to his work with Indigo, Coley had accumulated 15 years of consulting experience in the technology and telecommunications sectors. ^[3]​

Coley began programming in 2007 and first discovered blockchain technology in late 2016. By late 2017, he left his job to focus on a crypto-related project, marking his full-time entry into the industry. His career took a decisive turn toward blockchain infrastructure when he became the Director of Blockchain & Web Technologies at Digital Gorkha, a role he held from October 2018 to January 2021. In 2019, in anticipation of Cardano's smart contract launch, Coley began learning the Haskell programming language, demonstrating a specific and early interest in building on the Cardano network. ^[2]​

Indigo Laboratories

The concept for what would become the Indigo Protocol originated in December 2020. ^[2] Coley co-founded Indigo Laboratories, the development company for the protocol, with Dewayne Cameron (CIO) in early 2021. ^{[3] [4]} As CEO, Coley is responsible for the overall strategy, vision, and growth of the company and the Indigo Protocol. He is also a primary public representative for the project within the Cardano and broader cryptocurrency communities. ^[1] Sources have variously reported the company's headquarters to be in Orlando, Florida, and Austin, Texas. ^{[2] [4]}​

In an interview, Coley articulated his motivation for creating Indigo, stating, "I’ve seen how decentralized finance is truly going to disrupt traditional finance. The ability to trade any asset from anywhere in the world on a decentralized blockchain will open up a lot of opportunities for individuals that would otherwise have limited access to world markets. I strongly believe Cardano will provide the ideal foundation for DeFi, which is why we’re all so excited to launch Indigo." ^[3]​

Work on Indigo Protocol

Under Coley's leadership, Indigo Protocol was developed as a key component of the DeFi ecosystem on Cardano. ^[4] The project's primary mission is to enable the tokenization of real-world assets, providing users with on-chain price exposure to a wide range of assets without needing to hold them directly. ^[3]​

Mission and Technology

The Indigo Protocol is an algorithmic, decentralized system that allows for the creation of synthetic assets known as iAssets. These assets, such as iBTC (tracking Bitcoin) or iUSD (a stablecoin), are designed to mirror the price of an underlying real-world or digital asset. The protocol operates on a Collateralized Debt Position (CDP) model, where users lock collateral, such as Cardano's native token ADA, in a smart contract to mint the desired iAsset. To ensure the system's solvency against price volatility, all positions must be over-collateralized, meaning the value of the locked collateral is higher than the value of the minted iAssets. ^{[3] [4]}​

Coley and his team chose to build Indigo on the Cardano blockchain, citing its research-based approach, security focus, and the determinism of its Extended UTXO (EUTXO) accounting model as essential for building a robust financial protocol. ^{[3] [1]}​

A core feature of the protocol established under Coley's direction is its decentralized governance structure. The protocol is managed by the Indigo DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization), where holders of the native INDY governance token can vote on proposals. This includes making decisions on protocol upgrades, the introduction of new iAssets, and adjustments to risk parameters. ^{[3] [4]}​

To foster adoption and interoperability, Indigo Laboratories established partnerships with other key projects in the Cardano ecosystem, including SundaeSwap, COTI, Ardana, Liqwid, Minswap, Chainlink, and Charli3. ^[3]​

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Public Appearances

As a public face for the project, Eric Coley has appeared in various media to discuss the Indigo Protocol. On May 19, 2021, he was a guest on the "Cardano Live" podcast alongside Indigo CIO Dewayne Cameron. During the episode, he provided an overview of the Indigo Protocol, introduced the team, and discussed the project's development roadmap and its role in the expanding Cardano DeFi ecosystem. ^[2]​

Interviews

Eric Coley’s Interview on Indigo Protocol Development #01

On Aug 13, 2022, Eric Coley appeared on the YouTube channel Cardano With Paul in an interview titled “Indigo Protocol Feature Complete – What’s Next?”.

During the interview, Coley stated that Indigo Protocol reached a feature complete stage at the end of July 2022. He explained that, at that point, the project had finalized its core smart contract functions and had moved into a phase focused on code optimization and security review. He indicated that multiple security audits were planned for September 2022 prior to deployment.

Coley described Indigo as a Cardano-based synthetic asset protocol structured to allow the minting of collateral-backed synthetic assets, including examples such as iBTC and iUSDC. He stated that these assets are issued as Cardano-native tokens and are designed to operate without reliance on external custodians or bridge-based wrapping mechanisms.

According to Coley, the initial release of the protocol was planned to include functionality for synthetic asset minting, stability pool mechanisms, liquidity provision, and on-chain governance through a decentralized autonomous organization. He stated that protocol changes after launch would be subject to governance processes rather than direct control by the core development team.

He referenced the Vasil hard fork as a factor in the project’s development timeline and stated that the projected release window depended on both the completion of external audits and the implementation of network-level upgrades. He mentioned an estimated launch period of early November 2022 based on the information available at the time of the interview.

Coley also discussed the planned integration of multiple decentralized exchanges, stating that the protocol was being developed to route liquidity interactions through Cardano-based DEXs, including Minswap and SundaeSwap, via an aggregation mechanism.

In addition, Coley described his role in establishing the Cardano DeFi Alliance (CDA). He stated that the group was formed to coordinate technical discussions, shared practices, and communication among Cardano-focused decentralized finance projects, with meetings held on a bi-weekly basis and interactions with broader ecosystem stakeholders. ^[5]

First Cardano Stablecoin and Synthetic Assets #02

On Nov 14, 2022, an interview premiered on the Learn Cardano YouTube channel featuring Eric Coley discussing the Indigo Protocol prior to its planned deployment on the Cardano blockchain. The recording presents the protocol as a system intended to issue synthetic assets, referred to as iAssets, which are on-chain tokens designed to track the price movements of digital and real-world assets without conferring ownership of the underlying assets.

During the interview, the mechanism described involves the use of ADA as collateral to mint synthetic instruments such as iETH and iBTC. The session also references iUSD, a synthetic USD stablecoin, as part of the protocol’s initial asset framework. These instruments are depicted as price-tracking representations rather than native assets capable of executing functions on external blockchains.

The discussion outlines the governance model as described by Coley, indicating that the protocol was structured to operate under a decentralized autonomous organization responsible for protocol level decisions, treasury oversight, and asset listing processes. It also describes the use of a liquidity bootstrapping event as the proposed method for initial token price discovery and distribution.

Additional elements presented in the interview include the use of a public testnet environment for functional testing, the completion of external security audits prior to launch, and the stated intention to distribute tokens in part to single stake pool operators. The content documents the stated design scope of the protocol, which focused on creating synthetic representations of digital and real-world assets within the Cardano ecosystem, as described by Coley in the recording. ^[6]