Katya Ternopolska is a business development and growth specialist in the decentralized finance (DeFi) industry. She is the Head of Growth for the Wormhole Foundation and has previously held roles at other prominent blockchain projects, including Polygon, Aave, and Maple Finance. ^{[1] [2]}

Education

Katya Ternopolska attended the University of Toronto, where she earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree with a specialization in Economics and Finance from the Rotman Commerce program. During her time there, she also completed an Advanced MBA Entrepreneurship Course with a Blockchain Stream at the Creative Destruction Lab, a program focused on entrepreneurship and technological innovation. ^{[3] [2] [4]}

Career

Ternopolska began her career in 2020, serving as the Board of Directors Treasurer for Campus Cooperative Residence Inc., where she helped oversee the financial management of a student housing cooperative. That same year, she entered the blockchain sector as a Marketing Analyst at Maple Finance, a protocol that facilitates undercollateralized lending for institutional borrowers. In 2021, she also served as a Creative Destruction Lab Student Associate in connection with her work at Maple.

In 2022, Ternopolska took on the role of Marketing Lead at Rift Finance. Later that year, in August 2022, she joined Aave Companies, the entity behind the Aave protocol, a major open-source and non-custodial liquidity protocol. At Aave, she served as a DeFi Integrations Business Development Manager, where her responsibilities included forming partnerships and driving business development efforts in the decentralized finance sector.

In September 2023, Ternopolska announced her move to Polygon Labs, the development team behind the Polygon network, a Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum. She joined the DeFi team, holding roles in both DeFi Specialization and Growth Business Development until January 2024.

Following her tenure at Polygon, Ternopolska joined the Wormhole Foundation in January 2024 as the Strategic Growth Lead. The foundation supports the development of Wormhole, a generic interoperability protocol that enables the transfer of data and assets across different blockchain networks. Upon announcing her new role, she stated, "As the space continues to go cross-chain, interoperability is crucial for seamless UX and will unlock a new frontier for developer innovation." Her role involves leading growth initiatives and business development for the protocol. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]}

Interview

Conversation on Interoperability and DeFi Adoption #01

In a podcast episode aired on June 11, 2025, Katya Ternopolska, Head of Growth at Wormhole, participated in a conversation with hosts Jacq Vaca and Brett Lindstrom on Fish & Chips. The discussion addressed various aspects of decentralized finance (DeFi), interoperability between blockchain networks, and the operational context of these technologies across different global regions.

Ternopolska outlined her professional path in the crypto sector, referencing earlier experience at Maple Finance and her current position at Wormhole. The dialogue included observations on the application of DeFi tools in regions with limited access to formal financial systems, such as parts of Latin America and Ukraine, and explored how blockchain-based infrastructure might serve as an alternative framework in those contexts.

Topics discussed included technical considerations in interoperability solutions, specifically Wormhole’s cross-chain communication mechanisms and associated security models. The conversation also covered differences between crypto-native and institutionally issued stablecoins, as well as the social dynamics linked to meme token communities, particularly on networks like Solana.

The episode further examined the distinction between multi-chain asset governance and multi-chain protocol deployment, and referenced mechanisms such as Wormhole’s MultiGV for enabling cross-network coordination. Security in decentralized systems was discussed as an ongoing concern, especially regarding reliance on multisignature schemes and user trust in protocol infrastructure.

Throughout the interview, Ternopolska presented viewpoints on how decentralized technologies are being developed and adopted in a landscape shaped by both technical complexity and evolving user demands. The conversation contributed to a broader understanding of the current state of interoperability and DeFi within the Web3 ecosystem. ^[6]