Draper Associates is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in industry-transforming companies. They invest globally, in great teams of people creating revolutionary companies in new media, gaming, SaaS, cloud, new finance, IOT, and mobile. Their portfolio companies disrupting markets in the tens of billions and are on a clear path to later rounds of fundraising. Draper Associates encourages entrepreneurs to drive their businesses to greatness, to transform industries with new technologies, and to build platforms for extraordinary growth, jobs, and wealth creation. It was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in San Mateo, CA, USA.

Draper Associates

Flow Traders, named “ETF Market Marker Europe'' by the Annual Global ETF Awards for the last six consecutive years is an international leading trading house. Their office in Singapore was also recognized as ‘ETF Market Maker Asia Pacific 2012’ winning this award for the second consecutive year.  Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Amsterdam with offices in New York and Singapore, Flow Traders trades equities as well as derivatives, currencies and bonds on exchanges around the world. Flow Traders is a privately held financial firm that keeps pace with global markets. Their business expands each day by adding new products across an ever-broadening range of markets around the globe.  Flow Traders stays ahead of the competition by focusing on technology and niche competencies in markets where every second counts. This requires access to the best information and the ability to respond instantly. To achieve this, Flow develops its own software in-house. Their team of software developers works in partnership with experienced traders to identify and execute tomorrow's strategies, making Flow a daily pioneer in professional trading.  In order to maximize their performance and facilitate their international growth, Flow Traders heavily invest in their employees. The backbone of their success is the collection of creative doers, thinkers, and above all, believers who form their company. They at Flow believe in the team effort and value their people.  Flow Traders offers you an exciting job with an excellent compensation package. They encourage employees to take advantage of opportunities to work internationally within the firm to maintain and grow their success as a worldwide leading proprietary trading house. They provide their employees with the best working environment, continuous support, team outings, sport events, company parties and trips. It’s all part of the deal!

Flow Traders

Hyperithm is a leading digital asset financial service provider headquartered in Tokyo and Seoul, with strong backing from renowned investors including Coinbase, Samsung, Kakao and Hashed. Our crypto asset management arm specializes in algorithm/HFT-based, market neutral strategies for institutions and HNWIs. Furthermore, we offer a full-suite of crypto prime brokerage services as a fully regulated VASP (Virtual Asset Service Provider). As an evangelist of the Web3 space, we also support rising teams through venture investment. We have been actively investing in L1/L2s, dApps, gaming projects, and asset managers that are contributing to the growth of the Web3 ecosystem. Hyperithm was co-founded by an ex-Morgan Stanley investment banker and a serial entrepreneur listed in Forbes 30 Under 30. We continue to attract top-notch young talent as our development team consists of Presidential Scholars, and International Science Olympiad medalists. Our team consists of seasoned professionals, including ex-investment bankers, world-class engineers, and International Science Olympiad medalists. We specialize in automated trading and risk management, using innovative algorithms built with Rust. By leveraging our expertise and cutting-edge technology, we are building a digital asset gateway for institutions. As an evangelist of the Web3 space, we also support rising teams through venture investment.

Hyperithm

Binance Labs identifies, invests, and empowers viable blockchain entrepreneurs, startups, and communities, providing financing to industry projects that help grow the larger blockchain ecosystem.

Binance Labs

Trust Machines is building an ecosystem of applications and platform technologies aimed at unleashing the true potential of bitcoin.

Trust Machines

Zest Protocol

Zest Protocol is a pioneering financial service platform focused on enhancing the utility of Bitcoin. It offers a unique borrowing and lending ecosystem that allows Bitcoin holders to earn more BTC or borrow against their holdings. Zest Protocol is recognized as the first on-chain Bitcoin lending protocol, aiming to make Bitcoin productive by creating opportunities for its holders to engage in a vibrant borrowing and lending market. The platform emphasizes security and innovation, leveraging Bitcoin and Layer 2 solutions to minimize risks, such as counterparty risk, associated with traditional Bitcoin lending solutions. Users can participate in yield pools using Stacks and Bitcoin addresses, with rewards provided in USDC/T on Ethereum, denominated in USD.

<div>Zest offers a lending protocol built on Stacks, a Bitcoin Layer 2 network, which enables users to borrow and lend Bitcoin. The protocol uses a bridging asset named sBTC, which is pegged to the value of Bitcoin, to allow users to deposit Bitcoin through a native Bitcoin blockchain transaction and fund their account balances. Users can then use the pegged tokens for lending or yield generating activities on the protocol.&nbsp;</div>

Disrupting the traditional financial system using blockchain

Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

Bitcoin Liquid Staking Comes to Zest Protocol on Stacks With BTCz

<div>
 
 Zest offers a lending protocol built on Stacks, a Bitcoin Layer 2 network, which enables users to borrow and lend Bitcoin. The protocol uses a bridging asset named sBTC, which is pegged to the value of Bitcoin, to allow users to deposit Bitcoin through a native Bitcoin blockchain transaction and fund their account balances. Users can then use the pegged tokens for lending or yield generating activities on the protocol.&nbsp;
 
 
 As of May 2024, the protocol&rsquo;s lending infrastructure was live on Stacks&rsquo; money market platform, ahead of the official launch of the sBTC token.
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In May 2024, Zest Protoco
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/29385">
 l raised USD 3.5 million
 </a>
 in seed funding led by Tim Draper.
 
</div>

MakerDAO is a DAO (governed through the MKR token) that manages the Maker Protocol.Developed on the Ethereum blockchain, the Maker Protocol allows users to place their funds (through cryptocurrency) as collateral in exchange for its stablecoin DAI, which is pegged to the USD. DAI can be used like any other cryptocurrency and even as savings since holders of DAI are entitled to a return based on the DAI Savings Rate (DSR). The DSR is determined by members of the DAO using a mix of public and proprietary market data.MakerDAO offers access to investing and borrowing DAI through the Oasis app which was developed by some of the creators of Maker Protocol. In addition, the Maker Protocol is available for developers of DeFi apps who can build apps to facilitate earning, investing, and borrowing DAI. As of May 2024, the Maker Protocol had integrated with over 400 applications ranging from payment systems to gaming platforms. MakerDAO generates revenue through stability fees (akin to interest payment on borrowed DAI) and liquidation fees which is an additional charge that occurs when the value of the submitted collateral falls below a set liquidation amount.In April 2022, MakerDAO announced that it was bridging to StarkNet, a reportedly cheaper and faster zero-knowledge (ZK) overlay chain built by StarkWare. Along with its expansion on Ethereum, the DAO had planned to move toward a multi-chain offering with this rebuild. It planned to roll out this offering in four phases, beginning with a simple bridge between the main blockchain and StarkNet’s Layer 2.In February 2023, the company <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16269?industryIds=64">launched a new lending platform</a> named Spark Protocol, to enable users to borrow, lend, and stake DAI, the protocol’s stablecoin. The platform, which is a fork of Aave's version 3 (v3), will be built by Phoenix Labs, a research and development company formed by the DAO. Additionally, the company also announced the deployment of etherDAI, a liquid staking derivative for Ethereum that will be pegged to the value of ETH. Furthermore, in March, MakerDAO went on to<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/17322"> approve several new proposals </a>that make changes to both its governance structure and the investment of its treasury. These changes divide the DAO’s current structure into smaller self-governed and self-sustained units named SubDAOs, which will also have their own tokens in the MakerDAO ecosystem. Moreover, the proposal also planned to increase the protocol’s revenues by investing a part of its reserves (worth USD 7 billion) into real-world assets and money-market funds.The platform outlined its plans for a major update (named Endgame) in May 2023. The launch was proposed to take place in five phases and will ultimately lead to the creation of a new blockchain. The road map is as follows: 1) launching new branding and website as well as upgraded versions of Dai and MKR tokens; 2) launching six Maker SubDAOs, specializing in user acquisition, decentralized frontends, and collateral allocation; 3) introducing new AI tools to assist governance, including tools for summarizing, interpreting, and generating governance proposals; 4) enabling rewards for governance participation; and 5) deploying a new blockchain to house backend logic for SubDAO tokenomics and MakerDAO governance security. The first phase of the update is expected to be rolled out in the summer of 2024.In August 2024, the protocol followed through with the first phase of its plans by <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/32993">rebranding itself under the new name "Sky"</a>, and launching new versions of Dai and MKR tokens named the USDS and SKY. Funding and financialsAs of May 2024, MakerDAO had around USD 8.1 billion in total value locked (TVL). The company’s most recent funding round was in April 2020 for an undisclosed sum. Previously, the company had raised USD 27.5 million through the sale of its MKR token to Dragonfly Partners and Paragon to expand its operations to Asia.

MakerDAO

Founded by former executives of Qualcomm, Solana Labs is the developer of the Solana blockchain, which uses the native cryptocurrency SOL. The company enables developers to create decentralized applications in its blockchain and is capable of carrying out 50,000 transactions per second (TPS) with a theoretical upper limit of 710,000 TPS for the architecture. As of May 2024, the blockchain averaged around 2,400 TPS. This is in contrast to Ethereum’s average of between 13 to 15 TPS. In addition to transaction speed, Solana also has other advantages such as lower transaction fees and improved scalability, given its proof-of-stake consensus mechanism and underlying architecture. The mechanism also enables users to stake their SOL and earn yields for validating the network. Solana provides the ability to create specialized tooling and programming functionality to tokens through <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/25910">Token Extensions</a>. This allows developers and businesses to establish rules for tokens, such as dictating their functionality and determining their holders, as well as embed features like whitelisting, automatic transfer fees, and confidentiality provisions for transfers.Solana also provides guides and a content aggregator website for developers to discover tools to create dApps on its blockchain. As of May 2024, more than 440 dApps were created on Solana, ranging across use cases such as DeFi, NFTs, and gaming. It also <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/18094">launched a ChatGPT </a>(a chatbot built on OpenAI's GPT model) plugin to allow developers and users to query the blockchain for on-chain data. The plugin works through the ChatGPT interface and allows users to perform various tasks such as checking wallet balances, transferring tokens, and purchasing NFTs.Key customers and partnershipsWeb browser developer Opera partnered with Solana in December 2021 to integrate the blockchain and create a built-in crypto wallet onto the Opera browser to improve accessibility to dApps hosted on the blockchain.As of May 2024, the company served several enterprise clients such as Shopify, Asics, Helio, and Tiplink.Funding and financialsThe total value locked (TVL) in DeFi projects across the Solana blockchain amounted to USD 4 billion as of May 2024. The company raised USD 314 million through an initial coin offering (ICO) of SOL. The ICO was co-led by Polychain Capital and Andreessen Horowitz. The funding was to be used to create a venture investing arm, a trading desk, and support the development of new applications in its blockchain.

Solana

Swiss-based Eidoo is a developer of a wallet that supports cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, along with tokens such as DAI, MKR, AAVE, and UNI, among others. In addition, Eidoo provides a DeFi marketplace that integrates with its wallet, allowing users to trade any tokens that they hold. Eidoo also offers a debit card that allows the conversion of digital assets into fiat currencies, such as the GBP and EURO, and spending or even withdrawing cash from ATMs.Eidoo began with the proprietary token EDO, which it also used to raise USD 27.9 million in an initial coin offering (ICO) in 2017. The token was then upgraded following its merger with blockchain oracle provider Provable Things to establish pNetwork, the infrastructure that facilitates cross-chain interactions between multiple decentralized apps, governed by the token PNT. To obtain an Eidoo debit card, users are required to stake PNT ranging from 20 to 200,000 for various service tiers.Eidoo had several applications such as virtual account numbers to deposit money and obtain a tokenized representation of their deposit as well as features to buy, hold, and trade NFTs in the roadmap as of December 2021.

Eidoo

Synthetix is a DAO (governed by holders of its native token SNX) that offers a platform on which users can trade and vote on the creation of on-chain synthetic assets, which are derivatives based on real-world assets. These synthetic assets enable traders to capture the price movements of assets such as cryptocurrencies, fiat currencies, stocks, and commodities, among others, with zero slippage. The protocol allows users to stake SNX as collateral for the debt pool and earn weekly rewards. As of April 2022, Synthetix had USD 642 million in total value locked (TVL).Additionally, Synthetix also offers the opportunity for developers to build on top of the platform to tap into its liquidity as well as develop decentralized perpetual futures, options markets, deal coordination markets, and more. As of December 2021, the protocol served large DeFi platforms including 1inch, Curve Finance, Yearn Finance, and Paraswap.In February 2023, Synthetix <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16609?industryIds=64">deployed version 3 (v3) of its platform </a>on the Ethereum mainnet. V3 reportedly offers more efficient architecture that enables developers to create products that offer a liquid market for any financial derivative, as well as more complex decentralized applications. Additionally, the solution also offers staking and differentiated debt pools, to enable stakers to earn fees from supplying collateral to specific asset pools. The company went on to deploy its protocol on Base, an Ethereum Layer-2 blockchain developed by Coinbase, in April 2024. Moreover, the company announced plans to launch a new perpetual futures exchange named Infinex in the following months.Funding and financialsIn March 2023, Synthetix <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/17267">received an investment of USD 20 million </a>from DWF Labs, a Web3 venture capital company. Synthetix plans to use this investment to drive volume for its protocol across both centralized and decentralized exchanges and invest in product development.

Synthetix

Compound is an open-source lending protocol built on Ethereum that allows developers to build DeFi applications for functions such as deposits and lending. Compound offers adjusted money market interest rates based on asset-specific supply and demand and supports a number of Ethereum-based assets for users to take collateralized loans and lock-up assets without borrowing. Locked assets are automatically liquidated if an independent oracle determines that the price has dropped too low. Additionally, since assets are stored in a shared pool, even users with liquidated collateral can claim tokens if they are able to repay the general pool. Compound also <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13038">offers borrowing services</a> for institutional clients that allow them to borrow USD or USDC at a fixed annual percentage rate of 6% using cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ether as collateral, with a loan-to-value of 90%.As of April 2024, Compound had a total value locked (TVL) of USD 2.3 billion. The protocol is governed by its native-token COMP, which along with a variety of other digital assets that are a part of the Compound ecosystem, are supported by Coinbase Custody, a crypto asset custodian. In August 2022, Compound launched a version of its protocol named “Compound III” which features a single borrowable asset. Users can supply collateral that can never be withdrawn by other users (except during liquidation) and borrow USDC.In May 2022, Compound<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10267"> received a B- credit rating from S&amp;P Global Ratings</a> on its enterprise credit facility which offers 4% annually on deposits of the stablecoin USDC. Notably, Compound claims that this is the first time an "institutional DeFi" product has been scored by a major credit rating agency.Funding and financialsCompound’s last funding round was in November 2019 where it raised USD 25 million in a Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz’s a16z crypto fund to help the company further decentralize the protocol by enabling crypto exchanges and custodians such as Coinbase to maintain the protocol going forward.

Compound

Organizations and protocols that allow individuals to lend their crypto assets and take out collateralized or uncollateralized loans from to/from these projects

Organizations that allow individuals to invest in tokenized financial and real assets

Organizations that provide fully decentralized insurance products

Organizations that apply NFTs across areas of finance such as documentation and non-fractionalized ownership records for assets

Decentralized exchanges that help connect buyers and sellers of DeFi tokens without the need to rely on an intermediary

Organizations that provide digital wallets for users to take custody of DeFi tokens

Blockchains and related protocols that allow developers to build DeFi apps

All companies within this industry are either blockchain-based platforms or offer blockchain-centric services

Promotes financial inclusivity, allowing those that won't traditionally have access to credit to raise funds

Companies with the infrastructure segment offer solutions for users to build decentralized applications

<div>
 
 Bitcoin-based lending platform, Zest Protocol, has successfully raised a seed funding round of USD 3.5 million. The funding was led by investor, Tim Draper with additional participation from Binance Labs, Flow Traders, Trust Machines, among others.
 Zest has developed a lending protocol that operates on Stacks, which is a Bitcoin layer-2 network. This protocol enables users to borrow and lend Bitcoin, through the use of a bridging asset named "sBTC". Designed to be pegged to the value of Bitcoin, sBTC allows users to deposit their Bitcoin via a transaction on the Bitcoin blockchain and fund their account balances. Once deposited, these tokens can then be used for lending or engaging in yield-generating activities within the protocol. It's important to note, prior to the official launch of sBTC, the lending infrastructure of the protocol is currently operational on the Stacks’ money market platform.
 
</div>

Zest Protocol

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