SmartDeFi is a non-custodial investment app targeting traditional investors who want to make their first DeFi investments, but don’t understand the risks involved or how to take the first steps.
The iOS app enables users to instantly enter risk-adjusted DeFi products using their bank account, credit card, or Apple Pay directly from their mobile device.
SmartDeFi was founded in 2020 by CEO Kieran Daniels and CTO Dziugas Butkus who believe the reason traditional investors haven’t entered new and lucrative DeFi markets, is the absence of an easy to understand and transparent risk assessment layer. To solve this problem, the San Francisco based company has secured $1 million in pre-seed funding led by Future Fund, Centrality AI, GenBlock and Arcuate Capital.
Advisors to the project include Santiago R Santos (general partner, ParaFi Capital); Joel John (principal, Ledger Prime); and Lukas Schor (head of product, Gnosis Safe). Additional DeFi angel investors include Sandeep Nailwal (cofounder, COO, Polygon); Jaynti Kanani (cofounder, CEO, Polygon); Tyler Ward (cofounder, CEO, Barnbridge); Alex Svanevik (cofounder, CEO, Nansen); Mariano Conti (MakerDAO); Joseph Delong (CTO, Sushi.com); Jonny Rhea (cofounder, CTO, Element Finance); Tyler Reynolds (angel investor); Akin Sawyerr (Barnbridge); Marc Weinstein (MechanismCap); Meltem Demirors (CoinShares); Nirbhik Jangid (The Dapp List, Prev Polygon); Jordan Lyall (Niftys, Prev ConsenSys); Joe Mahon (angel investor); Ryan Burkin (cofounder, CEO, Teller Finance); DeFiTed (Cover Protocol, Ruler Protocol); and others.
The SmartDeFi mobile app provides users instant access to DeFi via multiple risk-adjusted investment products, which have been aptly named “Decentralized ETFs” or “DETFs“. SmartDeFi users truly own their assets and can buy or sell 24 hours a day / seven days a week, without relying on third party approval.
Additionally, SmartDeFi is the first ever consumer app built on the Ethereum scaling solution Polygon — which now does more daily transactions than the Ethereum blockchain. Because of this, users don’t have to worry about high gas fees or network congestion when they buy or sell DETFs.
“In 2017 you were called crazy for investing in crypto,” Mr. Daniels said. “Even two years ago, it was ‘crypto is a scam’. Then, the narrative shifted to ‘Ok. I want in. How do I passively invest one to five per cent of my portfolio in DeFi?’. This shift is why we built SmartDeFi and the DETF products.”
The SmartDeFi infrastructure is powered by Idle Finance (DeFi protocol); Gnosis Safe (multisig wallet); Polygon Network (layer 2 aggregator); Wyre (fiat on-ramp); and Torus Labs (web3 login).
