While crypto exchanges have helped retail investors understand some of the larger cryptocurrencies, many of the complexities of decentralized finance remain unknown to even more sophisticated investors due to DeFi’s broad offers.
Zerion, a business developing a decentralized finance “interface” for crypto investors, has piqued venture capitalists’ interest following recent growth. CEO Evgeny Yurtaev tells TechCrunch that the company has processed over $600 million in transaction volume this year, and it now has over 200,000 monthly active users.
The firm has also completed a $8.2 million Series A fundraising round headed by Mosaic Ventures, with participation from Placeholder, DCG, Lightspeed, and Blockchain.com Ventures. Mosaic’s Toby Coppel and Placeholder’s Brad Burnham have joined Zerion’s board, according to the startup.
Zerion’s app allows clients to access over 50,000 digital assets and 60 protocols on the Ethereum blockchain, streamlining the DeFi UI. Users can access tokens and invest through the app in the same way that exchanges like Coinbase or Gemini do, but they do so using their own personal wallets like MetaMask, which means that Zerion does not control or have access to user funds and private keys, which is a sticking point for Yurtaev, a lifelong crypto enthusiast and builder.
“There are a bunch of different tokens and protocols in the DeFi space,” Yurtaev says. “In theory, it’s supposed to be easy to navigate, but in reality, it’s all a mess … We try to demystify them.”
Along with significant increases in Ethereum and bitcoin values, DeFi volume has risen in 2021, from just under $20 billion at the start of the year to around $90 billion in May. The overall DeFi market has proven to be just as volatile as bitcoin, with market volume plummeting 35% in the last few months to little over $57 billion.
The startup’s iOS and Android mobile apps have been particularly popular among crypto investors looking to keep track of the market and the tokens they’re backing. The company claims that the typical user opens the app more than nine times every day.
The rise of cryptocurrency in 2021 has piqued investor interest in both the assets themselves and the platforms that facilitate those transactions. Last month, venture capital company Andreessen Horowitz revealed that it had collected more than $2.2 billion to invest in firms developing crypto-related products, including decentralized finance.