Our Story

How did we get here

Defi is a complex and adversarial environment

Growing up around the world – we know tradfi at its worst. Defi promised an open, modular, trustless, and transparent ecosystem, a more aligned settlement layer where you can expect to be treated fairly.

However, we were surprised by how much friction there still is in defi – taxing traders in many cases with much higher fees and worse UX than tradfi.

The most important causes we see are:

Adversarial Execution Environment: By default, traders get the worst deal they accept (all surplus goes to builders, searchers, and validators). This rightfully puts traders on edge about everything they do on-chain. This is unsustainable.
Complicated UX: "Where should I swap?", "How do I get the best yield?" are increasingly complex questions. We must make it easier for traders to get what they want.

In 2021, we started building the first OEV solutions for protocols like Angle to capture value ("MEV") that users and protocols leak.

Doing studies for many protocols, it became clear that swaps are the most important place to reduce friction in defi.

Solving: Making txs simple and incentive-compatible

To make defi transactions as simple and carefree as they should be – we need to

Abstract the complexity of defi, and
Build mechanisms that align with traders

Particularly in swap execution, we saw a big gap between the prices traders got and the optimal prices that are possible with the liquidity available. This is why we used our experience in MEV protection to build solvers: Algorithms that route most effectively over the available liquidity.

This, it turns out is a big and exciting task – covering efficient chain state indexing, optimal routing research, and sophisticated submission strategies (learn more about the PropellerSolver) – all focused on a single goal: Getting the best possible price on swaps.

What we care about

Fairness: We are dedicated to creating a more equitable system that levels the playing field for all defi traders. To help create the first truly fair and trustworthy system of settlement.

Research: We believe public research is one of the most valuable ways teams can contribute to building a more robust and equitable ecosystem.