Key takeaways
- Furucombo simplifies DeFi by unifying user experience across multiple protocols like Uniswap, Compound, and Aave into a single interface.
- The platform enables users to build complex trading strategies without coding knowledge, such as shorting DAI using flash loans and Maker.
- Furucombo raised $1.85M in seed funding from investors including SevenX Ventures, Defiance Capital, 1kx, and Multicoin Capital.
- Community building and talent acquisition are primary focuses for platform growth rather than just technical infrastructure development.
- DeFi adoption remains at approximately 0.5% of cryptocurrency users, indicating significant room for growth through improved accessibility.
Why DeFi still feels hard
Ashton Addison: Where is the friction in DeFi, and what problem is Furucombo built to solve?▶ 00:45
Hsuan-Ting Chu: The main problem is how to step into DeFi, and that's why a lot of investors are backing us: we really do simplify it. Say you want to swap ether for a stablecoin and then supply it to a lending platform. You have a lot of choices, such as Uniswap or Kyber, and they all have different concepts, user experiences and requirements. Then you have to pick a lending platform, Compound or Aave or something else, and the same problem happens again. The concepts are hard for people to understand, and there are technical requirements too: you set up your MetaMask and your Ledger, then approve transactions. That's hard for normal people who just want to try it and make their money bigger. So we try to unify the user experience of DeFi, give users as much information as we can, educate them and guide them to the right protocol or service.
Ashton: Is the goal simply lowering the barrier to entry, or is something else the priority for growth?▶ 02:53
Hsuan-Ting: The team's primary focus right now is the community. That's not a simple answer, but it's true. We spent around six to nine months building the infrastructure. We connected to a lot of different protocols and built the front end so end users and traders can build their trading strategies on our platform. DeFi is still growing super fast, so we need to keep connecting to the latest protocols and bring in top talent from around the world to build strategies on Furucombo instead of trying to learn Solidity. We want more people to know about us and contribute. If we build the community right and it participates actively in the ecosystem, I think Furucombo will stay at the very top of the DeFi space.
It's not about how much we raise, it's about who we cooperate with.
What a combo actually does
Ashton: Many people think DeFi is just lending money for interest. What do combos and DeFi strategies mean on Furucombo?▶ 05:27
Hsuan-Ting: A combo is our token name, and it's also what we call a trading strategy you can run on the platform. DeFi is not just about swapping and lending, which is why there are 800 different strategies. The easiest way to try DeFi is to swap your ether to DAI on Uniswap and then move into a lending protocol. Compared with traditional finance, DeFi gives you efficiency, low cost and permissionless access for anyone around the globe. But you can also build a position using Compound and a flash loan, move your APY from Compound to Aave, or short DAI, all within one platform. Shorting DAI is a pretty famous strategy that is only on Furucombo. It's programming. Use your imagination, like writing an article, and you get a different result every time.
Ashton: Can you walk us through how shorting DAI works?▶ 08:01
Hsuan-Ting: DAI is a stablecoin, and it's really popular. During last summer's DeFi hype, a lot of people used DAI to invest in DeFi projects, so demand was high and the price went from one dollar to about 1.03. At that point you can short DAI, because it will eventually go back to one dollar. You use our short DAI combo to build your position on Maker. When DAI goes back to one dollar, you use the reverse combo, which is the opposite trading strategy, and that gives you your profit.
A seed round built on who, not how much
Ashton: You recently raised $1.85 million in seed funding. Who are your partners in the round, and will they act as strategic advisors?▶ 09:33
Hsuan-Ting: I'm really excited to have these people on board. I wrote on Twitter, "It's not about how much we raise, it's about who we cooperate with." In crypto, getting funding is easy, but choosing who you work with, and who chooses to work with you, is important. Our investors include 1kx and Multicoin, among others. They each have a different angle on DeFi and crypto, which matters because DeFi is at a very early stage and shouldn't rest on one single way of thinking. Pitching to them felt like learning from different professors, or going to different schools. Some focus on trading, some on NFTs, and some think very deeply about the blockchain itself. They're also based in different places, with different cultures and networks, so we chose investors from different countries to keep our connections and our thinking global.
It's programming. Use your imagination, like writing an article, and you get a different result every time.
The 2021 roadmap
Ashton: With the raise complete, what is the team focused on now?▶ 12:33
Hsuan-Ting: Three things. First, the aggregator needs a lot of people, because we connect to many DeFi protocols and they keep upgrading. We're moving from Aave V1 to V2, and Uniswap V3 is coming up. So we're expanding the team and hiring in Taiwan, in Asia and globally. DeFi never sleeps. Second is security, which we take very seriously. We test everything in our own environment before we ship, and we're going to audit the whole smart contract system every three months. Our platform is for normal users, and they don't think about DeFi risk. They just want to know if their money is safe, and they compare us with their bank. The third focus is product.
Ashton: What is V2, and when will it launch?▶ 14:08
Hsuan-Ting: V2 isn't a date when we release a particular piece of software. It's a direction, a vision for where we're going. Furucombo is free right now because we want to test the market and let people feel the composability of DeFi without paying anything, especially with gas fees already high. V2 will bring some premium features. We'll also add a social-trading feature, a bit like a vault, where anyone can become a fund manager, like on eToro. If you're a top trader, people who don't want to research DeFi strategies can put money in your vault and you invest for them. Third is layer 2: Ethereum is crowded and expensive, and every protocol is trying to upgrade to layer 2. We connect all the protocols, so if they move, composability breaks, and we're spending a lot of time researching and talking to layer 2 providers. Last is cross-chain. You shouldn't have to worry whether something is on Ethereum, Polkadot or NEAR. You tell us how much you want to invest, which strategy and which fund manager, whether it's your DAI, your ether or even your bitcoin, and we help with the rest. We'll release this month by month through 2021.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Recorded January 2021.
