Dan Ciporin

Current VC, Ex-Operator

[Arjun Sethi @arjunsethi]

Fully collateralized.
Direct Fed access.
No bailout strategy.

Probably doing banking wrong.
https://t.co/CUJI0zT6el

[Arjun Sethi @arjunsethi]

There has been a lot of discussion about DeFi yields and whether products should even exist when users can go directly to protocols. It is a fair question, but it often skips over how financial systems actually scale and why most people do not interact with infrastructure directly.

DeFi protocols are powerful. They create real yield by removing layers of inefficiency in traditional finance. But protocols are infrastructure, not products. Infrastructure does not onboard users on its own. Products do.

Before getting into why that matters, it helps to look at the numbers plainly.

The numbers

Most traditional bank savings accounts today pay roughly 0.3% to 0.6% APY.

On a $100,000 cash balance, that is approximately $500 per year.

With DeFi Earn, USD equivalent deposits can earn between approximately 4% and up to 8% APY today, depending on the strategy selected.

At the same $100,000 balance:

At 5% APY, the annual return is about $5,000.
At 8% APY, the annual return is about $8,000.

That is a 10x to 16x difference compared to a typical bank savings account.

Those numbers are not theoretical. They are available today through different DeFi strategies.

The natural question is why banks cannot offer similar outcomes. The answer is structural, not philosophical.

Banks fund themselves with short term liabilities like deposits that can be withdrawn immediately. They invest those funds into longer-duration assets like loans and bonds. This creates a persistent assets and liabilities mismatch and a duration mismatch. When interest rates move or liquidity tightens, the value and timing of assets and liabilities diverge. Because bank balance sheets are opaque, these risks are often hidden until confidence breaks, at which point the failure becomes sudden and systemic.

This pattern is not new. It has repeated for decades precisely because opacity delays truth, and delayed truth creates panic.

DeFi systems work differently. DeFi protocols are transparent by design. Assets, liabilities, collateralization ratios, and liquidity conditions are visible on chain in real time. There is no ability to quietly defer losses or mask balance sheet risk. That transparency does not eliminate risk, but it makes risk observable early and continuously.

Transparency alone, however, is not enough.

Someone still has to choose which protocols to use, diversify exposure across strategies, monitor utilization and liquidity, respond to smart contract upgrades or market stress, and set guardrails around concentration and duration. When individuals go directly to protocols, they take on all of that responsibility themselves.

Products exist to take that burden off the user.

When someone uses DeFi Earn with @krakenfx or any other provider, they are not paying for the yield itself. They are paying for risk management, protocol selection, continuous monitoring, custody and security infrastructure, operational resilience, reporting, and accountability. Those costs do not disappear in decentralized finance. They either sit with the individual or with a professional operator.

For most people, the real choice is not between 5% and 8%. It is between earning close to zero in a bank, managing complex DeFi risk on their own, or earning materially more through a product that abstracts complexity and manages risk on their behalf.

This is how adoption actually happens. Protocols do not onboard the next hundred million users. Products do. And products require entrepreneurs, capital, engineering, compliance, and long-term accountability.

That is the role companies like Kraken are playing with DeFi Earn. Not promising magic yield, but taking transparent financial infrastructure and turning it into something real people can safely use.

That is how financial systems evolve.

Try it, give feedback: https://t.co/jB65trJZzF

[Arjun Sethi @arjunsethi]

We just announced that @krakenfx has raised $800M, a milestone that reflects years of work, discipline, and conviction. I am proud of what our team has built and grateful for the partners who chose to join us. But this is not a post about a fundraise. I want to share the side of the story people rarely talk about. The truth behind what it actually takes to build an enduring company. The real story lives long before the headlines. It is about conviction when the world questions you, partnership when few are willing to stand with you, and the choices you make when things are hard rather than celebratory.

When I think about the last decade, people often ask where my conviction for crypto and financial infrastructure came from. Before @tribecap, I spent years working alongside some of the best quantitative and growth minds in the world. These were the people who built the analytical systems and growth engines behind the largest trillion dollar companies in the world. Learning from them shaped how I think about data, experimentation, compounding outcomes, and decision making at scale.

At a certain point, I felt the need to put those frameworks and hypotheses into practice. That decision led to the creation of Tribe Capital. I am fortunate that many of the same people who taught me those frameworks and worked with me in those earlier chapters eventually became my partners. Together, we set out to build a firm grounded in data, truth seeking, and conviction.

Starting in June 2018, we built Tribe across multiple asset classes with a data driven mindset, beginning with early stage venture and later expanding into crypto. By 2020, we launched our crypto funds because the evidence pointed to a fundamental shift in how global financial systems would be rebuilt.

In 2022, everything changed. Public markets sold off. US markets lost nearly $11T in market value that year. crypto lost more than $1T in market cap. Fear was everywhere. Some of our more conservative LPs who had lost money in FTX urged me to step away from crypto entirely. They told me to wind down, settle positions, and avoid challenging the institutions who were now pointing fingers at the entire space.

Many of our LPs were not reacting to data or long term outcomes. They were reacting to reputational fear. They cared more about protecting themselves than protecting the institutions they represented. Venture, at its core, is supposed to be about partnership, long term innovation, and return multiples earned through conviction. Yet in that moment, a meaningful group lost sight of that. They wanted safety, not truth. Optics, not alignment. And they asked us to behave the same way.

At the same time, private markets and venture financing were effectively frozen until the release of ChatGPT reignited belief in long term innovation and infrastructure. And during that same period, I was personally debanked by SVB, FRB, and others. Quietly and without explanation. And yet that moment became the period in which we made our strongest decisions.

Instead of stepping back, we stepped forward.
We deployed more capital in 2022, 2023, and 2024 than in the years before. Looking back, those became some of the best investments we have ever made. As demand temporarily declined, our conviction increased. Prices reset. Our entry positions became exceptional. And we put significant capital behind the founders and companies we believed would define the next decade.

Part of that effort led us to help cofound Kapital, a regulated bank serving customers in Mexico, Colombia, and Peru. Kapital has been profitable since day one. Today it is worth more than $1.5B and is on track to exceed $400M in revenue. I am grateful to the team that built it with us and proud of what we have created together.

Throughout this period, I continued to spend my time and attention on the companies I believed would grow regardless of the market cycle.

This is the part of the story that matters. @jespow, a partner, a friend, and someone I deeply respect, chose to bet on me at the exact moment I was betting more on him. When many people were retreating, Jesse leaned in. When others questioned whether the industry had a future, he committed to building. Trust like that is rare. Alignment like that is even more rare. And that shared conviction is what ultimately led me to join Kraken full time.

We stayed focused on the data. We stayed focused on the long run. Since the downturn, Tribe has deployed another $500M into our highest conviction companies. We built deeper alignment with the businesses we believed would matter over the next decade. And one of those companies was Kraken, which became a central part of my journey with Jesse Powell and the conviction we shared about where this industry was heading.

When I became Co-CEO of Kraken, that conviction became personal. I doubled down with my time, my capital, and my full attention. If I was going to lead the company, I needed to be fully aligned with its future. That meant investing not only through Tribe Capital but also through our own family office. My parents and my family, including my kids, supported me, and I love them for their support and their capital. Together, we helped shape the first tranche of the new round at a time when Kraken had raised only $27M in primary capital, and we committed more than $100M with belief in what Kraken could become.

I am grateful to the partners who joined alongside me in that first tranche, including DRW, HongShan, formerly Sequoia China, Jane Street, Oppenheimer, IMC, Wintermute, and many others. Their willingness to step in at a crucial moment strengthened the foundation for everything that followed. And I am proud to welcome Citadel Securities as our partner in the second tranche, bringing total capital raised to $800M for Kraken. Their conviction reflects the strength of the work we have done and the long term opportunity ahead.

Here is what I want people to take away from this journey. Fundraising is never easy. Not when you are early. Not when you have traction. Not when the market is against you. Not even when the market turns in your favor. What matters is whether you lose your values along the way. Many people do. It is the easiest shortcut in the world.

We did not.
Kraken did not.
Tribe Capital did not.

We stayed committed to our culture, our mission, and our values. We chose partners who believe in resilience, transparency, and long term thinking. Partners who believe that financial infrastructure should be open, global, and accessible. Many of these partners have supported us through multiple cycles, and I am grateful for them.

Now we are focused on what comes next.
A unified liquidity and collateral system.
A new architecture for financial services.
A global platform that brings traditional and open finance together for everyone.

This journey has never been about being right in any single moment.
It has always been about staying right over the long run.

Arjun

https://t.co/17rvyzEHoV

[Dan Ciporin @dtcippy]

@camdoody @MBGilroy @TimesFreePress This is one of the most frightening posts I have seen all week- and that is against some real competition

[Dan Ciporin @dtcippy]

@lakemonstercl1 Sad but true

[Dan Ciporin @dtcippy]

@MBGilroy @MarathonMP YDM!! Congrats MG!!

[Dan Ciporin @dtcippy]

@Jason Unfortunately that is exactly the takeaway so far

[Marco Santori @msantoriESQ]

Last night, @krakenfx fired back at the SEC with its final brief in the motion to dismiss the SEC’s complaint.

The SEC had its opportunity to tell the Court what, precisely, is the investment contract that supposedly trades on Kraken.

But they couldn't. 1/🧵

[Mark Cuban @mcuban]

If @joebiden loses, there is a good chance you will be able to thank @GaryGensler and the @NewYork_SEC
Crypto is a mainstay with younger and independent voters. Gensler HAS NOT PROTECTED A SINGLE INVESTOR AGAINST FRAUD

All he has done is make it nearly impossible for legitimate crypto companies to operate, killing who knows how many businesses and ruining who knows how many entrepreneurs.

This is also a warning to Congress. Crypto voters will be heard this election. You could solve this problem for Biden by passing legislation that defines registration that is specific to the crypto industry just as other industries have registration that is defined for them

Or you could do the better option and assign all crypto to be regulated by the @CFTC

They actually know what they are doing
@ericswalwell @SenSchumer

[Dave Ripley @DavidLRipley]

(1/10) Today, Kraken tells the real story of the SEC’s suit.

[Dan Ciporin @dtcippy]

Excited to announce HPLT(NASDAQ) is merging with Heidmar, a fast-growing, highly profitable company in the shipping space. Asset lite management model similar to AirBnB and others. ESG focus, tracking carbon for each voyage. More details/investor deck at https://t.co/nFjLqFX3Na

[Dan Ciporin @dtcippy]

@arjunsethi Thanks Arjun - looking forward to a fun and successful ride together

[Dan Ciporin @dtcippy]

Delighted to announce that I’m officially joining the board of Kraken. I remember well in 2002 the headlines shouting ‘consumer internet is dead’. While history may not repeat, it rhymes. Looking forward to amazing things to come from Kraken and the crypto space in general

[Dan Ciporin @dtcippy]

@vcparty Context different, my point is general crypto negativity now is a passing phase to fundamental value transformation. Any transformative technology has an initial cycle with scammers who glom on before it becomes ‘obvious’ in the next cycle. Feels similar to 2002 in that way

[John Kasich @JohnKasich]

A block of House Republicans should get together with Democrats to pick a speaker to run a coalition government, which will moderate the House and marginalize the extremists.

[Gavin Baker @GavinSBaker]

This seems underreported.

[Dan Ciporin @dtcippy]

@MBGilroy @meet_cocoon @mahimachawlaa @laurenxindai @amfeng Mahima so psyched for you and Michael- although I know he adds little value to the equation ;-). Congrats!!

[Dan Ciporin @dtcippy]

Second time around being a public company CEO- hopefully even better than the first!

Home Plate Acquisition Corporation Announces Pricing of $200 Million Initial Public Offering https://t.co/PVDwQXkEeQ

[Dan Ciporin @dtcippy]

Opinion | What Might Have Been at Tora Bora - The Wall Street Journalist https://t.co/AGybJeAp5K

[Dan Ciporin @dtcippy]

@jaboehmer More like tasty sake

[Dan Ciporin @dtcippy]

First (and presumably last) time I appear in TMZ. https://t.co/BEbdJMNR9G