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Welcome to this exclusive interview with two visionary leaders at the forefront of decentralized finance: Mehdi Lebbar and Driss Benamour, Co-Founders of Exponential DeFi and Exponential.fi, respectively. Since its inception in 2021, Exponential DeFi has been reshaping the landscape of decentralized finance, and both Mehdi and Driss have played pivotal roles in that transformation.
Mehdi Lebbar is a dynamic entrepreneur and strategic leader, currently serving as a Co-Founder of Exponential DeFi, where he has been instrumental in shaping the future of decentralized finance since 2021. Based in the vibrant San Francisco Bay Area, Mehdi brings a wealth of experience from diverse sectors, including technology, investment banking, and operations management.
Before his venture into the world of DeFi, Mehdi honed his strategic acumen as the North America Strategy and Planning lead at CloudKitchens from 2019 to 2021. His expertise in operations was further exemplified during his tenure at Uber, where he played a pivotal role in launching UberEats in London, successfully onboarding 3,000 couriers within four months and revolutionizing the delivery process.
Mehdi’s strong foundation in finance and investment was built during his time at the World Bank, where he initiated significant business development efforts in Mozambique, generating investment leads totaling $15 billion. He also contributed to high-stakes M&A transactions at Credit Suisse, supporting deals worth approximately $30 billion.
With a robust background spanning across global markets and industries, Mehdi is passionate about leveraging innovative technologies to drive growth and create impactful solutions in the ever-evolving landscape of decentralized finance.
Driss Benamour is an innovative entrepreneur and seasoned leader in the financial technology sector, currently serving as the Co-Founder and CEO of Exponential.fi, an investment platform dedicated to simplifying the world of Decentralized Finance (DeFi). Under his leadership since October 2021, Exponential.fi has made significant strides in democratizing access to high-yield investment opportunities, previously reserved for traditional banking clients. Driss's vision is rooted in the belief that by streamlining the investment process, anyone can benefit from the lucrative potential of DeFi.
With a robust background as an angel investor and advisor to early-stage technology startups since 2018, Driss combines his passion for innovation with a keen eye for emerging talent. Prior to his role at Exponential.fi, he honed his skills at Uber, where he spent over four years leading the development of FinTech products, including the groundbreaking Instant Pay feature, which transformed how drivers receive earnings. Driss's journey also includes pivotal roles at SmartBiz Loans, where he pioneered real-time financing solutions, and Zynga, where he broke revenue records in one of the largest Facebook games.
Driss's diverse experience across finance, technology, and product management has equipped him with the expertise to navigate complex markets and drive growth. His commitment to fostering financial inclusivity and supporting the next generation of tech innovators underscores his influence in the industry.
James (CryptoBit Mag): Could you share a quick introduction about yourselves?
Driss Benamour: Yeah, so we're Exponential. We're a DeFi investing platform, drastically simplifying access to DeFi yield cross-chain and cross-protocol. We created this company three years ago because Mehdi, my co-founder here, was managing eight figures for friends and family in crypto, and he was trying to move them to DeFi to earn yield because they were long-term passive holders. He had this crazy spreadsheet with wallets all over the place. I was like, "Okay, we've got to build software here," and that was the genesis of the company. So we built a very simple access layer to DeFi. You can trade in one click. You get tax reports. You get nice analytics. So it's all the bells and whistles that new investors need to access DeFi yield.
James (CryptoBit Mag): Are there any main competitors you have? What do you guys do differently? What value do you bring to the market that others don't?
Driss Benamour: So on the spectrum, there are decent, fully decentralized applications and wallets, but those are still not easy enough. Like the first thing you need to do is secure your keys. You've lost 90% of human beings or more. On the other hand, you have products like Coinbase Earn or Binance Earn or other exchange earn products, but those have limited offerings, mostly for risk reasons and so on. So you don't have access to the entirety of the DeFi ecosystem. We're positioned as bringing the simplicity of an exchange-like experience with access to the entirety of the decentralized finance world.
James (CryptoBit Mag): Where are you currently available?
Driss Benamour: We're in 20 states in the US, expanding to all of the US over the next year or so, and we accept customers in 90 countries as well.
James (CryptoBit Mag): Do you have additional features that you're rolling out in the future?
Driss Benamour: Yeah, so right now, you still enter individual liquidity pools like Aave or Uniswap and so on. The trading is simple, it's one click, but most new users to DeFi still find that too complicated, even though we've simplified it to a level of one-click trading. So we are building a concept of portfolios. You would just send in your ETH, and then you can, in one click, invest in like 10 pools that automatically generate yield for you. So you create a portfolio of pools on DeFi all in one click, and that will further simplify and push the frontier in nice design sitting on top of DeFi. That's the direction we're moving in.
James (CryptoBit Mag): And everything's completely secure. Now, this is not self-custody, right?
Driss Benamour: That's right, it's not self-custody, and the reason we do that is decentralized and easy is not there yet. To have the level of simplicity we want to achieve, we have to introduce a level of custody. We do maintain the principles of decentralized finance though. Everything is one-to-one. We do not trade without user approval. The user must authorize the transaction. We have institutional-grade security, state-of-the-art custody. So we built it in a way that's as good as it gets on top of decentralized finance.
James (CryptoBit Mag): Have you heard about DLCs, like those used with Bitcoin? They allow for self-custody smart contracts, where you can also lend out the assets.
Mehdi Lebbar: DLC BTC is someone we talked to yesterday, and it was very interesting to see what they're doing. I don't know much about it because I didn't do the research, but it's very promising, especially the type of yields that they are talking about are high. Let's see where it comes from and how they do it.
Driss Benamour: Long term, I'd love to maintain the same experience but move fully decentralized. It's not there yet, especially in terms of multi-chain support. If you want to be able to do Solana and EVMs, it starts to break. That's why we chose the approach we've been taking right now. But long term, we'd love to do it, whether it's us or there's a really good multi-chain wallet that comes out of the ecosystem that we could use on top of our platform.
The team is coming from both Uber, in terms of where we learned entrepreneurship, and Wall Street. The Uber part is about starting with the design principles of something that is user-friendly. We start there and hit the frontiers of the wallet itself. The Web3 wallet has some complexities, and then the blockchain itself has bridging and all these things, gas fees, and so on. On the Wall Street side, we try to bring in the rationality of investing from Wall Street into DeFi. So we merge that expertise of DeFi and traditional finance.
Just to explain the gas fee - gas fees go away because we pool trades. So if 1000 users invest in one pool, it's one trade. The gas fee gets split, and we just charge a flat 0.2% per trade. So it becomes very efficient.
James (CryptoBit Mag): Where can people find you? Could you share your website URL and social media handles?
Driss Benamour: Absolutely. Our website is exponential.fi, and on Twitter, we're @exponential_defi.
James (CryptoBit Mag): Great. We appreciate your time. Is there anything else that you want to let people know?
Driss Benamour: We're just very excited about bringing the next wave of investors to DeFi. That's what we're about. We do it in a way that's rational and transparent. I wasn't comfortable launching this thing without users understanding the risk of what they're investing in. That's why we built the risk framework. That's why Mehdi designed the first institutional-grade risk assessment system on top of decentralized finance. You get the nice ability to say, "Hey, I can get 3% with an A, or I can get 40% with a D and anywhere in between." Making those trade-offs and the right decisions is something we deeply care about.
Mehdi Lebbar: I would add to that that compounding is the strongest force in finance, and it's important to get financial independence, especially in times that are as hard as the times we live in today, with inflation and so on. When you look at it, there are very few yield opportunities for normal people, and DeFi, we think, is the best yield opportunity out there. That's why we are so eager to pursue the mission of making it accessible.
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Hey there, crypto enthusiasts! If you've been keeping an ear to the ground in the DeFi space, you've probably heard whispers about Exponential.fi. But what exactly sets this platform apart in the bustling world of decentralized finance? Let's unpack its features together.
Exponential.fi isn't just another platform; it's your gateway to simplifying the complex world of DeFi. Imagine having all your investment needs from risk assessment to actual investment, streamlined into one interface. This is what Exponential.fi offers - a place where you can identify opportunities, bridge fiat, assess risks, and invest in crypto, all without jumping through technological hoops.
One of the standout features of Exponential.fi is its risk assessment system. They've developed what they claim to be the "first institutional-grade risk assessment system in DeFi." This means you're not just throwing darts at a board; you're making informed decisions with transparency at your fingertips. Each investment opportunity comes with a risk rating, distilling thousands of risk vectors into a simple grade, making it easier for you to evaluate where you stand.
3. Yield Opportunities That Speak for Themselves
Exponential.fi promises yields that could make your traditional bank savings look like pocket change. We're talking about opportunities where your crypto could be earning you 10% or more. Through smart contracts, you're stepping into the shoes of a bank, lending out your crypto to earn like one. And the best part? Your funds are held 1:1, ensuring there's no funny business with your investments.
4. Community and Education at Its Core
Beyond the tech, Exponential.fi fosters a community. They're not just about making money; they're about education too. With features like "Learn DeFi with Exponential" and a podcast named "Degen Responsibly," they're committing to making DeFi accessible. This educational approach demystifies the tech for newcomers, which is pretty revolutionary if you ask me.
5. Regulation-Forward Approach
Here's where Exponential.fi might just be ahead of the curve. They're taking a regulation-forward stance, aiming to avoid the pitfalls of past DeFi platforms. Registered with FinCEN, they're playing by the rules, which in the wild west of DeFi, is both refreshing and reassuring.
6. User Experience Designed for Everyone
From beta testers to seasoned investors, Exponential.fi's interface is designed with you in mind. Whether you're tech-savvy or just dipping your toes into DeFi, the platform's design aims to be intuitive, reducing the learning curve, and making your journey into earning yield as smooth as possible.
Exponential.fi isn't just another DeFi platform; it's a movement towards making decentralized finance accessible, secure, and rewarding for everyone. From its risk assessment tools to its community-driven ethos, it's crafting a space where investing in crypto doesn't feel like a leap into the unknown but a calculated step towards financial innovation.
So, are you ready to explore what Exponential.fi has to offer? Dive in, because the future of finance might just be a few clicks away.
Remember, while platforms like Exponential.fi promise innovation, always do your own research. The crypto space moves fast, and staying informed is your best defense. Here's to hoping you find your way to maximizing your crypto's potential with Exponential.fi!
https://www.linkedin.com/company/exponential-defi/
https://discord.com/invite/exponential
All interview transcripts have been meticulously transcribed by Stylo.Network, ensuring accuracy and clarity in every detail.
Exponential.fi is an investment platform that aims to simplify the process of investing in decentralized finance (DeFi) by offering tools to identify, assess, and invest in yield opportunities.
While specific details might vary, typically, platforms like Exponential.fi could make money through fees on transactions, management fees on yields, or by taking a small percentage of the yield earned through their platform.
DeFi platforms generally don't offer traditional insurance like banks, but Exponential.fi might highlight that all funds are held 1:1, suggesting no fractional reserve practices. However, always check for the latest information regarding any form of protection or insurance on investments.
Users might earn yields like 3% on Bitcoin or potentially higher on other cryptocurrencies through DeFi opportunities. Yields can fluctuate based on market conditions and the specific DeFi protocols used.
They've developed what they call an institutional-grade risk assessment system, which rates investment opportunities from lowest to very high risk, simplifying the risk evaluation process for users.
This would typically depend on the terms of the specific investment or deposit. Some DeFi platforms might have lock-up periods or specific conditions for withdrawal.
Given their registration with FinCEN, it's likely that Exponential.fi requires some form of KYC to comply with regulatory standards.
While specifics could change, platforms like this often start with major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and possibly expand to others like Ethereum (ETH), stablecoins, and more.
They might educate users on risks through various content and employ their risk assessment system to mitigate issues, but always look for the most current strategies they use to handle smart contract vulnerabilities.
DeFi platforms often aim for global accessibility, but there might be restrictions based on local laws and regulations. Users would need to check if there are any geo-restrictions or special requirements for their country.
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