Permissionless III Recap: Top Crypto Moments in Utah

Permissionless III: An Unforgettable Experience Packed with Innovation and Insight

This year’s Permissionless III in Utah exceeded all expectations, bringing together an incredible array of events, industry leaders, and cutting-edge technology. Among the highlights was the thrilling Karate Combat, which showcased the power of martial arts in a unique and engaging format, perfectly embodying the event’s spirit of innovation and community.

Throughout the event, we had the privilege of interviewing many diverse companies, diving deep into their visions and the technologies shaping the future of blockchain. As we pen down these interviews, we’re excited to share the insights and perspectives from industry pioneers, and we're currently in the process of interviewing more than 10 additional companies to expand our coverage.

Highlights from Our Interviews

We spoke with a diverse range of companies, each contributing to the evolving landscape of decentralized technology. Some of the companies we interviewed include the following, while others were present at the events but we did not have the opportunity to interview them:

Vana

Vana, co-founded by Anna Kazlauskas, is a pioneering layer-one blockchain platform focused on user-owned data and decentralized AI. By empowering individuals to control and monetize their data through Data DAOs, Vana fosters a more equitable digital landscape. Below are five key points summarizing Vana's mission and impact:

User-Owned Data and AI: Vana enables users to retain ownership of their data and contribute it to collectively owned AI models, creating decentralized AI that rivals leading models like GPT, with contributions from millions of users, such as the 140,000 Reddit users in its live Reddit Data DAO.
Decentralized Data Infrastructure: Built as an EVM-compatible layer-one blockchain, Vana ensures non-custodial data management, where users control their data via private keys, enhancing privacy and enabling data liquidity pools for AI training and policy negotiation.
Innovative Data DAOs: Vana's Data DAOs, like the Reddit DAO that influenced Reddit’s data policies and the 23andMe DAO aiming to acquire the company, allow communities to collectively manage and monetize data, leveraging blockchain for transparency and user empowerment.
Privacy and Ethical AI: By prioritizing user consent and non-custodial data storage, Vana reduces risks associated with centralized data systems, ensuring ethical AI development with diverse, user-contributed datasets.
Global Accessibility and Impact: Vana democratizes AI access, enabling individuals worldwide to contribute data and benefit from AI advancements, supported by a lean 16-person team and a growing ecosystem of developers building on the platform.

Nodle

Nodle, led by co-founder and CEO Micha Benoliel, is a decentralized wireless network leveraging smartphones to connect IoT devices and authenticate digital content. With over a million users, Nodle pioneers secure, user-centric solutions for the generative AI era. Below are five key points summarizing Nodle's mission and impact:

Decentralized Wireless Network: Nodle transforms smartphones into nodes for a global, energy-efficient network using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), enabling IoT connectivity and decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN) without costly centralized systems.
Content Authentication with Click App: The Click app authenticates photos and videos using the C2PA standard, blockchain, and IPFS, allowing users to verify content authenticity and maintain ownership across platforms, addressing AI-generated misinformation.
Earning Opportunities with $NODL: Users earn Nodle’s native cryptocurrency, $NODL, by participating in the network via the Nodle app, which operates passively with Bluetooth and location services, offering a low-effort entry into crypto.
Privacy and Security Focus: Nodle prioritizes user privacy by using location data solely for network purposes and securing data via blockchain, with a freemium model covering transaction fees to enhance accessibility.
Enterprise and Developer Ecosystem: Nodle supports businesses and developers with tools like ConnectX for IoT applications, enabling scalable solutions for asset tracking and location-aware services, with a growing user base of 30,000 for the Click app.

Hexens

Hexens.io, led by Chief Revenue Officer Ellis Norman, is a leading cybersecurity firm specializing in Web3 and Web2 security solutions, focusing on smart contract audits and innovative tools for blockchain security. With a commitment to fostering a secure decentralized ecosystem, Hexens.io stands out through its comprehensive services and community-driven initiatives. Below are five key points summarizing Hexens.io's mission and impact:

Comprehensive Cybersecurity Services: Hexens.io provides smart contract audits, penetration testing, and cloud security for Tier One Web3 projects, conducting nearly 40 audits in 2023 to identify critical vulnerabilities and ensure robust protection.
Innovative Bug Bounty Platform: Through its Remedy platform, Hexens.io offers a unique, no-fee bug bounty program with professional triage, encouraging ethical hackers to uncover vulnerabilities and enhance project security without success fees.
Glider: Advanced Security Tool: Glider, a first-of-its-kind query language and framework for Solidity, enables rapid vulnerability scanning across entire blockchains, reducing analysis time from months to minutes compared to competitors like Slither.
Zero-Knowledge Proof Integration: Hexens.io leverages cutting-edge zero-knowledge (ZK) prover technology to enhance privacy and security, providing advanced solutions for Web3 projects seeking robust protection.
Community and Educational Engagement: Under the leadership of CEO Sipan Vardanyan, Hexens.io promotes cybersecurity education and supports projects by offering free listings and full migration support to platforms like Remedy, fostering a safer Web3 environment.

Kiln

Kiln.fi, with Stephen Leahy leading expansion in the Americas, is a premier staking platform focused on institutional-grade services for Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchains, managing nearly $9 billion in staked assets. Since its pivot to staking in 2021, Kiln has driven innovation in decentralized finance. Below are five key points summarizing Kiln.fi's mission and impact:

Institutional-Grade Staking Solutions: Kiln.fi provides robust staking services for institutional clients, running 4.5% of Ethereum validators and supporting 44 PoS protocols, with SOC 2 Type 2 compliance and audited smart contracts ensuring security and trust.
Customizable and White-Label Services: Kiln offers tailored staking solutions, including dedicated and shared validators, white-label options, and support for cloud or bare-metal servers, catering to institutional needs with seamless integration.
DeFi and Restaking Integration: Beyond traditional staking, Kiln connects users to DeFi platforms for stablecoin yield and supports innovative restaking protocols like Eigenlayer, enhancing asset utility and network security.
Bitcoin Staking and Emerging Protocols: Kiln pioneers Bitcoin staking and actively engages with new PoS protocols, prioritizing security, scalability, and operational excellence to support the next wave of blockchain innovation.
User Accessibility and Community Engagement: Kiln’s one-click staking dApp simplifies participation for all users, while events like Kiln Rendezvous foster industry dialogue, positioning Kiln as a leader in decentralized finance and community-driven growth.

Taoshi

Taoshi.io, under the leadership of Thomas Dougherty, PhD, Manager of Research and Development, is a pioneering decentralized finance platform within the Bittensor ecosystem, leveraging AI and blockchain for advanced financial forecasting. Founded in 2023, Taoshi focuses on delivering high-quality trading signals through its Proprietary Trading Network (PTN). Below are five key points summarizing Taoshi.io's mission and impact:

Decentralized AI-Driven Trading: Taoshi.io utilizes Bittensor’s decentralized AI to provide quant trading signals, enabling traders to compete transparently and earn significant rewards, with top miners earning up to $1–2 million annually, far surpassing traditional proprietary trading firms.
Proprietary Trading Network (PTN): Launched in 2024, PTN is the world’s first fair, decentralized trading challenge, eliminating profit-driven registration fees and incentivizing high-quality predictions through open-source evaluation on GitHub.
Request Network Marketplace: Taoshi’s Request Network enables peer-to-peer access to real-time trading signals via API keys, fostering seamless integration with Bittensor subnets and supporting innovative research and development.
Community and Talent Outreach: Taoshi actively recruits talent through university hackathons and open-source software, providing tools like baseline models and data collection to empower new traders within its ecosystem.
Risk-Managed Innovation: The Taoshi Network Model dynamically integrates top-performing miners’ strategies, using risk-adjusted metrics like max drawdown to ensure robust, high-return trading signals for users.

Token.com

Token.com, led by CEO and Co-Founder Mel Gelderman, is a transformative cryptocurrency investment platform launched in 2023, designed to make crypto accessible and engaging through a TikTok-style social media interface. With over a decade of experience, including co-founding Monolith’s Ethereum-integrated VISA debit card, Gelderman aims to redefine crypto investing. Below are five key points summarizing Token.com’s mission and impact:

Social Media-Driven Investing: Token.com integrates a TikTok-style video feed with direct buyწ: buy/sell buttons, allowing users to discover and invest in tokens like Bitcoin and Ethereum while engaging with compelling stories, fostering mass adoption.
Non-Custodial Wallet Model: The platform employs a non-custodial wallet system, ensuring users retain control of their funds via encrypted hardware modules and familiar logins like Google or Apple ID, balancing security and accessibility.
Global Accessibility and KYC Options: Live globally, including the US, with 110,000 KYC users in Latin America, Token.com offers seamless fiat on/off ramps for new users and wallet connectivity for experienced traders, catering to diverse audiences.
Algorithmic Content Curation: An advanced algorithm leverages viewership data and investment actions to prioritize relevant content, such as Uniswap updates, filtering out low-quality videos to enhance user experience.
Vision for Tokenized Economy: Token.com’s upcoming Launchpad feature will enable creators to tokenize and fund business ideas, from yoga studios to space ventures, aiming to democratize investment and drive a new era of decentralized finance.

Exponential.fi

Exponential.fi, co-founded by Mehdi Lebbar and Driss Benamour in 2021, is a San Francisco-based decentralized finance (DeFi) investment platform designed to simplify access to high-yield opportunities. With a $14 million seed round led by Paradigm, the platform integrates risk assessment, one-click trading, and portfolio analytics to democratize DeFi. Below are five key points summarizing Exponential.fi’s mission and impact:

Simplified DeFi Access: Exponential.fi streamlines DeFi investing with one-click trading, fiat on/off ramps, and tax reporting, enabling users to access yield opportunities across multiple chains like Ethereum, Polygon, and Arbitrum without complex wallet management.
Institutional-Grade Risk Assessment: The platform features a pioneering risk assessment system, evaluating protocols, assets, and pools for risks like smart contract vulnerabilities and under-collateralization, providing clear risk grades (e.g., A for 3% yield, D for 40%) to guide informed decisions.
Regulation-Forward Approach: Registered with FinCEN, Exponential.fi prioritizes compliance with KYC/AML regulations, temporarily holding funds to simplify transactions while maintaining transparency through on-chain tracking, balancing accessibility with DeFi principles.
High-Yield Opportunities: By pooling trades to minimize gas fees (charging a flat 0.2% per trade), Exponential.fi offers competitive yields, such as 10% or more on assets like Bitcoin and stablecoins, outpacing traditional finance options.
Community and Education Focus: Through initiatives like the “Degen Responsibly” podcast and DeFi 101 blog series, Exponential.fi educates users on risks and opportunities, fostering a community-driven approach to make DeFi accessible to both novice and experienced investors.

Lantern Finance

Lantern Finance, co-founded by Jung Won Kim, Prince Jindal, and Deegii Altangerel in 2023, is a San Francisco-based fintech platform focused on secure crypto-backed loans and staking, addressing the shortcomings of past crypto lenders like BlockFi. Selected for Techstars '24 and backed by over $1 million in pre-seed funding, Lantern prioritizes user-friendly solutions for non-technical crypto investors. Below are five key points summarizing Lantern Finance’s mission and impact:

Secure Crypto-Backed Loans: Lantern offers over-collateralized loans up to 50% of Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Solana value, with fiat disbursed directly to bank accounts, starting at 5% interest, ensuring transparency and avoiding risky practices of past platforms.
Flexible Staking Options: The platform provides custodial (15% fee on rewards) and non-custodial staking (minimum 32 ETH for non-custodial), enabling users to earn rewards securely while minimizing DeFi and smart contract risks.
User-Centric Design: Targeting users wary of self-custody and DeFi complexities, Lantern employs institutional-grade security with BitGo as custodian and offers 24/7 customer support via phone and email, enhancing accessibility.
Future All-in-One Platform: Lantern is developing Lantern 2.0, introducing a loan portal, trading capabilities, and crypto-backed credit cards, aiming to be a comprehensive solution for crypto personal finance.
Transparency and Trust: Born from the founders’ experiences with 2022 crypto lender failures, Lantern stores collateral in cold storage or native staking, eliminating counterparty risk and prioritizing user asset safety.

Midnight Network

Midnight, led by CEO Eran Barak, is a regulatory-friendly blockchain developed by Input Output Global, focusing on data protection through zero-knowledge (ZK) technology. Launched on a testnet in October 2024, Midnight addresses privacy, cost, and reliability challenges to enable mass adoption of blockchain for individuals and enterprises. Below are five key points summarizing Midnight’s mission and impact:

Advanced Data Protection: Midnight employs upgradable ZK Snarks to ensure selective disclosure, allowing users to protect sensitive data and metadata while maintaining verifiable transactions, addressing privacy concerns for personal and business applications.
Regulatory Compliance: Designed to align with regulations like GDPR, Midnight balances data protection with safeguards against illicit activities, making it suitable for enterprises entering Web3 while ensuring compliance.
Scalable and Reliable Infrastructure: With a testnet supporting over 2,000 developer teams, Midnight offers unlimited scalability, low latency (6-second block time), and service level assurance, enabling robust business applications.
Developer-Friendly Ecosystem: Midnight supports DApp development with TypeScript and Compact, a custom language for ZK circuits, fostering innovation through hackathons, comprehensive documentation like the Nightpaper, and an active community on Discord and Telegram.
Cost Control and Token System: Utilizing NIGHT and DUST tokens, Midnight ensures predictable transaction costs, addressing volatility issues in traditional blockchains and making budgeting feasible for enterprise use cases.

Valora

Valora, with Philip Milestone as General Counsel, is a San Francisco-based mobile-first cryptocurrency wallet launched on the Celo blockchain, now supporting multiple chains like Ethereum, Base, and Arbitrum. Designed to democratize access to web3, Valora simplifies crypto management with an intuitive interface and innovative features. Below are five key points summarizing Valora’s mission and impact:

User-Friendly Crypto Wallet: Valora offers a mobile-first platform for managing crypto assets, enabling seamless on-ramping, off-ramping, token swapping, and dApp integration, designed for both new and experienced users to interact with web3 effortlessly.
Self-Custodial Security: Operating on a non-custodial model, Valora ensures users retain control of their funds via private keys, enhancing security and transparency while supporting stablecoins like USDT and USDC for stability.
Simplified Transactions: Users can send crypto using phone numbers or "live links" via text, eliminating the need for complex wallet addresses, making transactions as intuitive as sending a message.
Mobile Stack for Developers: Valora’s Mobile Stack, a forthcoming product, provides composable software components to streamline the development of native web3 mobile applications, fostering innovation and accessibility in the crypto ecosystem.
Global Accessibility and Community Focus: Available in countries like the US, Nigeria, Vietnam, and Brazil, Valora promotes financial inclusion through community engagement on platforms like Discord, X (@valora), and Farcaster (@valora.xyz), supported by 24/7 customer service.

Movement Labs

Movement Labs, co-founded by Rushi Manche in 2022, is a San Francisco-based blockchain development company pioneering a network of modular Move-based Layer 2 (L2) blockchains on Ethereum, leveraging the Move programming language for enhanced security and performance. With over $45 million raised, Movement Labs is driving innovation through its testnet and upcoming mainnet. Below are five key points summarizing Movement Labs’ mission and impact:

Move-Powered L2 on Ethereum: Movement Labs introduces M2, the first Move Virtual Machine (MoveVM) L2 on Ethereum, integrating Move’s security-focused, resource-oriented programming with Ethereum’s liquidity, achieving over 160,000 transactions per second (TPS) and gas fees under $0.01.
Interoperability via AggLayer: By joining Polygon Labs’ AggLayer, Movement Labs unifies liquidity across MoveVM-based L2s and Ethereum, enabling seamless cross-chain interactions and supporting applications like DeFi and gaming through partnerships with projects like Solv Protocol.
Celestia for Data Availability: Utilizing Celestia’s modular data availability layer, Movement Labs ensures scalable, high-throughput transaction processing while settling to Ethereum, addressing blockchain fragmentation and enhancing user experience.
Vibrant Developer Ecosystem: The “Battle of Olympus” hackathon, attracting 2,100 project submissions, fosters innovation with projects like StakedMove and Gasyard, supported by a $20 million fund and the Move Collective accelerator program.
Community and Consumer Focus: Movement Labs supports over 55 applications, including consumer-focused apps like Henry (shop-to-earn) and Bracket (prediction markets), making crypto accessible to non-technical users while promoting secure, scalable development.

Kinto

Kinto, co-founded by Ramon Recuero in February 2023, is an Ethereum Layer 2 (L2) rollup leveraging Arbitrum’s Nitro stack and Celestia for data availability, designed to bridge traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi) with a focus on security, compliance, and user experience. Having raised $5 million, Kinto launched its mainnet in Q1 2024 and has grown to $65 million in TVL with 72,000 KYC’d users by December 2024. Below are five key points summarizing Kinto’s mission and impact:

Regulatory-Compliant L2: Kinto is the first KYC’d L2 blockchain, enforcing mandatory KYC/AML checks via providers like Onfido and Synaps, ensuring compliance with regulations like OFAC while maintaining decentralization and user privacy through non-custodial wallets and encrypted data storage.
Non-Custodial Smart Wallets: Utilizing account abstraction, Kinto’s smart wallets allow flexible signer configurations (e.g., MetaMask, hardware wallets) and a unique recovery mechanism via re-KYC, ensuring users retain control and can recover assets even if private keys are lost.
Chain Abstraction for Seamless DeFi: Kinto’s Musubi liquidity engine enables cross-chain swaps, lending, and borrowing across Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, and Hyperliquid, providing access to major DeFi protocols like Aave with minimal fees (gasless or $0.01) and no redundant liquidity pools.
Security and Insurance: Kinto reduces DeFi risks by enforcing smart wallet usage, whitelisting contracts, and offering network-wide insurance to protect against exploits, addressing the $113.5 billion in illicit DeFi activity reported from 2018–2023.
Community-Driven Growth: Through initiatives like the Momiji and Onsen airdrop campaigns, Kinto distributes 1% of its token supply to users and developers, fostering engagement with 164,000 Twitter followers and supporting real-world asset (RWA) integration, such as USD+ stablecoin and tokenized stocks like TSLA.

Unstoppable Domains

Unstoppable Domains, led by COO Sandy Carter since 2021, is a San Francisco-based platform launched in 2018, offering blockchain-based domain names as digital identities for Web2 and Web3. With over 3.4 million domains registered and $80 million raised, it simplifies crypto transactions and enhances user control. Below are five key points summarizing Unstoppable Domains’ mission and impact:

Web3 Digital Identity: Unstoppable Domains provides "super NFTs" minted on Ethereum, Polygon, and Base (with Solana support planned), enabling users to store data like diplomas or NFTs, and access token-gated features such as encrypted chats.
Bridging Web2 and Web3: As an ICANN-accredited registrar, it offers tokenized .com and .crypto domains, blending traditional domain functionality with blockchain capabilities, with plans to allow Web2 domain transfers for enhanced "superpowers."
Simplified Crypto Transactions: Domains replace complex wallet addresses with human-readable names (e.g., yourname.crypto), streamlining payments across multiple chains like Base and Solana, with no renewal fees for lifetime ownership.
Secondary Marketplace: A recently launched marketplace supports domain trading, with 50,000 listings and a record $20,000 sale, fostering a vibrant ecosystem for digital asset exchange.
Privacy and User-Friendly Design: Combining on-chain storage with Web2-level off-chain security, Unstoppable Domains simplifies onboarding with familiar login options (e.g., Google, PayPal) and promotes inclusivity through initiatives like Unstoppable Women of Web3 and AI.

These interviews and interactions with various companies not only broadened our understanding of the current state of the blockchain industry but also revealed the incredible potential for collaboration and innovation among these leaders.

Looking Ahead

As we finalize our write-ups from the interviews and gather insights from the events we attended, we’re eager to share these stories with our readers. The connections made at Permissionless III have set the stage for future collaborations and advancements, reinforcing the importance of community and shared vision in driving the blockchain revolution.

Stay tuned for more updates and articles detailing the exciting developments and insights from this year’s Permissionless III!‍

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