Hedgy

Hedgy, founded in 2014, operated as a financial technology company specializing in blockchain-based applications. The San Francisco-based firm was established by Matt Slater, Warren Paul Anderson, Tim Olson, and Juan Pineda. Slater, a co-founder who later became CEO, possessed a background in finance and became an early cryptocurrency adopter after discovering bitcoin during his graduate studies. The company's genesis occurred at a bitcoin hackathon, where the founders aimed to solve the problem of bitcoin's price volatility.

The firm's core business centered on creating smart contracts for over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives on the Bitcoin blockchain, with the goal of minimizing price and counterparty risks. Hedgy developed a global Bitcoin hedging platform that matched merchants who accepted bitcoin with speculators investing in bitcoin futures. Its product suite included BitLock, which allowed counterparties to lock in the value of their bitcoin holdings, and BitForward, a non-deliverable forward contract. The platform utilized multi-signature technology and an oracle method, inspired by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) Master Agreement, to allow commercial traders to create, enforce, and settle these OTC contracts independently on the blockchain. This process involved no fiat currency, with everything executed in bitcoin.

Hedgy secured a total of $1.97 million in funding over two rounds. After initial incubation at Boost.vc, the company raised a $1.2 million seed round on April 30, 2015, with notable investors including Tim Draper and Marc Benioff. The company was eventually acquired by Wyre, a US-based blockchain startup, in 2018. Following the acquisition, co-founder Matt Slater transitioned to roles at venture capital firms Synapse Capital and Stateless Ventures, focusing on investments in cryptocurrency and Web3 startups.

Keywords: Hedgy.co, blockchain derivatives, bitcoin hedging, smart contracts, OTC derivatives, cryptocurrency risk management, Matt Slater, Warren Paul Anderson, Tim Olson, Juan Pineda, Boost.vc, Tim Draper, Wyre acquisition, decentralized exchange protocol, financial technology, bitcoin futures, multi-sig technology, digital commodity, P2P network, forward contract