Ion Protocol
Decentralized lending platform that allows users to borrow against any asset that is backed by ethereum validators.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| investor investor investor investor investor investor investor investor investor investor investor investor investor investor investor investor investor investor investor investor investor investor investor investor investor investor investor investor investor | €0.0 | round | |
* | $4.8m | Early VC | |
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
Related Content
Ion Protocol, founded in 2023, is a decentralized finance (DeFi) company operating as a money market specifically designed for staked and restaked digital assets. The firm addresses the challenge faced by users of Ethereum rollup solutions who typically have to forgo staking yields available on the mainnet. Ion Protocol's core business revolves around a lending platform where users can deposit validator-backed assets, such as Liquid Staking Tokens (LSTs) and Liquid Restaking Tokens (LRTs), to borrow ETH. This mechanism allows borrowers to increase their exposure to yields and rewards, while lenders can earn returns on their deposited assets.
The company was co-founded by Chunda McCain, who identified the need for more sophisticated infrastructure to support the growing restaking ecosystem. Ion Protocol has secured a total of $7 million in funding, including a $2 million pre-seed round in July 2023 and an additional $4.8 million in August 2024. The funding rounds saw participation from notable investors including Portal Ventures, SevenX Ventures, Gumi Capital Cryptos, Robot Ventures, and BanklessVC.
A key feature of the protocol is its risk underwriting engine, Clarity, which utilizes zero-knowledge machine learning (ZKML) to assess the credit risk of validators backing the staked assets. This approach moves away from traditional price-based liquidation models, instead tying liquidation events to verifiable on-chain data like validator slashing or failure to pay interest. This price-agnostic system is designed to provide a more secure and capital-efficient environment for users. The protocol also offers features like Flash Leverage, an automated strategy that uses flash loans to enable users to maximize their rewards exposure in a single transaction. With the latest funding, Ion Protocol is developing Nucleus, a native yield platform intended to help rollups and appchains generate their own yield for users who bridge assets to their networks.
Keywords: decentralized finance, DeFi lending, money market, liquid staking tokens, LST, liquid restaking tokens, LRT, crypto lending, validator-backed assets, zero-knowledge machine learning, ZKML, risk underwriting, blockchain finance, Ethereum staking, restaking, yield generation, capital efficiency, native yield, appchains, rollups, Chunda McCain