Kresko Labs

Kresko Labs operates as a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol focused on synthetic assets. The company was founded in 2021 by Deepak Nuli, whose background includes establishing the crypto security and research firm Multisig. The idea for Kresko emerged following the GameStop short squeeze incident in early 2021, which highlighted for the founder the exclusionary nature of traditional financial markets. This event motivated the creation of a platform to provide broader market access.

The firm's core business revolves around a protocol that enables the creation and trading of synthetic assets, which are crypto-backed tokens representing real-world assets like stocks and commodities. This allows users to gain exposure to assets such as Tesla stock (krTSLA) or gold (krGold) without owning the underlying asset directly. The platform's business model is centered on providing a capital-efficient way to mint and trade these synthetic assets, which are structured as tradeable ERC-20 tokens. Kresko's protocol utilizes a Collateral Debt Position (CDP) model backed by stablecoins, a structure designed to permit synthetic asset swaps with zero slippage and allow liquidity providers to earn yield in stablecoins, mitigating market volatility risk. The target clients are individuals, particularly in regions with limited access to U.S. and international markets, who wish to trade or invest in fractional shares of global assets.

Significant milestones for the company include securing a $2.35 million seed round in 2021, led by Polychain Capital and Electric Capital, with participation from notable figures like Naval Ravikant. This was followed by a strategic funding round of $1.8 million in late 2023, also led by Electric Capital with Zero Age Ventures. In August 2024, the company announced it was shutting down its protocol due to the founder's significant health challenges. Users were given a deadline to withdraw their assets or migrate them to Kopio, a forked version of the protocol developed by some Kresko team members.

Keywords: synthetic assets, decentralized finance, DeFi protocol, real-world assets, crypto-backed tokens, fractional ownership, stablecoin collateral, Collateral Debt Position, ERC-20 tokens, market access, zero slippage, liquidity provisioning, crypto trading, blockchain finance, Polychain Capital, Electric Capital, Deepak Nuli, financial inclusion, asset tokenization, Kopio