初創(chuàng)公司dYdX已從投資者那里融資1000萬美元，用來開發(fā)讓人們可以直接相互借款而不經(jīng)過券商的金融軟件。

該公司共有五人，他們開發(fā)出了基于以太坊網(wǎng)絡(luò)的保證金交易協(xié)議，目的是允許人們創(chuàng)造出和加密貨幣有關(guān)的新金融產(chǎn)品，就像付息貸款、賣空和用了杠桿的多頭倉位。和傳統(tǒng)金融行業(yè)不同，此項技術(shù)不需要券商來充當(dāng)受托中介。

dYdX創(chuàng)始人安東尼奧·朱利亞諾在電話上對《財富》雜志表示：“去中心化金融可能是區(qū)塊鏈技術(shù)的第一個真正應(yīng)用。”他這樣描述此項技術(shù)的革命性：區(qū)塊鏈?zhǔn)加诒忍貛牛蛘哒f去中心化貨幣。然后它們讓建立去中心化交易所成為可能，比如0x和Kyber協(xié)議，人們可以通過這樣的協(xié)議交換虛擬貨幣，而不需要Coinbase那樣的中樞型交易所。

朱利亞諾曾在Coinbase和優(yōu)步擔(dān)任工程師，他認(rèn)為現(xiàn)在可以開始在此基礎(chǔ)上開發(fā)工具。他說：“下一個符合邏輯的落腳點是衍生產(chǎn)品。”此類金融合約將改善當(dāng)前數(shù)字貨幣的“原始”交易方式，還會“降低數(shù)字貨幣市場的波動性”。

朱利亞諾的dYdX協(xié)議整合了以太坊的所謂智能合約，這種合約可以自動進(jìn)行金融交易，并通過去中心化交易所（在這里是Ox協(xié)議）提供的交易結(jié)算功能來創(chuàng)造衍生產(chǎn)品。他說，這些衍生產(chǎn)品有助于交易商對沖風(fēng)險，并以新的方式進(jìn)行投機(jī)，從而最終熨平市場波動。

做空以太坊

任何人都能用dYdX的軟件來打造產(chǎn)品，包括dYdX在內(nèi)。

本月初，這家公司推出了第一款產(chǎn)品Expo，投資者可以用它來“做空”以太坊，或者說押寶在以太坊價格下跌上，而且只需要買進(jìn)一種虛擬代幣。它的名字很貼切，就叫“做空以太坊代幣”（short Ethereum token）。此前，做空以太坊的最便捷途徑是在Bitmex或Circle’s Poloniex等中心化交易所里建倉。

朱利亞諾說：“Expo基本上是把用戶進(jìn)行的大量復(fù)雜保證金交易抽離了出來。人們無需擔(dān)心貸款問題。”

理論上，當(dāng)以太幣（Ether），也就是以太坊的內(nèi)置數(shù)字貨幣的價格出現(xiàn)一定幅度的下跌時，做空以太坊代幣按美元計算的價格就會出現(xiàn)同樣的漲幅。反之亦然，以太幣的價格上升，做空以太坊代幣的價格就會下滑。

朱利亞諾的團(tuán)隊計劃推出更多產(chǎn)品，包括加杠桿的多頭以太坊代幣，以放大投資者的保證金交易損益。朱利亞諾說，今后2至3個月，他的團(tuán)隊將考慮增加其他產(chǎn)品，比如0x協(xié)議內(nèi)置的ZRX代幣，具體情況取決于它們的流動性。

Expo目前是免費(fèi)服務(wù)，但朱利亞諾說今后dYdX可能對交易收費(fèi)。或者，該公司可以創(chuàng)造一種代幣，以便隨后在基礎(chǔ)協(xié)議層收取費(fèi)用。

就目前而言，賺錢并不是這個團(tuán)隊的首要任務(wù)。朱利亞諾表示：“我們把重點放在讓別人使用協(xié)議上。”他還指出，迄今為止最有吸引力的功能是讓貸款人累積向其他投資者借款得到的利息。

押寶金融衍生產(chǎn)品

dYdX在最新一輪融資中籌集到了1000萬美元，而且有幾位投資者已經(jīng)是第二次向這家初創(chuàng)公司投資。

領(lǐng)頭人a16z crypto是一只以數(shù)字貨幣為主的投資基金，由硅谷風(fēng)投公司安德森·霍洛維茨和專門從事數(shù)字貨幣相關(guān)投資的對沖基金Polychain Capital在今年設(shè)立。這兩家公司也是2017年11月dYdX種子輪融資的領(lǐng)頭人，當(dāng)時dYdX籌到了200萬美元。

Polychain Capital的創(chuàng)始人兼首席執(zhí)行官拉夫·卡爾森-維表示，他和朱利亞諾一起在Coinbase工作時，后者的工程技巧和“強(qiáng)有力的成長心態(tài)”打動了他。卡爾森-維把dYdX的“做空以太坊代幣”稱為“逆以太幣或者暗以太幣”，他還說，這只是dYdX計劃開發(fā)的P2P金融產(chǎn)品的首個范例。

安德森·霍洛維茨加密貨幣基金負(fù)責(zé)人之一克里斯·狄克遜同樣對dYdX團(tuán)隊的工程水平表示贊賞。他說后者的產(chǎn)品有可能幫助到對借貸和對沖風(fēng)險感興趣的加密貨幣投資者。

其他幾家風(fēng)投公司也參與了dYdX的這輪融資，其中包括Craft Ventures、Bain Capital Ventures、Dragonfly Capital、VY Capital、Abstract Ventures、Kindred Ventures和1confirmation。

跟投的還有幾位天使投資人，其中有初創(chuàng)公司助力網(wǎng)站AngelList的創(chuàng)始人納韋爾·拉維肯特、技術(shù)界老手兼初創(chuàng)公司顧問埃拉德·吉爾、訂票網(wǎng)站Eventbrite的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人凱文·哈茨以及加密貨幣交易所Coinbase的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人弗雷德·埃爾扎姆。

拿到這筆資金后，dYdX開始考慮擴(kuò)張。朱利亞諾說：“首要任務(wù)是擴(kuò)大團(tuán)隊規(guī)模。我們打算在舊金山招募工程、設(shè)計和運(yùn)營人員。”（財富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：Charlie

審校：夏林

A startup called dYdX has raised $10 million in funding from investors to develop financial software that allows people to borrow money from one another without using a broker.

The five-person company developed a margin trading protocol based on the computing network Ethereum. It aims to allow people to create new cryptocurrency-related financial products, like interest-generating loans, short sells, or leveraged long positions. Unlike the world of traditional finance, the technology requires no broker to act as a trusted intermediary.

“Decentralized finance will be first real application of blockchain technology,” said Antonio Juliano, dYdX’s founder, on a call with Fortune. He described the evolution of the technology thusly: Blockchains began with Bitcoin, or decentralized money. Then they enabled the creation of decentralized exchanges, such as the 0x and Kyber projects, which let people swap virtual tokens without needing a centralized exchange, like Coinbase, in the middle.

Now Juliano sees an opening for tools built on these foundations. “The next logical thing is derivatives,” said Juliano, who formerly worked as an engineer at Coinbase and Uber. These sorts of financial contracts will improve upon the “primitive” way cryptocurrency trading is done today, he said, and will lead to “l(fā)ess volatility in the underlying market.”

Juliano’s dYdX project combines so-called smart contracts from Ethereum, which help automate financial deal-making, with the trade settlement features offered by decentralized exchanges, in this case 0x, to create derivatives. These derivatives can help traders hedge risk, speculate in new ways, and ultimately smooth out see-sawing markets, he said.

Betting against Ethereum

Anyone can build a product on top of the dYdX’s software—including dYdX.

Earlier this month the company debuted its first product, Expo, an application that enables investors to “short” Ethereum, or place bets that the cryptocurrency’s price will decline, simply by purchasing a virtual token called, appropriately, the “short Ethereum token.” Prior to this, the easiest way to short Ethereum involved taking positions on a centralized exchange, such as Bitmex or Circle’s Poloniex.

“Basically, Expo abstracts a lot of complications of margin trading away from the user,” Juliano said. “People don’t have to worry about getting a loan.”

In theory, when the price of Ethereum’s native coin, Ether, goes down by some amount, then the price of the short Ethereum token should go up by an equal dollar-value amount. In cases where Ether’s price rises, the reverse is true: short Ethereum falls.

Juliano’s team is planning to launch more assets, including a long leveraged Ethereum token, which is designed to magnify the gains or losses of investors trading on margin. In the next two-to-three months, Juliano said his team would look to add additional assets, depending upon their liquidity, such as the ZRX token, the native coin of 0x.

Expo is currently a free service, but Juliano says dYdX could charge fees on transactions in the future. Alternatively, the company could mint a token that lets it reap fees at the base protocol layer later on.

For now, money-making isn’t the team’s priority. “Our focus is on getting people to use protocol,” Juliano said, noting that the feature drawing the most interest to date is one that lets lenders accrue interest for providing loans to other investors.

Betting on financial derivatives

The latest funding round for dYdX, worth $10 million, sees a couple of investors doubling down on the startup.

The lead investors are a16z crypto, a crypto-focused investment fund created this year by Andreessen Horowitz, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm, as well as Polychain Capital, a hedge fund that specializes in cryptocurrency-related investments. Both investors led dYdX’s earlier $2 million seed funding round in November 2017.

Olaf Carlson-Wee, CEO and founder of Polychain Capital, said he was impressed by Juliano’s engineering skills and “strong growth mentality” when the two worked together at Coinbase. He described dYdX’s “short Ethereum” token as “an anti-Ether or a dark Ether,” and he said it’s just the first example of a peer-to-peer financial product the company plans to develop.

Chris Dixon, who co-leads Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto fund, also praised the dYdX team’s engineering chops. he said their products would be useful for cryptocurrency investors interested in lending and hedging risk.

The latest round of funding includes participation from a number of other venture capital firms as well. These included Craft Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Dragonfly Capital, VY Capital, Abstract Ventures, Kindred Ventures, and 1confirmation.

Several angel investors also participated. These included Naval Ravikant, founder of startup-assisting website AngelList; Elad Gil, a tech veteran and startup advisor; Kevin Hartz, cofounder of ticketing website Eventbrite; and Fred Ehrsam, cofounder of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.

With the new funding secured, dYdX is looking to expand. “The biggest priority is growing the team,” Juliano said. “We’re looking for engineering, design, and operations roles in San Francisco.”