Fordefi
AcquiredFounded 2021 · 62 employees on LinkedIn · 11 known investors
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Fordefi provides an MPC (multi-party computation) wallet with DeFi-specific features for institutional users such as blockchain investment funds, supporting multi-chain token strategies. It targets the crypto and decentralized finance market.
Also known as Fordefi Inc.
Founders & leadership
Fordefi was founded in 2021 by Josh Schwartz and Josh shwartz.
Investors · 11
Also in the syndicate · 2
Funding
SEC filings, press & company announcements$18M disclosed across 1 of 4 rounds · 2022–2024
- $18MSeed RoundNov 2022 · 2 sourcesSource ↗
Source: company announcements and press reports — follow each round's link for the claim.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Fordefi is a financial technology and software company that operates an institutional multi-party computation (MPC) wallet platform and Web3 gateway. The platform lets institutions self-custody private keys while connecting to decentralized applications across a wide range of blockchains, and combines MPC key management, self-serve DeFi policy controls, time-of-transaction smart contract insights, transaction simulation and real-time risk alerts with a developer suite of native APIs and SDKs.
The product is delivered through several interfaces: a chain-agnostic browser extension with transaction simulation for connecting to dApps, mobile apps (iOS and Android) for reviewing and approving transactions, a web console for assigning approvers, building policies, creating vaults and portfolio management, a REST API for blockchain and portfolio data and transaction creation/signing, and an MPC SDK for embedding self-custodial end-user wallets. Additional platform components include a policy engine whose rules can be based on any transaction parameter, centralized exchange integrations governed by the same policies, a dApp directory that maps smart contract addresses to known protocols for whitelisting, an allowance manager, in-app cross-chain swaps with best execution and policy enforcement, and the Fordefi Network for shared workspaces across firms with group-based governance and shared custody.
Fordefi groups its offering into three main solution areas: Wallet-as-a-Service (instant wallets for end users, token minting, web3 projects via the Wallet API and MPC SDK), DeFi trading, and treasury management. The platform also supports staking, compliance/AML provider integrations, backup and recovery of organization keys, key import, IP whitelisting and configurable authentication.
Founding story
Fordefi was founded in 2021 by Josh Schwartz (CEO), Dr. Dima Kogan (CTO) and Michael Volfman (VP of R&D), who began developing the platform that year as institutional interest in digital assets grew but available wallets, designed years earlier, lacked the technology to connect institutions safely to new blockchains and dApps. Schwartz was previously Chief Operating Officer at Curv, an institutional MPC wallet acquired by PayPal in 2021, and Vice President of Sales at BitGo. Kogan's career spans more than 15 years in academia, industry and government; he holds a PhD from Stanford with a specialization in applied cryptography and won "Best Young Researcher" prizes at Eurocrypt 2018, the Theory of Cryptography Conference 2019 and Eurocrypt 2020. Volfman is an engineering manager with 20 years in cybersecurity, previously VP of R&D at Toka, CTO and co-founder of an edtech startup, and a Director at Guardicore.
Business model
Fordefi sells software infrastructure to institutions rather than acting as a custodian of client keys: customers self-custody their private keys, with the option of self-custodied backup keys or a third-party for disaster recovery. Access is via a demo/sales process (sales@fordefi.com) and the platform spans wallet, policy, connectivity and developer API/SDK components.
Traction
At the November 2022 public launch Fordefi announced $18M in seed funding and named design partners including DeFiance Capital and Arc Capital. By February 2024 the company reported over $3 billion in on-chain transaction volume to date and recent customer wins including Pantera Capital, Keyrock, Flare Network and DeFiance Capital, alongside the launch of its Wallet-as-a-Service product. Its company page reports 300+ institutions transacting over $120B per month on chain across 90+ blockchains.
Latest developments
Fordefi's website promotes Fordefi Rewards, offering up to 3.08% APY on USDG held in customer vaults, and its company page announces that Fordefi is joining Paxos as a Paxos company, combining regulated custody and end-user custody options on one platform. Recent platform additions described include the Fordefi Network for shared cross-firm workspaces with group-based governance and shared custody, in-app cross-chain swaps with policy enforcement, and self-serve integration of additional EVM chains.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Fordefi positions itself as the first institutional MPC wallet and security platform purpose-built for decentralized finance, differentiating from legacy wallet providers and from custody platforms designed primarily for storing assets. As of its company page it reported powering over 300 institutions transacting more than $120B per month on chain across 90+ blockchains. It is now a Paxos company, which it describes as one of the most well-respected and capitalized custodial platforms in the market, giving the combined offering a range from regulated custody to end-user custody on one platform.
Stated differentiators include native multi-chain dApp connectivity from a single browser extension (including early support for Cosmos appchains and Solana dApps), transaction enrichment and simulation so users do not sign blind transactions, a flexible policy engine with thresholds by protocol, action and amount, a dApp directory mapping contract addresses to named protocols, zero counterparty risk through customer-controlled keys, and a developer suite of APIs and an MPC SDK for embedded end-user wallets.
Technology
The architecture is based on MPC protocols, isolated hardware and biometrics, designed to avoid any single point of failure in key management. A unified browser extension provides connectivity to thousands of dApps across 90+ blockchains, paired with a transaction enrichment and simulation system that translates smart contracts into readable language, previews expected asset changes, allowances, fees and revert reasons, and independently verifies dApp names. Supported chains include Ethereum and EVM networks (Arbitrum, Avalanche, Base, BNB, Optimism, Polygon, Linea, Scroll, zkSync Era and others), Bitcoin, Solana, Cosmos appchains (Cosmos Hub, Osmosis, Injective, dYdX, Celestia, Noble and others), Aptos, Sui, Starknet, TON, Tron and Stacks, plus self-serve integration of additional EVM chains. Fordefi says it was the first MPC wallet to build support for Cosmos appchains and Solana dApps. The company completed a SOC 2 Type II certification by Ernst & Young and a penetration-testing security assessment by Skylight Cyber, and states 99.9% guaranteed platform uptime.
Go-to-market
Fordefi markets directly to institutions through a "Book a Demo" / talk-to-sales motion, supported by a documentation site for developers, a blog, and published customer stories. The company was designed in close collaboration with industry-leading trading firms, funds and custodians, and built its Wallet-as-a-Service platform with crypto-native design partners; several investors (for example Electric Capital and DeFiance Capital) also acted as design partners and customers.
Institutional users of on-chain finance: crypto-native funds and hedge funds, trading firms and market makers, asset managers, protocols, exchanges, fintechs and payment companies, tokenization teams, DeFi yield teams and vault curators, and web3 companies and traditional brands wanting to embed end-user wallets. Named customers and design partners include Ouroboros Capital, Keyrock, deBridge, Theia, Liquibit Capital, DeFiance Capital, Pantera Capital, Flare Network and Arc Capital.
Geography
Fordefi is headquartered in New York (450 Lexington Avenue, Suite 3952, New York, NY 10163) with offices in New York and Tel Aviv.
History
The founders began building the platform in 2021 and worked with design partners such as DeFiance Capital from late 2021 while in stealth. Fordefi emerged publicly in November 2022 with an $18M seed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and the launch of its institutional MPC wallet. In February 2024 it announced a $10M seed-extension round led by Electric Capital, bringing total funding to $28M, and launched its Wallet-as-a-Service offering for exchanges, fintechs, web3 businesses and traditional brands. The company has since become a Paxos company.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Competitors · 8
by search overlap
Companies competing with Fordefi for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
Timeline · 6
launches, deals, and filingsFordefi's company page states that Fordefi is joining Paxos and is a Paxos company, combining regulated custody and end-user custody options on one platform.
Fordefi reports completing a SOC 2 Type II certification by Ernst & Young and a penetration testing security assessment by Skylight Cyber.
A $10 million seed-extension round led by Electric Capital with new participation from Paxos and Alchemy brought Fordefi's total funding to $28 million.
$10M source ↗
Fordefi launched a Wallet-as-a-Service product combining an MPC SDK and Wallet API that lets exchanges, fintechs, web3 companies and traditional brands embed secure user-owned wallets in their applications; it was built with crypto-native design partners.
Fordefi announced an $18 million seed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners alongside the public launch of its institutional MPC wallet and Web3 gateway for crypto-native funds.
$18M source ↗
Fordefi launched its institutional MPC wallet and security platform for firms transacting on decentralized applications, featuring MPC key management, policy controls, smart contract translation, transaction simulation and dApp name verification.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
Top Stablecoin Payments Startups by Fundraising (2026) – New Market Pitchnewmarketpitch.com · Jul 2026▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- Fordefifordefi.com · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Fordefi do?
- Fordefi is an institutional MPC wallet and self-custody platform for connecting to dApps across 90+ blockchains.
- Who founded Fordefi?
- Fordefi was founded by Josh Schwartz, Josh shwartz in 2021.
- Who are Fordefi's investors?
- Fordefi's investors include Delta Blockchain, Digital Currency Group, Electric Capital, Lemniscap, Lightspeed Venture Partners, M12 (Microsoft's Venture Fund), Pantera Capital, Wintermute and 1 more.
- How much funding has Fordefi raised?
- Fordefi has disclosed $18M raised across 1 of its 4 known rounds.