Gauntlet

Gauntlet (also referred to as Gauntlet Networks) provides quantitative risk management, simulation and yield optimization for decentralized finance. The company began as an analytics provider that stress-tested blockchain protocols and DAO-governed DeFi projects — for example identifying exploit paths and recommending parameter changes — and has since shifted its principal business to "vault curation," in which it designs and actively manages non-custodial onchain vaults that deploy deposited digital assets into lending, restaking and multi-strategy yield opportunities.

Its current offering spans risk management (model-driven frameworks with human oversight), yield optimization across hundreds of markets, protocols and chains, and Aera, an onchain infrastructure layer for composable and customizable vaults. Gauntlet Applied Research continues the protocol-facing risk and growth-optimization work with protocols including Compound, Uniswap, NEAR and Decibel. Use cases marketed by the company include embedding onchain yield into partner applications and wallets, bringing real-world assets onchain, and treasury/balance-sheet diversification for crypto holders. Security tooling cited includes Hypernative for onchain monitoring, ZeroShadow for 24/7 incident response, and Chainalysis for onchain tracing.

Gauntlet states it has been active in DeFi since 2018, reports over 150 integrations with fintechs and institutions, and cites $1.6 billion or more in capital allocated to its vaults onchain (other 2026 sources cite roughly $1.3–1.5 billion in supplied assets/TVL).

Founding story

Founded in 2018 by Tarun Chitra (CEO), a former quant at D.E. Shaw Research and the trading firm Vatic Labs, together with co-founder Rei Chiang (CTO). Chitra applied quantitative analysis to stress-testing DeFi protocols, with developers hiring the company to identify exploits that could drain project funds.

Business model

Gauntlet supplies risk models, simulation, and actively curated vault strategies to protocols, institutions, fintechs, exchanges, wallets and asset issuers, integrating its vaults into partners' client-facing products. The sources do not describe specific pricing or fee structures.

Not specified in the available sources; one source states revenue grew more than 20x in the year leading up to the Series B.

Traction

Reported metrics include $1.6B+ capital allocated to its vaults onchain, 150+ integrations with fintechs and institutions, $1.3B+ TVL in self-custodial vault strategies, $42B in client assets protected, and 500,000 users reached through KAST's Earn program powered by Gauntlet USD Alpha. In a single October 30, 2025 event, Gauntlet USDT vaults absorbed $775M in new supply (a 40x TVL increase) and returned to pre-deposit APY levels within 10 days. Gauntlet had 40 employees as of July 2026.

Latest developments

In 2026 Gauntlet closed its $125M Series C from SBI Holdings (announced July 9, 2026), launched Prime and Frontier Morpho vaults on Tempo as a day-1 curator (May 2026), made its curated Morpho vaults available via Elwood (June 2026), powered Liquid Earn with Gauntlet USD Alpha (July 2026), launched USDC and Bitcoin earn vaults on Morph with Bitget and Bitget Wallet, and had its Morpho vaults integrated into Uniswap Earn in the Uniswap web app and wallet (July 2026). Earlier in the year it announced a partnership with Privy for embedded yield in smart wallets, a partnership with Swiss-licensed SCRYPT, and a joint report with Utila on DeFi yield for digital asset treasury companies.