#30: Leighton, Co-Founder @ PoolTogether | The story behind the OG DeFi protocol which has distributed over $5 million to depositors as a reward for saving money

Web3 Talks: Stories & Tips from the Builders

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PoolTogether is known as the #1 DeFi protocol that encourages saving. Depositors participate in a lottery-like process where their deposited money can win prizes. But contrary to a lottery - even if they don't win, they keep their money. The luckiest winner ever deposited $73 and won over $43k, reaching a 589X return.

How it's possible? How Leighton came up with the idea? How was PoolTogether built, how they got it secured, and how they dealt with the lawsuit?

Here's episode #30:
0:50 What is PoolTogether, and how it encourages saving

2:00 How PoolTogether started as the result of Leighton's research on TradFi tools that make people more wealthy

3:45 How blockchain makes the premium bonds model more transparent and scalable

5:40 How PoolTogether works technically: non-custodial design, integrations with yield sources, random numbers generation, price tiering contracts

9:19 How have they acquired the first users in May 2019?

12:10 Mitigating security risks via reducing attack surface area, no oracle dependencies, non-custodial design, internal testing, bug bounties, investing over $1M in third-party auditors

15:15 How have they educated the market about PoolTogether?

16:56 The story behind Poolies that raised over $1.5M for combating the lawsuit

24:11 At what stage is the lawsuit right now

26:00 What needs to happen for PoolTogether to reach a truly global adoption

21:30 How do they take care of the community

32:03 Why crowdfunding on the blockchain might be a killer app

34:22 What Leighton would fix with his web3 magic wand

36:35 Why MakerDAO & Gearbox blew his mind

38:42 Why was Uniswap airdrop such a magical moment for Leighton

41:20 Where people can learn more about PoolTogether

42:18 Leighton's guest ideas