We’re interviewing the growth operators behind the companies that are actually making money in crypto. We’ll break down their growth strategies, challenges, and tech stacks to give you the insights you need to grow your business in crypto & beyond.

In this episode, Justin sits down with HPayne, Head of Marketing & Protocol Relations at ShapeShift. ShapeShift is one of the oldest names in DeFi, and after years of experimentation, they’ve now crossed $1M in revenue.

When most people talk about DAOs, they talk about community, public goods, or decentralization. But here’s the brutal truth: without real revenue, you don’t survive. This is the story of the journey.

HPayne’s Journey: From Amazon to DAO Life

H Payne was set to join Amazon in a six-figure ops role before a surprise airdrop of $FOX tokens pulled him into ShapeShift.

What started as part-time content creation quickly evolved into a leadership role running marketing and protocol relations for one of crypto’s first DAOs.

“I kind of fell into it. Next thing I know, I’m on the front lines figuring out how a DAO can make money without giving up decentralization.”

How ShapeShift Makes Money

ShapeShift’s monetization journey went through three distinct eras:

1. The Free Era (2021–22) → Donation-based. Noble in theory, unsustainable in practice. Contributors burned out.

2. The Tokenomics Era (2022–23) → FOX token–based discounts tied to wallet balances. Mathematically elegant, but far too complex for users.

3. The Flat Fee Era (2023–Now) → A clean 0.55% swap fee (with <$1K trades free). Revenue split: 50% DAO ops, 25% FOX stakers (paid in USDC), 25% FOX buybacks/burns.

“It’s simple, it’s predictable, and it works. No more confusion.”

Marketing Shift: From FOMO to Focus

Early ShapeShift tried to be everything for everyone, which meant onboarding a lot of users who weren’t ready.

They pivoted to whales: wallets trading $10K–$10M across chains. Onchain data became their advantage, letting them calculate CAC vs. LTV at the wallet level.

As HPayne puts it:

“It sounds dystopian, but I don’t care who you are. I care how much money you move and where.”

Creating Marketing for Whales

Whales don’t scroll Instagram ads or watch YouTube pre-rolls. So ShapeShift took an unconventional route:

• Vegas billboards during ETH events

• Tattoo shop activations

• Napkin ads in upscale bars

Meeting users where they actually live and not where marketers expect them to be

The $500K Incentive Lesson

ShapeShift ran an Optimism-funded rewards campaign that backfired:

• Daily actives spiked to 80K overnight

• Most were Sybil attackers gaming rewards

• Even criminal wallets joined in

“Catching farmers is a full-time job. And that’s not why I’m in this space.”

Where ShapeShift Stands Today

• $100M+ in monthly trading volume

• A predictable 55 bps revenue stream flowing to DAO + FOX stakers

• A new AI trading agent making cross-chain swaps as easy as texting

Lessons for Crypto Builders

• Don’t romanticize “free” — DAOs need revenue to survive

• Tokenomics must be simple, or they fail

• Flat fees > clever math

• On-chain data is a growth cheat code

• Incentives without alignment invite sybils

As HPayne sums it up:

“ShapeShift is as close as you’ll get to touching the blockchain without coding. That’s our power and our risk. But that’s what makes it worth it.”

Episode Timeline

• 00:00 Introduction to ShapeShift and H Pane's Journey

• 03:02 Understanding ShapeShift's Business Model and Core Users

• 06:59 Monetization Strategies and Revenue Evolution

• 13:17 Marketing Strategies and Customer Acquisition

• 16:01 Data-Driven Marketing in Crypto

• 26:27 Innovative Marketing Channels and Experiments

• 30:01 Innovative Marketing Strategies in Crypto

• 33:31 Navigating Growth Incentives and Challenges

• 38:45 The Impact of Sybil Attacks on User Incentives

• 44:26 Metrics That Matter: Tracking Success in Crypto

• 50:17 Adapting Business Strategies in Bull and Bear Markets

• 54:57 Future Vision: AI and Growth at ShapeShift

Looking for more insights from top growth experts? Sign up for the Safary Certification—a hands‑on crypto marketing course taught by the growth minds behind Berachain, EigenLayer, Kraken, and more (spots are limited).

Over the past few weeks, we’ve heard from many of you who want to join the Safary Certification but are feeling the reality of the current market.

Layoffs, tighter budgets, and a generally rough macro environment have made investing in education harder, even for people who are deeply committed to their craft.

We take that seriously.

Safary exists because others took chances on us during the last most difficult market, post-FTX. Our community has supported us as we’ve worked together to build the backbone of crypto’s growth industry. That kind of support compounds, and we believe it’s worth preserving, especially during down markets.

That’s why, for the 2026 Safary Certification cohort, we’re opening a limited number of partial scholarships, covering up to 50% of the tuition.

From running scholarships in past cohorts, we’ve learned something important: participants who still have skin in the game show up more consistently, engage more deeply, and are far more likely to give back to others in the ecosystem.

And as a small team of five, partial scholarships allow us to continue funding the experience, curriculum, and community while staying aligned with our mission.

These scholarships are about backing people who will turn this opportunity into leverage beyond themselves.

We’re especially excited to support applicants who:

• Are committed to becoming world-class crypto growth operators

• Plan to apply what they learn to help teams, communities, or other builders

• Believe in paying it forward once they’re on stronger footing

If that sounds like you, we’d love to hear your story and how you plan to use this experience to create impact beyond your own career.

Scholarship applications are open for the next 48 hours and close Saturday at 12pm ET.

P.s. if this is your 1st time hearing about the Safary Certification, read this post below!

See you in the wild! 🦁

We interview the operators behind the companies that are actually making money in crypto. We break down their growth strategies, challenges, and tech stacks so you can grow your business in crypto and beyond.

In this episode, Justin sits down with Rooter, the founder operator behind a suite of DeFi products on Sui: Suilend (lending and borrowing), SpringSui (liquid staking) and Steam (AMM and token launch venue).

What They Do & Who It Serves

• Suilend (lending): borrow and lend crypto assets. This is the flagship product and primary revenue driver

• SpringSui (LST): Sui’s leading liquid staking token with instant liquidity and the ability to use staked SUI across DeFi

• Steam (AMM): a DEX integrated with the suite for token launches, LP, and trading

The pieces reinforce each other: idle AMM liquidity is lent out for extra yield, LST utility flows into lending, and users move seamlessly across products.

How Suilend Makes Money

Most DeFi protocols boast big TVL numbers but struggle to capture real revenue.
Suilend is different. Built as Sui’s leading DeFi suite, they’re now generating $10M+ per year.

Break down by product:

• Suilend (lending): spread fees on borrowing, roughly 20 percent of interest to the protocol. Current run-rate about $10M annualized. Origination fees were reduced to 0 percent to remove friction.

• SpringSui (LST): no protocol fee by design. It functions as public-good infrastructure that grows utility and TVL for the suite

• Steam (AMM): standard DEX trading fees with 20 percent of fees to the protocol. $0.5 to $1M annualized

“Charge fees when you can. In crypto, bull markets are when revenue is made, and bear markets will inevitably slash it 90 percent. Do not wait to monetize.”

Growth Journey: From Launch to $10M+

• Led with lending. Prior experience running Solend on Solana supplied credibility, distribution, and product edge.

• Airdrop meta tailwinds. Users tried high-quality apps without tokens yet, which boosted early adoption.

• Quality and yield. Early yields were market-leading, and instant unstaking differentiated the experience.

• The Sui bet. A calculated choice based on Move, a senior core team, and strong L1 performance.

“It was not dumb luck. We believed Sui’s developer-first approach would bring more projects, tokens, and users. That thesis played out.”

What Drove 10x Growth

• Ecosystem tailwinds: As Sui’s TVL and token price expanded, usage across the suite accelerated

• Convenience as retention: Aggregators, one-click swap-and-deposit, and programmable transaction blocks keep users parked in SwiLend even when headline yields cool

• Founder-led marketing: Rooter’s 25k+ following on Twitter supplies a steady distribution engine.

• Curated community incentives: Capsule NFTs reward high-quality UGC with redeemable tokens, creating delight without inviting farmable spam

Thoughts on Token Price vs Fundamentals

Short-term token performance has not always tracked to improving business metrics. The team is comfortable staying the course and using treasury-funded buybacks to align incentives.

“As long as we keep building valuable products that generate real revenue, the fundamentals will take care of the rest.”

Lessons for DeFi Builders

• Pick the right chain. Ecosystem momentum matters as much as product

• Charge early and credibly. Set sustainable fees during expansion to fund durability during contraction

• Use hype as a funnel and product as the engine. High yields and airdrops attract, convenience and integrations retain

• Let the stack compound. Reuse liquidity across components so every product strengthens the others

• Favor curated rewards over farmable faucets. Human-reviewed incentives keep quality high and spam low

Looking for more insights from top growth experts? Sign up for the Safary Certification—a hands‑on crypto marketing course taught by the growth minds behind Berachain, EigenLayer, Kraken, and more (spots are limited).

We’re interview the growth operators behind the companies that are *actually* making money in crypto. We’ll break down their growth strategies, challenges, and tech stacks to give you the insights you need to grow your business in crypto & beyond.

In this episode, Justin sits down with Chris (“Flow”), Head of BD at Ostium, a DeFi protocol creating the RWA (real-world assets) liquidity layer for both institutions and onchain traders.

Flow began in tradfi and eventually made his way to crypto during the 2020 volatility boom. What started as personal trading evolved into full-time work in DeFi, where he built a name for himself across Crypto Twitter and transitioned into growth and BD.

At Ostium, the mission is clear: to become the most liquid onchain venue for trading RWAs like equities, gold, oil, and indices. By serving both institutions and retail degens, Ostium bridges traditional markets with crypto native trading infrastructure.

How Ostium Makes Money

Ostium generates revenue through trading fees, but unlike most DEXs that charge both opening and closing fees, Ostium charges only on entry. Liquidations and volatility spikes also contribute significantly to protocol revenue. Over time, the goal is to push costs closer to zero (mirroring Robinhood’s innovation) while maintaining sustainable revenue through institutional partnerships.

The Road to First $1M in Revenue

Instead of competing directly with other perpetual DEXs by listing the same altcoins, Ostium differentiated itself by offering unique RWA assets (S&P 500, Nasdaq, commodities) at moments of macro volatility. This timing, paired with their focus on sales-driven growth, led to their first million in revenue.

Key tactics included:

• Outbound Sales: Manually building lists of 1,000+ active traders on Twitter, doing cold outreach, setting up one-on-one calls, and white-glove onboarding.

• Whale Focus: Prioritizing large traders who drive 80% of volume, then cultivating relationships to grow their activity.

• Branded Launches & Contests: Consistent, recognizable asset launches and trading competitions created both trust and ROI-positive volume spikes.

Lessons on Growth

Flow contrasts crypto’s marketing-first culture (narratives, hype, broad messaging) with Ostium’s hybrid marketing + sales-led approach, which he argues is critical for any revenue-generating DeFi business.

Some takeaways:

• Double down on what works; don’t get distracted by every new marketing trend

• Be willing to spend on contests/incentives when ROI is clear

• Track real activity metrics (volume-to-OI ratios, capital efficiency) instead of vanity numbers

• Focus on revenue as a core KPI, not just TVL or social metrics

Watch the full episode for all of Flow’s growth insights!

Episode Timeline

• 00:00 Introduction to Ostium and Flow's Background

• 03:11 Understanding Ostium's Business Model and Revenue Streams

• 06:42 Growth Strategies: From Zero to First Million

• 10:49 Sales-Led vs. Marketing-Led Approaches in Crypto

• 14:53 Unlocking Revenue: Insights and Strategies

• 17:56 Trading Contests and User Engagement Strategies

• 20:09 Ongoing Growth Methodologies and Metrics

• 22:24 Navigating Market Volatility and Revenue Strategies

• 27:03 Advice for DeFi Founders on Revenue Generation

• 31:36 Future Business Models and Success Metrics for Ostium

Looking for more insights from top growth experts? Sign up for the Safary Certification—a hands‑on crypto marketing course taught by the growth minds behind Berachain, EigenLayer, Kraken, and more (spots are limited).

We’re interview the growth operators behind the companies that are *actually* making money in crypto. We’ll break down their growth strategies, challenges, and tech stacks to give you the insights you need to grow your business in crypto & beyond.

In this episode, Justin sits down with Deba of KGen, a verified distribution protocol that has grown into a $6.6M/month business serving crypto and AI companies.

Deba’s Journey: From Ad Agency to Crypto

Before KGen, Deba spent decades at the intersection of advertising, entertainment, and media:

• National Creative Director at DDB India

• Founding leadership at Hotstar (later acquired by Disney)

• Head of Brand & Design at Fox Group’s Indian TV network

• Photographer and filmmaker

Having lived through the pre-internet and web2 eras, Deba was drawn to Web3 for its openness and experimentation:

“We’re still in the prenatal stage of Web3. It feels like where the internet was in 1997—there’s so much room to experiment.”

What KGeN Does

KGen connects businesses with engaged users through an onchain reputation system.

In practice:

• Businesses (gaming, DeFi, AI, consumer apps) run campaigns on KGen

• Users participate, earn rewards, and build portable reputation profiles

• Reputation belongs to the user, lives on-chain, and ensures trust + privacy

As Deba frames it:

“We’re not just an acquisition platform—we’re an engagement engine. Every user has a reputation score that businesses can trust, and that users can take with them.”

How KGeN Makes Money

KGeN’s revenue comes directly from businesses in two main ways:

1. Campaigns → Publishers, protocols, and apps pay KGeN to acquire and engage users

2. B2B Data Contracts → Crypto and non-crypto companies pay for specialized datasets to train AI models

The Road to $6.6M/mo

• Jan 2023 → Launched with a focus on gamified user acquisition for gaming companies

• Feb 2024 → Crossed first $1M in revenue, almost entirely gaming-driven

• Aug 2024 → Added a digital goods store, pushing revenue past $2M

• Early 2025 → AI data training became a new revenue stream, accelerating growth

• July 2025 → Hit $4M/month in revenue

• January 2026 → Hit $6.6M/month in revenue

Community as a Distribution Moat

Rather than chase vanity metrics, KGeN doubled down on community as product.

Two core strategies:

• Passionate early members → Gamers who built clans and micro-communities

• Focus on the Global South → India, SEA, LATAM, Africa—regions where demand is high and impact is real

The result: a trusted, loyal user base that businesses return to again and again.

“Every industry will need people. If you stay focused on your community, growth follows naturally.”

Why People Stay in the Community

• Tangible rewards → For many, KGeN was their first real income from gaming

• Belonging → Global friendships, clans, and entire social lives formed inside the platform

As Deba puts it:

“Imagine being a student in Vietnam, gaming with friends in Brazil, and actually earning money for it. That’s life-changing.”

Deba’s Lessons for Web3 Builders

1. Leverage blockchain’s unique trust advantage → Transparency builds credibility

2. Prioritize quality over vanity metrics → Avoid chasing hollow “DAU” numbers

3. Think revenue from day one → Don’t build a community with the wrong incentives, then try to pivot later

“If you start with a community that isn’t aligned with your revenue model, you’ll face massive drop-off when you try to monetize later.”

Watch the full episode for all of Deba’s growth insights!

Looking for more insights from top growth experts? Sign up for the Safary Certification—a hands‑on crypto marketing course taught by the growth minds behind Berachain, EigenLayer, Kraken, and more (spots are limited).

Crypto’s best marketing course and community is back.

Three successful cohorts and 400 graduates later, we’re opening one Safary Certification cohort for all of 2026, kicking off in February.

That’s it. One cohort. One shared experience. 50 seats total.

If you’re serious about becoming a world‑class crypto marketer and doing it alongside the best operators in the industry, this is the room.

Here’s what the experience looks like ↓

The Experience

Day One: Like the First Day of College

At the start of the cohort, the group meets for the first time.

It feels a bit like the first day of college: new faces, shared ambition, and a room full of people who are genuinely excited to learn from each other.

There are few things more energizing than watching the industry’s best growth operators share stories, debate ideas, and start bonding from day one.

This is where the cohort identity forms.

Learning From the Best in the Industry

From there, we go deep.

Cohort members get access to exclusive sessions from top growth leaders in crypto, covering what’s working right now and what’s not.

You’ll learn about:

• Incentive design

• Narrative architecture and positioning

• Channel strategy across social, partnerships, and product

• And the next growth metas

This is practical, operator‑level insights you won’t find on CT or conference panels.

Learning From Each Other

Then it becomes your turn.

Every week, the cohort comes together for live calls where members:

• Share experiments they’re running

• Break down successes and failures

• Workshop frameworks and strategies

• Get real feedback

This peer-to-peer learning layer is where a huge amount of the value compounds.

There’s no better place to learn. And nowhere else you’ll find this level of insight, honesty, and ambition in one room.

👉 Join the cohort to learn alongside the best

A Rare Space for Top Operators

The Safary Certification is a rare space for top operators to learn and grow together.

If you show up to the live calls, you won’t just learn. You’ll build real relationships.

People consistently tell us they’ve made friends for life, collaborators, and trusted peers they go back to long after the cohort ends.

That’s why hundreds of proud alumni rep Safary in their bios across X and LinkedIn:

What You’ll Learn: The Curriculum

Each module is built around real‑world strategies and exercises designed to give you the tools and confidence to lead growth in crypto.

Module 1: Introduction to Crypto Marketing

Objective: Lay the foundation and define the modern crypto marketer.

• Getting Started and cohort onboarding

• The life, responsibilities, and realities of a crypto marketer

Module 2: Top Funnel Growth Strategies

Objective: Generate awareness and positioning that actually sticks.

• Identifying your ideal crypto user

• Building your GTM and sales strategy

• Growing a high‑quality X audience and brand

• Defining the crypto KPIs that matter

Module 3: Mid Funnel Tactics

Objective: Attract real users and drive meaningful engagement.

• Building a social‑first crypto brand

• Designing incentives that drive growth

• Analyzing token launches

• Building partnerships that work

Module 4: Bottom Funnel Experiments

Objective: Convert users into holders and long‑term value.

• Creating a growth experiment backlog

• Mastering funnels and attribution

• Testing emerging and innovative channels

Module 5: Your Career as a Crypto Marketer

Objective: Turn your skills into long‑term opportunities.

• Building your personal brand

• Making the case for marketing internally

• Hiring and building growth teams

• Navigating the crypto job market

Who This Is For

The Safary Certification is designed for:

• Crypto marketers who want to level up fast

• Founders who want to understand growth deeply

• Operators who care about building growth systems, not hacks

• People who want to be part of a serious, long‑term network

This is not a beginner’s overview or a passive course. It’s for people who want to join a hivemind with others and talk about what it really takes to grow.

Once the cohort is full, enrollment closes.

👉 Join now. There will not be a second cohort in 2026

What Alumni Say

Below is a selection of more than 50 testimonials from past Safary Certification alumni

For 50+ more alumni testimonials, keep scrolling below!

And here’s the link to sign up! See you in the wild! 🦁

Welcome to Episode 2 of Safary’s Revenue Series! 🦁

We interview the operators behind the companies that are actually making money in crypto. We break down their growth strategies, challenges, and tech stacks so you can grow your business in crypto and beyond.

In this episode, Justin sits down with Caleb, Marketing Lead at Football.Fun, a sports prediction platform for the world’s 3.5 billion football fans. The team crossed $3M in revenue in the first three weeks after launch, and they’re just getting started.

What Football.Fun Is and Who It Serves

Football.Fun is a trading and prediction platform where users buy sports players, build lineups, and earn rewards based on performance. It targets the existing global audience of football fans, not just fantasy diehards.

“We built for an established audience. There are 3.5 billion football fans. We do not need to create a community. We need to tap the one that already exists.”

How Football.Fun Makes Money

The business model is transaction fee–driven, similar to a DEX.

• Users own the players they buy. No seasonal reselling to the same customers.

• Revenue comes from volume and fees as users trade and play.

• Owning young players creates multi-year utility, which keeps secondary activity flowing.

“We did not want to resell the product every season. If you buy a player now, you own them for years. We monetize through fees on activity.”

Metrics That Matter

• Volume that reflects real behavior, for example sell-offs on injuries and buying based on form

• Deposits and inflows as a health check for the economy

• Unique users and daily actives to track momentum and breadth

From MVP to Launch

• MVP with real users, no incentives. The team tested starting in February with friends, early power users, and a 2,000-person beta. No airdrops, no point farming. They focused on retention and product feedback.

• Message fit for crypto. They learned that crypto natives react to two levers: status and number go up. Pricing and launch mechanics reflected that reality.

• Targeted early access. They launched player cards at low prices to reward early believers and prime a network effect when Pro mode went live.

“We knew crypto would not care about a free-to-play beta. We built toward status and number go up for launch, while making sure the product actually delivered.”

A Growth Unlock: Streaming and Clipping

Threads and text posts are starting to feel inorganic on CT. Meanwhile, live streams with high-signal creators can show authentic gameplay and excitement. Short clips then pushed those moments across CT for new distribution.

“If your product is streamable, streaming is higher signal. People can see a creator they trust actually enjoying it. Clipping then breaks that content out of the streamer’s silo.”

Investor streams helped too. Many of FBF’s investors were among the platform’s best players. Interviews mixed why they invested with their personal playing strategies, creating credible validation and reach.

Capturing Attention with Simple Messaging

• Simple promise: pick good football players, win rewards.

• Nostalgia anchor: remind CT of NBA Top Shot and Sorare’s early rush, then explain how Football.Fun learned from those economic pitfalls.

• Broad entry, deep mastery: easy to try for casuals, with depth for obsessives.

Engineered vs Organic Momentum

• Pre-launch: targeted paid activations with a small, curated set of high-signal KOLs and streamers to cold start awareness.

• Then the snowball: once the product and mechanics were visible, about 95 percent of coverage became organic during the next 48-hour surge.

• Budget: mid five figures spent with a bias toward trusted voices over volume blasts

“Go for signal, not noise. Fifteen people the market truly listens to are better than a hundred mid-tiers. And make sure there is something exciting users can actually do the moment they see it.”

Retention, Not Just Hype

• Sports trading & predictions tie to real-world events. Matches and injuries move prices and lineups, which brings users back.

• Prize loops and utility. Winnings and ongoing contests create reasons to keep playing.

• A new vertical for fans. This is not a replacement for degen trading. It is a football-native loop that merges hobby and on-chain activity.

Balancing Web3 and Web2

• Short term: lean into crypto, where average revenue per user is higher and volatility is understood.

• Next chapters: expand into Asia and LATAM, localize communities, and time web2 pushes when markets are steadier, on-ramps are smoother, and mainstream partners can validate the category.

• Lessons from Electronic Arts (EA): respect cultural nuance. Football fans are not typical gamers. Meet them where football culture actually lives, and in the specific country context that they celebrate the sport in.

Advice for Revenue-First Founders

• Build for fast-moving behavior. Web3 attention is short. Liquid markets that offer edge and action produce better revenue paths.

• Charge sustainable fees from day one. Do not assume you can switch revenue on later.

• Curate your creator roster. High-signal voices plus streamable product plus clips beats generic paid threads.

“Web3 is a seesaw. On the way up you are the best team in the world. On the way down they hate you. Learn to separate product feedback from emotions tied to price.”

FootballdotFun’s Future

Become one of the largest fantasy platforms in the world. Football first, then NFL and NBA. The company behind Football.Fun is Sports.Fun, and the goal is to dominate global fantasy, not just a niche inside crypto.

You won’t want to miss this episode!

Episode Timeline

00:00 Why revenue matters now, and Caleb’s background at EA
02:32 What Football.Fun is, and who it serves
03:27 Business model and why ownership beats seasonal reselling
04:42 MVP learnings and pre-launch playbook
06:46 Streaming and clipping as a non-obvious unlock
08:10 Investor streams and credibility
10:15 Simple messaging, nostalgia, and economic improvements
12:25 Growth roadmap across Web3 and new regions
15:09 Balancing growth and monetization across Web3 and Web2
17:30 Engineered launch vs organic snowball and KOL selection
21:56 Retention loops tied to real matches and prize mechanics
24:17 North-star metrics for a durable business
25:48 Advice for revenue-first founders
27:54 Culture, sentiment cycles, and community management
29:26 Future vision

Welcome to Episode 1 of Safary’s Revenue Series! 🦁

We’re interviewing the growth operators behind the companies that are actually making money in crypto. We’ll break down their growth strategies, challenges, and tech stacks to give you the insights you need to grow your business in crypto & beyond.

In this episode, Justin sits down with 0xInfra, Core Contributor at Raydium, the Solana-native AMM that has weathered market crashes, turned an infra headache into $40M in revenue, and emerged as the go-to liquidity layer for Solana.

0xInfra’s Role at Raydium

0xInfra leads Reactor Labs, guiding core protocol development, app and program upgrades, BD, and investor relations. A key focus today is sustainable revenue generation on Solana and communicating that trajectory to the market.

What Raydium Does & Who It Serves

• Origins: Raydium launched as Solana’s first permissionless market maker and the first hybrid AMM. Early on, it routed idle AMM liquidity to Serum’s onchain order book, unlocking deeper books and better execution.

• Today: Raydium is the go-to venue on Solana to list and trade new assets with multiple pool types and a renewed emphasis on swaps, perpetuals, and real-world assets.

• Customers: The early user was a DeFi farmer seeking yields. The customer base now includes teams that need liquidity for consumer ideas and token launches. Launchpads such as Pump.fun migrated liquidity to Raydium, and Raydium supports many teams going to TGE.

How Raydium Makes Money

Core model: Protocol revenue from maker rebates on swap fees

• On most AMMs, 100% of swap fees go to LPs

• On Raydium, a portion is captured as protocol revenue, creating ongoing cash flow and supporting deflationary tokenomics through programmatic $RAY buybacks long before it was a trend

The non-obvious unlock: Pool creation fees introduced in late 2023

• Memecoin mania spiked daily pool creations from roughly 100 to more than 15,000, creating overwhelming infrastructure costs

• They introduced a small upfront pool creation fee to filter spam and throttle load

• To date, that’s generated 300K SOL, or roughly $40M USD, in revenue

• The fee began as an operational safeguard and became a top-line driver. Raydium continues to experiment with waivers and reductions for priority partners and bonding curve launches

Raydium’s Growth Flywheel

Raydium operates a three-sided marketplace:

• Asset issuers & pool creators → new tokens, memecoins, RWAs

• Liquidity providers

• Traders

By capturing asset issuance first, Raydium attracts liquidity, which then brings in traders. Memecoins like Dogwifhat and Popcat started this flywheel, by kicking off the asset issuance explosion in late 2023, ultimately driving trillions in lifetime volume through Raydium pools.

From $0 to First Million & Beyond

• 2021: Find product market fit with the hybrid AMM and help projects list and distribute tokens. Raydium even built an accelerator to support TGEs, fundraising, and seeding liquidity.

• Late 2022 to 2023: Post-FTX drawdown crushed Solana volumes and hurt Raydium’s treasury. Raydium reduced operating expenses by about 80 percent, doubled down on Solana, and used the bear to rebuild core infrastructure, expand permissionless features, and ship constant-liquidity pools

• Late 2023 to 2024: Asset issuance surged, and the pool-fee pivot transformed a load problem into a revenue generator. Onchain volumes exploded upwards which also drove Raydium’s baseline revenue on trading fees, leading to exponential growth in $RAY buybacks.

• 2025: Focus on smoothing revenue deployment and improving market impact of buybacks, including ideas like time-weighted buyback schedules and providing bid-side liquidity with earned fees.

Balancing Incentives with Profitability

Emissions are now limited and Raydium remains net deflationary by a wide margin. Incentives are used selectively to solve cold start problems for new products such as the Launch Lab bonding curve program. Rewards target trader volume and creators, not just LPs. The bar is clear: incentives must show a credible path to fees and repeatable revenue, or they are wound down.

Raydium’s Future

Raydium wants to be the destination for forward-looking projects, not just a liquidity provider but a partner for successful launches of all asset classes. Raydium’s growth will be synonymous with Solana. The goal is simple and ambitious: be the first place to list, swap, and discover assets on Solana mainnet, not on a side network. The competitive landscape is intense, so the plan is relentless improvement of the core swap experience, product breadth, and revenue durability.

As 0xInfra puts it:

“The real moat is the relationship with the end user, the trader. That is what we are building for in 2025.”

Episode Timeline

• 00:00 Introduction to Raydium and 0xINFRA

• 02:38 Understanding Raydium's Business Model and Revenue Streams

• 05:30 Growth Journey: From Zero to First Million

• 08:42 Revenue Generation Strategies and Innovations

• 11:15 User Experience and Market Positioning

• 13:51 Balancing Growth and Profitability

• 16:18 Navigating Market Cycles and Resilience

• 19:11 Future Vision for Raydium and Solana

Looking for more insights from top growth experts? Sign up for the Safary Certification—a hands‑on crypto marketing course taught by the growth minds behind Berachain, EigenLayer, Kraken, and more (spots are limited).

Upshift Finance thought their users preferred passive strategies until Safary revealed that their users were actively managing complex positions. Discover how deep insights into wallet behaviors enabled Upshift to reshape their user segmentation, vault strategies, and targeted growth initiatives.

This is a conversation between:

• Justin Vogel, Co-founder of Safary – customer data platform to reach, engage, and retain your best crypto users

• Ethan Luc, Growth Lead at Upshift

About Upshift:
Upshift is a leading vault platform making it easy for users to earn the best yields across DeFi and CeFi. They do this by providing vaults, where institutional funds offer access to their top-performing yield strategies. For example, there are currently several vaults offering 15%+ APY on USDC.

Safary has been proud to partner with Upshift since March 2025.

Justin: Could you share the challenges Upshift faced before integrating Safary?

Ethan: Before Safary, we had almost no visibility into our funnel data. It was nearly impossible to link off-chain acquisition channels to wallet connects and subsequent on-chain actions like vault deposits. Pulling data from platforms like Debank was extremely manual, making it difficult to build a clear picture of user profiles. On top of that, user segmentation was a major challenge; we didn’t even know how many unique users our wallet data actually represented.

Justin: Were you primarily looking to use Safary for growth or BD?

Ethan: Mainly growth, though Safary has boosted our BD efforts as well. I often use Safary to identify interesting wallets, pull their social profiles directly, or cross-reference Debank and Twitter to reach out more personally. It’s made our outreach far more targeted.

Justin: What were the primary goals you hoped to achieve with Safary?

Ethan: Our main objective was to gain a complete, end-to-end view of our growth funnel, broken down by marketing sources. We recently ran an incentive campaign, multiplying points for a specific vault. Safary helped us clearly measure the effectiveness and see exactly how much was deposited through that campaign.

Justin: What specific results have you experienced since implementing Safary?

Ethan: The most immediate benefit was gaining deeper insights into user behavior. When we analyzed significant deposits (over $10K), we discovered many of these wallets held positions in Pendle or had converted Upshift tokens into Pendle.

This insight was unexpected. We previously thought these users were passive, lower-risk yield farmers. Instead, they actively managed their portfolios and engaged deeply with sophisticated financial strategies. This critical realization has guided our decisions on introducing new vaults and informed how we position and frame these offerings to resonate more effectively with these user segments.

Additionally, understanding funnel performance at a granular level has allowed us to allocate our marketing resources more efficiently, prioritizing channels and experiments with proven results.

Justin: What metrics or KPIs are you focusing on with Safary?

Ethan: We closely track visitors transitioning to wallet connections across all marketing sources, focusing specifically at the vault level. These serve as our critical north star metrics. We also monitor wallet retention, analyze withdrawals, and we’ll soon integrate NPS surveys directly into our frontend to gauge user satisfaction and engagement.

Justin: Looking back, what has been Safary’s biggest impact on Upshift?

Ethan: Without question, Safary’s greatest impact has been the unprecedented clarity provided around our growth funnel. Understanding the complete user journey, from initial touch points to final deposits, has been transformative. Equally significant is our newfound ability to deeply understand user behaviors through wallet-level insights, directly influencing both our product development and retention strategies.

Justin: Anything else you’d like to add about your experience with Safary?

Ethan: The experience has been fantastic. Special shoutout to Max, who has patiently addressed all my inquiries. We're currently leveraging Safary’s V3 API to build customized dashboards tailored specifically to our needs, and we eagerly anticipate further enhancements.

Conclusion:
Safary has fundamentally transformed Upshift’s understanding of their users and growth funnel. By revealing hidden segments of active, sophisticated investors, Upshift is now better equipped to deliver targeted vault strategies, refine their marketing outreach, and drive sustained growth. The ongoing collaboration continues to provide invaluable insights, positioning Upshift to adapt dynamically to user behaviors and optimize their product offerings.

Welcome to episode 18 of the Web3 Growth Podcast! 🦁

We interview the best growth operators about their growth strategies, challenges, and tech stacks to give you the insights you need to grow your business in web3 & beyond.

This session was recorded during the second annual Safary Summit in February 2025, hosted by Safary and supported by Hype and Trust Wallet. The summit featured 10 panels with over 20 growth leaders sharing what it truly means to grow in web3.

Thomas Pan aka TPan (Growth at Remix) joins ​Jiho Zirlin (co-founder of Sky Mavis) and ​Kim Currier (Head of Marketing & Partnerships at The Decentraland Foundation) to explore how web3 gaming can significantly grow by tapping into under-marketed audiences.

Kim highlights key statistics showing women represent nearly half of all gamers, and advocates for expanding web3 gaming beyond stereotypical personas by fostering social and casual gaming experiences.

Jiho builds on this by introducing the concept of "systematic community design," focusing on strategic leadership-driven engagement rather than typical community management practices.

The conversation also delves deeply into retention strategies, highlighting how authentic community relationships and social elements significantly outperform short-term incentive models.

They emphasize creating "surprise and delight" moments to enhance user experiences and drive organic growth and referrals. And further discuss the real-world social connections formed through virtual interactions, showcasing examples like virtual weddings and real-life meetups facilitated by their respective platforms.

Finally, Kim and Jiho share their favorite web3 projects outside of their ecosystems, underscoring the innovation and ongoing development within the broader crypto and gaming communities.

Episode Timeline

• 00:00 Intro & Guest introductions

• 02:10 Tapping into under-marketed gaming audiences

• 05:45 Expanding Web3 gaming beyond traditional personas

• 09:20 Importance of social and casual gaming experiences

• 12:00 Introduction to systematic community design

• 15:30 Strategic leadership in community building

• 18:15 Creating "surprise and delight" moments

• 21:50 Real-life social connections through gaming

• 24:30 Retention strategies and meaningful community engagement

• 27:00 Favorite Web3 projects and closing thoughts

Looking for more insights from top growth experts? Sign up for the Safary Certification—a hands‑on crypto marketing course taught by the growth minds behind Berachain, EigenLayer, Kraken, and more (spots are limited).

Welcome to episode 17 of the Web3 Growth Podcast! 🦁

We interview the best growth operators about their growth strategies, challenges, and tech stacks to give you the insights you need to grow your business in web3 & beyond.

This session was recorded during the second annual Safary Summit in February 2025, hosted by Safary and supported by Hype and Trust Wallet. The summit featured 10 panels with over 20 growth leaders sharing what it truly means to grow in web3.

In this engaging episode, Maria Magenes (VP of Marketing at Hype), ​Irena (Head of Ecosystem at Chainflip), and ​James Richard Fry (Head of Marketing at Across Protocol) unpack the nuances of cross-chain marketing.

They dive deep into the challenges of fragmentation across multiple blockchain ecosystems, emphasizing the critical need for clear messaging, intuitive UX, and sustainable community engagement beyond short-term growth hacks.

Irena highlights the practical challenges and solutions of bridging different chains, using relatable analogies to simplify complex blockchain concepts. James emphasizes the importance of focusing on genuine user retention and long-term value rather than relying on vanity metrics and fleeting airdrop campaigns.

Together, they advocate for a shift from competitive mindsets to collaborative growth strategies that prioritize end-user experience and cross-chain interoperability.

Episode Timeline

• 00:00 Intro & Guest introductions

• 02:30 Understanding cross-chain marketing

• 05:15 The challenge of blockchain fragmentation

• 09:00 Simplifying complex blockchain messages

• 13:20 UX barriers and onboarding challenges

• 18:10 Sustainable Layer-2 marketing strategies

• 22:40 Targeting existing applications and users

• 27:15 Importance of abstraction and simplicity

• 31:00 Short-term vs. long-term marketing tactics

• 35:20 Winners and losers in interoperability

• 39:45 Building genuine community and culture

• 42:00 Closing remarks

Looking for more insights from top growth experts? Sign up for the Safary Certification—a hands‑on crypto marketing course taught by the growth minds behind Berachain, EigenLayer, Kraken, and more (spots are limited).

Welcome to episode 16 of the Web3 Growth Podcast! 🦁

We interview the best growth operators about their growth strategies, challenges, and tech stacks to give you the insights you need to grow your business in web3 & beyond.

This session was recorded during the second annual Safary Summit in February 2025, hosted by Safary and supported by Hype and Trust Wallet. The summit featured 10 panels with over 20 growth leaders sharing what it truly means to grow in web3.

Jake Stott (founder of Hype) sits down with ​Charlie Rogers (CMO at Nillion) and ​Jay Kurahashi-Sofue (CMO at Eco) to explore the nuances and strategies behind effective developer marketing in the crypto ecosystem.

Our guests delve into what makes developer marketing uniquely challenging and rewarding, sharing practical strategies for identifying, attracting, and retaining developers.

Charlie and Jay emphasize the critical importance of deep developer engagement—starting with in-depth conversations to understand developers’ genuine needs and pain points. They highlight how the developer landscape demands specialized marketing strategies, focusing on authentic channels like GitHub discussions, developer forums, and community-driven spaces.

The panel discusses realistic goal-setting in developer acquisition, emphasizing quality over quantity and setting attainable targets rather than chasing inflated metrics. They share high-impact tactics, such as grassroots engagement through educational initiatives like hackathons and pizza nights with university blockchain clubs, drawing lessons from the success stories of MongoDB and other tech giants.

They also dissect grants programs and hackathons, sharing firsthand experiences and honest critiques about the good, the bad, and how these methods can be improved. Jay provides candid reflections from his experience at Avalanche, outlining how structured investment and grants programs can enhance ecosystem growth.

Finally, they explore innovative approaches to developer events, suggesting more holistic, structured, and collaborative activities that go beyond traditional hackathon formats to deliver deeper engagement and meaningful developer relationships.

Episode Timeline

• 00:00 Intro: The unique challenge of developer marketing

• 04:10 Starting points for successful developer engagement

• 08:30 Realistic developer acquisition targets and expectations

• 13:50 High-value tactics for developer engagement

• 20:15 Evaluating grants and funding programs

• 28:45 Honest reflections on hackathons

• 35:00 Innovating beyond traditional hackathon models

• 42:00 Final thoughts on shaping meaningful developer experiences

Looking for more insights from top growth experts? Sign up for the Safary Certification—a hands‑on crypto marketing course taught by the growth minds behind Berachain, EigenLayer, Kraken, and more (spots are limited).

Welcome to episode 15 of the Web3 Growth Podcast! 🦁

We interview the best growth operators about their growth strategies, challenges, and tech stacks to give you the insights you need to grow your business in web3 & beyond.

This session was recorded during the second annual Safary Summit in February 2025, hosted by Safary and supported by Hype and Trust Wallet. The summit featured 10 panels with over 20 growth leaders sharing what it truly means to grow in web3.

Justin Vogel (co-founder of Safary) sits down with ​Karen Liu (Head of Marketing at Metastreet) to discuss how Safary developed from a community into a comprehensive customer data ecosystem. Justin explores the core challenge facing crypto marketers today: proving their impact through effective attribution.

Justin details how Safary empowers marketers to clearly demonstrate their value, enabling them to transition from short-term gigs to impactful, long-term roles by providing robust analytics around direct conversions, mindshare, and user quality.

He highlights three powerful use cases from Safary’s platform: precise reporting to prove marketing effectiveness, personalized user outreach informed by enriched on-chain and social data, and strategic user research through targeted interviews across platforms like Twitter, Telegram, and Farcaster.

Karen and Justin discuss Safary’s unique, community-first product development approach, drawing from authentic community engagement and insights to shape the platform’s evolution. Justin shares candid reflections on navigating the delicate balance between mindshare and market share, emphasizing the importance of maintaining community trust while growing the business.

The episode concludes with practical advice for marketers seeking to build their brand and advance their careers in crypto marketing—highlighting the strategic choices between becoming a super-connector versus a strong personal brand builder.

Episode Timeline

• 00:00 Intro: Attribution challenges in crypto marketing

• 02:45 From attribution platform to comprehensive customer data ecosystem

• 07:10 Powerful marketing use cases on Safary

• 12:30 Community-driven product development at Safary

• 18:40 Balancing community trust and platform growth

• 24:15 Market share vs. mindshare: navigating crypto marketing trends

• 30:20 Accelerating Safary’s growth and capturing market share

• 35:05 Advice for growth leaders: super-connector vs. personal brand

• 40:00 Final insights and where to follow Justin

Looking for more insights from top growth experts? Sign up for the Safary Certification—a hands‑on crypto marketing course taught by the growth minds behind Berachain, EigenLayer, Kraken, and more (spots are limited).

Welcome to episode 14 of the Web3 Growth Podcast! 🦁

We interview the best growth operators about their growth strategies, challenges, and tech stacks to give you the insights you need to grow your business in web3 & beyond.

This session was recorded during the second annual Safary Summit in February 2025, hosted by Safary and supported by Hype and Trust Wallet. The summit featured 10 panels with over 20 growth leaders sharing what it truly means to grow in web3.

Sam Friedman (Head of Marketing at Offchain Labs) joins Alex Shefrin (Web3 GTM Advisor) dive deep into the challenges and realities of growing web3 ecosystems.

Sam frames blockchain as a powerful force beyond hype—highlighting real-world examples from Argentina and Nigeria that show the tangible impacts decentralized finance can have, from financial accessibility to seamless cross-border transactions.

He emphasizes the critical need for intuitive, mobile-first experiences and streamlined crypto messaging to unlock mainstream adoption, showing how complexity often hampers growth.

They dissect the delicate process of maintaining user ecosystems post-token launch, addressing how short-term hype contrasts sharply with sustained, meaningful growth.

Through vivid examples from Arbitrum’s journey, Sam shares insights into effective community building, the necessity of strategic clarity, and why marketers should trust their intuition to navigate swiftly shifting market conditions.

The episode concludes with tactical insights on product positioning, harnessing community as a core growth engine, and the importance of resilience and long-term strategic thinking in web3 marketing.

Episode Timeline

• 00:00 Intro

• 02:10 Real-world impact stories: Argentina and Nigeria

• 06:30 Bridging technical complexity for retail users

• 09:45 Challenges in maintaining growth post-token drop

• 14:20 Community as your most powerful growth engine

• 18:30 Differentiating in a crowded Layer-2 ecosystem

• 24:50 Balancing technical depth with simple messaging

• 30:05 Mobile-first as the future of crypto

• 34:15 Common growth mistakes and trusting intuition

• 40:00 The future of DeFi and blockchain usability

• 43:30 Final takeaways & where to follow Sam and Alex

Looking for more insights from top growth experts? Sign up for the Safary Certification—a hands‑on crypto marketing course taught by the growth minds behind Berachain, EigenLayer, Kraken, and more (spots are limited).

Drawing on four years at Binance and Trust Wallet, he argues that mindshare is the essential gateway—but only if a product, a growth engine, and a capable team lock together in a “product‑mindshare fit.”

Sami offers a four‑pillar checklist (Brand, Growth, Product, Team), shows why market‑share tactics are always rented (airdrops, KOLs, paid ads) while mindshare can be owned.

Real‑world examples range from Apple and Tesla to Hyperliquid and Solana, plus a candid look at how Trust Wallet rode TON “tap‑to‑earn” momentum while avoiding the Solana FOMO until the product was ready.

Sami closes by challenging founders to ask which bucket they’re really optimizing today—and whether their product is an ally or an enemy in that quest. ​

Episode Timeline

• 00:00 Why every crypto marketer juggles two goals: visibility & active users

• 02:30 Defining mindshare (brand perception) vs. market share (user traction)

• 04:45 Web2 analogies: Apple, Tesla, ChatGPT—and crypto parallels

• 06:55 Hyperliquid case study: renting market share to capture mindshare

• 09:45 The four pillars: Brand ▸ Growth ▸ Product ▸ Team

• 12:00 “Product‑Mindshare Fit” vs. “Product‑Market‑Share Fit” frameworks

• 14:30 Trust Wallet’s TON tap‑to‑earn playbook—and why they skipped Solana FOMO

• 16:20 Mindshare can be owned; market share is always rented

• 17:05 Challenge to listeners: Which bucket are you prioritizing now? ​

Looking for more insights from top growth experts? Sign up for the Safary Certification—a hands‑on crypto marketing course taught by the growth minds behind Berachain, EigenLayer, Kraken, and more (spots are limited).

Welcome to episode 13 of the Web3 Growth Podcast! 🦁

We interview the best growth operators about their growth strategies, challenges, and tech stacks to give you the insights you need to grow your business in web3 & beyond.

This session was recorded during the second annual Safary Summit in February 2025, hosted by Safary and supported by Hype and Trust Wallet. The summit featured 10 panels with over 20 growth leaders sharing what it truly means to grow in web3.

Ekram (CMO of Celestia) joins ​Danny Gazit (Managing Director of Hype) to demystify brand positioning for web3 teams.

Ekram frames brand as a reaction you earn—and positioning as the sustained action that earns it.

He introduces a three‑angle differentiation model (product‑first, concept‑first, community‑first), shows how pre‑launch hype must shift to post‑launch proof, and explains why the fastest way to relevance is to pick a category—or invent one—and then “find a nemesis” to sharpen the story.

Live tear‑downs of Polygon and Polkadot illustrate common traps (vague taglines, shifting narratives).

The pair close with rapid‑fire tactics on category testing, emotional moats, publicity stunts, and stripping jargon so the next wave of users can actually understand web3. ​

Episode Timeline

• 00:00 Intros & why brand = reaction, positioning = action

• 01:15 Defining brand, positioning, narrative & storytelling

• 04:00 Ekram’s differentiation model: product vs. concept vs. community

• 06:20 Pre‑token narrative market‑fit vs. post‑token product proof

• 09:45 Live exercise: rehabbing Polygon’s “AggLayer” position

• 13:40 Category strategy—create one or conquer an existing sandbox

• 17:35 Polkadot critique: when legacy equity meets muddled messaging

• 24:30 Emotional moats, brand personality & top‑of‑pyramid focus

• 27:00 Publicity power laws: every movement needs a nemesis

• 31:15 Testing a position in the wild & measuring market dialogue

• 36:05 Killing crypto jargon and speaking to the next 100k users

• 37:46 Final takeaways & where to follow Ekram and Danny

Looking for more insights from top growth experts? Sign up for the Safary Certification—a hands‑on crypto marketing course taught by the growth minds behind Berachain, EigenLayer, Kraken, and more (spots are limited).

DeFi moves at lightspeed; if you’re not tracking every step of the hunt, you’re just lost in the jungle. maxAPY was compounding yields across nine chains, yet still guessing which campaigns actually lured fresh liquidity and which customers drove their protocol forward. The moment they plugged Safary into their stack, the fog lifted—suddenly every UTM, wallet connect, and deposit lit up on a single dashboard, turning instinct into intelligence and spend into provable ROI. Here’s the inside story of that leap from blindspots to breakthroughs.

This is a conversation between:

• Berni Bouzas, Business Dev Lead at maxAPY

• Alvaro Bonnelly, Senior Marketing Manager at maxAPY

• Justin Vogel, Co-founder of Safary — customer data platform to reach, engage, and retain your best crypto users

About maxAPY:

maxAPY is the most advanced DeFi optimizer, automating cross-chain farming across 700+ strategies, 70+ protocols, and 9+ chains with a single deposit. It continuously scans, rebalances, and compounds yields autonomously, allocating assets wherever APY is highest at every moment, while users do absolutely nothing but watch their portfolio grow on autopilot.

Justin: Could you share some of the challenges maxAPY faced before integrating Safary?

Alvaro: One of the biggest challenges in web3 is attribution. At maxAPY, we’re constantly trying to track which marketing and growth actions actually lead to new deposits. But it was incredibly difficult to understand what was working and what wasn’t. There are so many options—campaigns, channels, partnerships—but without attribution, it felt like we were flying blind.

Everyone on the team is really focused on allocating our marketing budget wisely. Safary has been key in solving that. It helps us track UTMs, campaigns, sources—and most importantly—the direct impact of those efforts on our KPIs like wallet connects and deposits. It's not perfect yet, but we’re now working side-by-side with Safary to close the loop completely.

Berni: From a product perspective, I needed to identify users who landed on our platform but didn’t convert. That insight is critical. Where exactly are they dropping off in the pipeline? What’s causing the friction? Once we see that, we can reach out more personally and actually understand their experience. Before Safary, that was nearly impossible.

Justin: What were the primary goals you were hoping to achieve with Safary’s platform?

Alvaro: The biggest one was to get a clear view of the ROI of each marketing action—especially how much TVL each campaign or channel was actually driving. Beyond that, we wanted to better understand the social landscape: which networks are our users most active on, where are they talking about us, and how can we capture that sentiment? That’s the power of Safary—bringing both attribution and user intelligence into one place.

Justin: Which aspects of Safary have been the most beneficial for you? What results have you seen since implementing the platform?

Alvaro: For us, the ability to generate custom events and track a user’s flow—from source all the way to deposit—has been a game-changer. Safary lets us define our own UTMs and track them directly with no setup, which makes experimentation way easier.

We know which wallets connected, which clicked "Earn," and which ended up depositing. All of this is visible in one dashboard, filtered by the KPIs that matter to us.

Berni: From my side, I care more about the user journey. Safary helps us understand what users are actually doing—not just what they say. With the API, we export Safary data into our own frameworks and combine it with onchain behavior. That’s how we identify where users drop off, what protocols they’ve used, and how we can personalize our outreach.

We’ve also built pipelines that pull additional context—checking ENS profiles, scanning for social handles, and even looking at XMTP potential for onchain messaging. Safary’s data is the foundation that powers all of that.

Justin: What specific metrics or KPIs have you been tracking since using Safary?

Alvaro: The core ones are wallet connects and deposits—how many wallets visit, how many connect, and how many go on to deposit and for how much. Those are the clearest signals of growth for us.

Berni: For marketing, we focus on aggregate behavior. For BD, it’s all about identifying high-value users. So while marketing looks at patterns across campaigns, BD uses Safary to analyze individual wallet behavior and reach out directly when there’s an opportunity.

Justin: Can you share Safary’s impact on maxAPY?

Alvaro: The biggest impact is clarity. Safary gave us visibility into which actions are driving real ROI. Without it, we were spending blind. Now, when I present to the team, I can show exactly how many deposits each initiative drove. That’s made a huge difference in how we plan and optimize our budget.

Retargeting has also become much more sophisticated. We now place users into funnels—connected wallet, deposited, withdrew, didn’t withdraw—and personalize our messaging based on where they are in their journey.

Berni: On the BD side, Safary lets us combine attribution data with behavioral and portfolio insights. We enrich wallet data to identify whales or idle liquidity, cross-check that with other protocols, and reach out with tailored offers. For example, if we spot a wallet with idle stables, we might show them a potential yield opportunity. That level of precision would’ve been unthinkable before.

Justin: Is there anything else you’d like to share about your experience working with Safary?

Alvaro: The support has been incredible. We’ve had regular meetings with Max, who helps tailor the product to our needs. The team has even built new dashboards for us based on our feedback, which really shows they care about customer success.

Berni: The product is constantly evolving, and we love being part of that process. Safary gives us a level of visibility that’s essential in today’s web3 world. Whether it’s tracking funnel drop-offs, enriching wallet data, or understanding social sentiment, it’s become a core piece of our growth stack.

Conclusion:
By integrating Safary, maxAPY has unlocked full-funnel visibility into wallet activity, deposits, and marketing attribution. The platform enables both their marketing and BD teams to better track performance, understand user behavior, and personalize outreach to drive TVL growth. With Safary’s dashboards, custom events, and user enrichment capabilities, maxAPY has gone from reactive to proactive—turning data into action and building deeper relationships with their users.

We interview the best growth operators about their growth strategies, challenges, and tech stacks to give you the insights you need to grow your business in web3 & beyond.

This session was recorded during the second annual Safary Summit in February 2025, hosted by Safary and supported by Hype and Trust Wallet. The summit featured 10 panels with over 20 growth leaders sharing what it truly means to grow in web3.

Marketing For Founders was moderated by Irene Wu, angel investor, and features:

• ​​Diana Richter, Head of Marketing & Brand at Consensys Mesh

• ​Jules Mossler, Head of Marketing & Comms at CoinFund

• CJ Huntzinger, Head of Platform at Galaxy

The “Marketing for Founders” panel unpacks the most common missteps crypto startups make—and the frameworks that keep growth strategy on track.

The conversation begins by debunking the idea that marketing is a “last‑mile” expense, arguing instead that it belongs in the earliest product and corporate‑strategy discussions.

Panelists stress ruthless audience focus: define the single business goal for the next 30, 60, and 90 days, then pick only the channels and metrics that move that goal.

They contrast mind‑share and market‑share, noting that having people talk about you is useless if the narrative is off—or if your real buyers don’t live on crypto Twitter.

A deep dive on token‑launch timing warns founders not to “ring the bell” before the product, community, and internal ops are ready, because a token can only launch once.

The session closes with hiring advice: avoid patch‑worked freelancers; instead invest in one mid‑level, high‑ownership marketer who can execute now and scale later—treating that role with the same rigor as a core smart‑contract engineer.

Episode Timeline

• 00:00 Introductions & why marketing is a strategic—not last‑mile—function

• 02:30 Debunking common founder misconceptions about “growth later”

• 05:10 Audience focus: narrowing goals to the next 30‑90 days

• 08:15 Mind‑share vs. market‑share—matching narrative to real traction

• 11:00 Channel selection: when “vibes” events help—and when they don’t

• 14:20 Token‑launch timing: why you only get one shot

• 17:45 Customer relationships as the controllable growth lever

• 19:30 Hiring the first marketer: one high‑ownership role vs. contractor patchwork

• 23:00 Interview tactics & defining success metrics for marketing hires

• 26:10 Final takeaways ​

Looking for more insights from top growth experts? Sign up for the Safary Certification—a hands‑on crypto marketing course taught by the growth minds behind Berachain, EigenLayer, Kraken, and more (spots are limited).

Today, we’re excited to launch the Safary Certification—a professionally produced program built to legitimize crypto marketing as a strategic, high-impact discipline.

Much like how Reforge reshaped the perception of growth in web2, Safary Certification sets a new bar for what great marketing looks like in crypto.

Built by and for crypto growth leaders, this program is taught by those behind growth at Berachain, EigenLayer, Kraken, Stargate, Trader Joe, Nillion, and more.

Reserve your spot

Why We’re Building This

Crypto marketing has a reputation problem.

For too long, it’s been associated with botted KOL engagement, overpriced agencies, and hype-driven campaigns that vanish once the token launches.

This narrative does real harm. It undermines trust, weakens user acquisition, and leaves growth strategies chasing short-term attention rather than long-term adoption.

We believe marketing is critical infrastructure—as fundamental to a protocol’s success as code or capital.

Through Safary Club, we’ve seen what great crypto marketing actually looks like. It’s rooted in data, narratives, incentives, and user intelligence—& executed with integrity.

The Safary Certification draws a clear line between hype and strategy. It exists to elevate the people doing meaningful, sustainable work—and to help teams across the ecosystem hire and support marketers who actually move the needle.

What Makes This Course Different

We’re building the course we wish we had when we started.

• Taught by Real Operators: Every module is led by marketers actively working in web3—no fluff, no theory, just what works.

• Structured as a Career Pathway: From foundational concepts to advanced tactics, this program is designed to support your growth at all stages of your career.

• Accessible Pricing: At $300, it’s a fraction of the cost of programs like Reforge ($1,995). We believe a nominal payment ensures participants are committed to completing the course and taking it seriously.

What You'll Learn

The course covers the full crypto marketing funnel—from early narrative development to high-conversion growth experiments and long-term user retention.

You’ll learn how to:

• Position your product with a compelling, narrative-first approach

• Build systems for trust, sentiment analysis, and market mindshare

• Identify and attract the right users using onchain behavior

• Design and run growth experiments with measurable outcomes

• Gamify your product with sustainable incentive systems

• Navigate the job market or build a world-class crypto growth team

Each module includes hands-on frameworks, real-world case studies, and actionable insights from top-performing projects.

Beyond Web3: A Bridge for Web2 Marketers

While this program is built for crypto marketers, we also believe it will resonate far beyond web3.

The Safary Certification is designed to inspire web2 marketers as well—showing that crypto is more than just a technical playground.

It’s a new canvas for creativity, ownership, and innovation—one that challenges conventional thinking and opens up entirely new marketing frontiers.

This Is Just the Beginning

The Safary Certification isn’t just a course—it’s high quality marketing education with a built-in network of top operators.

If we want to reach mainstream users, crypto leaders must learn to communicate effectively. This course is our contribution to that mission.

Reserve your spot

Out of 965 applicants, only 80 made it in.

Here’s what makes Safary Batch 8 so special 🦁

We just welcomed our most ambitious, global, and ecosystem-diverse cohort yet — a handpicked group of the sharpest minds in web3 growth

This cohort brings together:

• Builders across 10+ ecosystems including Monad, Berachain, Arbitrum, & Solana

• Members from 25 countries 🌍 , including the US, UK, Argentina, Bulgaria, Thailand, Montenegro, India, and Portugal (up from 15 countries last batch!)

• Giga brain operators from 80 leading companies, like EigenLayer, Drift, Maple, Lombard Finance, & OKX

They aren't just impressive on paper — they’re defining how growth happens across DeFi, infra, consumer apps, and ecosystems

Here’s a sneak peek into what’s next:

Next week, they’ll meet for the first time — like the first day of college

80 top operators from around the world, coming together to trade stories, swap strategies, and share what’s next

There are few moments more energizing than seeing 80 of the industry's sharpest minds sharing the same virtual space

From there, we go deeper.

Each member is matched 1:1 with someone we believe could be a game-changing connection — a mentor, a new friend, or even a cofounder

Over the coming weeks, they’ll get access to exclusive sessions from the best growth leaders in the space

They’ll dive deep into what’s working right now (and what's not) — from incentive design to narrative architecture to performance marketing

And then it’s their turn.

They’ll share their own experiments, frameworks, challenges, and tech stacks — learning from each other, vertical by vertical

It’s a rare chance to see hard-won lessons straight from the trenches

There’s no better place to learn

And nowhere else you’ll find this level of insight, honesty, and ambition

All of it grounded in a culture of trust, candor, and the shared belief that openness and collaboration makes us all better.

It's 2021 WAGMI vibes — in our cozy corner of the internet

This is Safary Club.

Where the future of web3 growth takes shape — together.

Until next time,

We’ll see you in the wild! 🦁