The 2024 Report

Writing this feels less like wrapping up the year for Dfns and more like reflecting on the state of crypto itself. Working in this volatile, unfinished industry isn’t just a job—it’s a bet. The foundations remain unstable, and the road to legitimacy is still long. Yet, as an insider, I can’t help but believe in the promise ahead. How could I not? This year, Dfns has made undeniable progress. Our numbers are growing steadily, the work feels more grounded, and the team is relentlessly focused on success.

2024 feels like the calm before the storm. Finance is undergoing seismic shifts, much of it happening below the surface. These changes are driven not only by industry insiders but by forces from outside the system, often unnoticed by most. As a company providing the tools for fintech, we have a front-row seat to watch these preparations unfold, giving us a unique perspective. As the year ends, I want to take a moment to share what we’ve observed and reflect on what’s coming next.

Taking a look at macro and micro trends

2022 and 2023 were tough years. We faced the collapse of dubious crypto projects, the resurgence of global conflicts with Ukraine and Israel, rising interest rates from the FED, and widespread uncertainty about the future. 2024 began cautiously so to speak. Inflation started to ease a bit, the market seemed to think they had spent enough time shorting tech stocks, but confidence was still low and the mood pretty defensive. When talking to investors and M&A experts, they’d repeatedly point out the down market and warn us of a slow recovery. All the founders I knew of were cutting costs and focusing on profitability as their new north star metric. Dfns was fortunate to see steady growth, but we couldn’t ignore the sobering reality: countless tech companies had gone under. It was a clear reminder that we were navigating a historic shift, one where cash flow, profits, and margins took center stage once again.

Yet, quietly and away from much public attention, Bitcoin began climbing steadily. Starting at around $40,000 in January, it reached $60,000 by the end of February and stayed there through March. It was striking to see Bitcoin returning to its all-time high, yet most people didn’t seem to care—either indifferent to crypto or skeptical it would ever amount to anything meaningful.

What stood out even more was the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs. These funds, representing an abstraction over the actual onchain asset, were hailed as a groundbreaking moment for the industry and rightfully so. They were seen as a sign of crypto being “institutionalized,” finally earning the backing and legitimacy many believed it needed. In just their first month, these ETFs attracted $3 billion, the largest inflows in ETF history. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, who had once called Bitcoin “illegal,” now referred to it as “digital gold” poised to transform finance. To me, this truly marked the start of a new cycle.

At the same time, far from the Bitcoin rodeo, blockchain-based use cases like tokenization and stablecoins were also thriving despite all the geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe, in Israel, and regardless of the energy market uncertainty. From January to June, stablecoin market capitalization grew from $130B to $160B (+19%) and has since climbed to $205B! This growth is very exciting and crucial for crypto as the industry no longer solely depends on the value of a single asset.

By summer, crypto turned a corner by reclaiming its industry darling status. In conferences all over the world, from Singapore to London, Las Vegas, and New York, we noticed much more bankers and TradFi professionals, and fewer degens and DeFi enthusiasts. Not everyone welcomed this change as you might expect, but I see it as discreetly enthroning blockchain technology in finance, which is what we’ve all been striving for since the very beginning.

Builders who had survived the past two years came out damaged, but optimistic in spite of venture capital not fully bouncing back. The market was still sore and fiercely competitive. Everyone had to fight daily to secure their share. Then, Bridge happened. Stripe made headlines by acquiring the stablecoin payments startup for $1.1 billion – the largest deal in its history. The news shocked everyone. All of a sudden, VCs were back and hundreds of stablecoin startups flooded the market claiming to be the next Bridge. Optimism surged in November, only to be followed by another dramatic turn in December: Donald Trump won the election.

The past few weeks have been nothing less of a whirlwind of game-changing news. Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $108,000, several major crypto companies announced IPO plans for 2025, and stablecoin payment firms like BVNK, Sphere, Bleap, Perena and others secured their funding round. Acquisitions are also making a comeback: Chainalysis has acquired Hexagate, and Kaiko has purchased Vinter. And almost more importantly, Gary Gensler stepped down earlier than expected, and the Trump administration has made it very clear they plan to move quickly on crypto regulations in 2025 to support the growth of crypto companies in the US. At Dfns, we generated about 40% of our new ARR in Q4. This shows you from our view how much we’ve shifted from delay to acceleration mode.

How Dfns measured success in 2024

• We processed $5 billion in transactions (+508% YoY)
• We created 2 million wallets
• Our clients made 60+ million API calls
• We added 12 new blockchains
• Also 6 new third-party applications
• We developed 30+ new features and services
• We obtained $12.5 million in extra insurance
• We made >300% in ARR growth
• We onboarded 58 new fintech clients
• We hired 5 new team members
• We ensured 0 security incidents for the past 1,442 days.

What this means for the future of Dfns

Our vision is coming to life. Back in 2019, we set out to become the leading developer tool for crypto wallets, fully committed to building the best APIs and infrastructure with an obsessive focus on security. This is now paying off. As blockchain-based use cases become increasingly complex and specific, and as applications are scaling, the need for automations and modular infrastructure is going from “nice-to-have” to “must-have”. Fintechs and financial institutions are moving away from familiar names like Fireblocks, GK8, Taurus, and Bitgo to choose Dfns instead. They all recognize they’re getting a superior developer experience, which is normal. Our wallet-as-a-service platform was designed from day one to expose both the table-stakes wallet features and the advanced ones programmatically, through the lens of the API.

Over the years, we’ve discovered our true value lies in orchestrating blockchain nodes through a unified wallet API. It’s a tricky thing to achieve because you need to find the right semantic framework to generalize logic that varies a lot from one blockchain to another. But that's what we do best. This approach enables developers to seamlessly interact with any blockchain, bypassing its unique quirks and complexities. It’s this simplicity, scalability, and focus on developer needs that continue to set Dfns apart.

2024 marks a year of growth and maturity for us. After nearly five years in the field, we’ve had the opportunity to battle-test our solution, earn trust through rigorous due diligence, and secure over $30M in funding. More than 120 companies have chosen Dfns, and regulators worldwide have validated our technology, security model, and local presence.

Since Metaco's acquisition by Ripple in 2023, Dfns has emerged as a strong contender in the space, carving out a niche among older vendors that have seen less traction with banks and financial institutions. Standard Chartered-backed Zodia Custody was the first regulated custodian to trust us, followed by ADQ-backed Tungsten Custody, with more partnerships on the horizon.

Looking ahead, I believe 2025 will be the year Dfns solidifies its position as a world leader in digital asset wallet technology and blockchain security, offering the only bank-grade architecture available both as a fully managed service and as on-premises solution deployable within HSM partitions.

Thank you to our investors, partners, and especially our clients for trusting Dfns. Wishing you a Happy New Year! Here's to an exciting and successful 2025 for everyone in finance and crypto.