EthosX YC Application

Summer 2022Active

EthosX went through Y Combinator in the Summer 2022 batch as a Fintech company. Below: what the company does, who founded it, and its application to YC, reconstructed question by question in the real YC form.

YC batch: Summer 2022
Industry: Fintech
Team size: 2
Status: Active
Launched: 2022

Founders

Deepanshu.Founder
Smit PatoliyaFounder

What EthosX does

EthosX is a decentralized finance platform creating end-to-end financial derivatives on blockchains. No centralized exchanges, clearinghouses, depositories, clearing banks, CSD participants etc. required. We are starting with cryptocurrency options first, with the intention to move towards other crypto derivatives and traditional finance derivatives eventually. For example, one can buy a bitcoin hedging token directly from EthosX without involving any exchange or counterparty and earn profits when the bitcoin price is falling (similar to a put option). It is perpetual and is completely on-chain, end-to-end. It is held as a token in wallets and can be sold/transferred to anyone at any time. At institutional level, using EthosX’s options infrastructure two hedge funds can trade high-value on-chain options with each other directly without involving any banks or brokers with zero counterparty risk and zero settlement risk. We are also providing derivatives infrastructure to other crypto companies who want to use these products as a part of a larger package to their customers. Global derivatives ecosystem is broken. Derivatives trading in traditional finance has way too many gatekeepers and intermediaries. Crypto was supposed to be free of these issues and a solution to all of this, but it is itself getting more and more centralized with disastrous consequences. We at EthosX intend to pick the best of both worlds and change the way retail and institutional financial derivatives are traded world over.

EthosX's YC application, reconstructed

Y Combinator application

EthosX, Summer 2022 batch. The real form questions, answered from public data.

Founders2
Company7
Progress7
Idea4
Equity3
Curious2
Batch Preference1

Company

Company name

EthosX

Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less.

The protocol for derivatives on blockchains

What is your company going to make? Please describe your product and what it does or will do.

We are building a decentralized finance platform for financial derivatives directly on blockchains. Our initial product is cryptocurrency options - for example, bitcoin hedging tokens that users can buy and hold without involving any centralized exchange or counterparty. These tokens are perpetual and fully on-chain, enabling anyone to transfer or sell them peer-to-peer. Institutionally, our infrastructure allows hedge funds to trade high-value options with zero counterparty and settlement risk, cutting out banks and brokers. We also provide derivatives infrastructure to other crypto companies looking to offer these products to their customers.

Where do you live now, and where would the company be based after YC?

We live and work across Claymont, DE; Bengaluru, KA; and Mumbai, MH, with remote team members. Post-YC, we will remain distributed but officially based in the U.S.

Explain your decision regarding location.

Our locations reflect where we and our team members currently live. Blockchain development and DeFi talent span globally, and we value the flexibility of a distributed setup. Being officially U.S.-based helps with infrastructure and business.

21 more answers in the full application

Founders, Progress, Idea, Equity, Curious, Batch Preference are in the full version. Create a free account to open it in YC Insights, next to every other YC batch.

See full application

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this the real EthosX YC application?

No. Y Combinator keeps submitted applications private. This is a reconstruction: the real YC form questions, answered from EthosX's public data (launch notes, founder backgrounds, product description). It shows how a company like EthosX would present itself to YC, not the text they submitted.