SINGAPORE, LONDON and LISBON, 20 September 2024 – Deus X Capital, the $1 billion investment and operating company, today at Solana Breakpoint 2024 announced the launch of Solstice Labs, a Lisbon-based crypto business focused on facilitating access to DeFi for institutional and retail investors. Solstice Labs is developing institutional-grade DeFi investment products and protocols that will be available to all investors, broadening the opportunity for investment participation in crypto and digital assets.
Solstice Labs’ first project will be a protocol offering enhanced yield opportunities and is scheduled to be live in market in early 2025. The protocol will be built upon the Solana blockchain and is expected to launch with over $100 million of Total Value Locked (TVL) on the back of significant investment from Deus X Capital. Solstice Labs is already working directly with Solana partners across the ecosystem to accelerate growth of the protocol and produce compelling returns for institutional and retail investors alike. Solstice Labs plans to build and operate across diverse blockchain platforms in the future.
Solstice Labs is wholly funded by Deus X Capital and will operate under Deus X Capital’s Enterprises division, where it will benefit from partnering closely with other portfolio companies. Crucially, Solstice Labs will work closely with Deus X Enterprises companies Cor Prime, the recently launched principal and prime lending business, and Alpha Lab 40, the proprietary trading business, and Deus X Ventures company APEX:E3, the advanced software and artificial intelligence business.
Ben Nadareski, currently Investment Director at Deus X Capital, has been named Co-Founder and CEO of Solstice Labs and brings valuable experience from a number of roles held across the crypto industry and traditional finance. Prior to Solstice Labs, Ben was a Vice President of Trading at Galaxy Digital, where he oversaw the first BTC settled derivative trade with counterparty Goldman Sachs, Director of M&A and member of the investment board at SIX Digital Exchange, and visiting guest lecturer on digital assets and crypto at The Wharton School for over 4 years.
Tim Grant, CEO of Deus X Capital, is a Co-Founder of Solstice Labs and has been appointed Chairman. Grant brings over 25 years of experience in financial markets including a decade of experience working in digital assets, most recently as Head of EMEA at Galaxy Digital. Stuart Connolly, CIO of Deus X Capital and CEO of Alpha Lab 40, will join as Chief Investment Officer & Co-Founder.
Grant said, “Solstice Labs represents a key pillar in the Deus X Capital strategy to invest in and build enterprises that act as a bridge between traditional capital markets and crypto and DeFi ecosystems. We strongly believe that the combination will result in a faster, better and cheaper financial system in which everyone can prosper. We’re excited to see Ben Nadareski take the helm of this important initiative and we look forward to working with him towards the launch of our first protocol in 2025 and subsequent launches in the future.”
Nadareski said, “Many DeFi products and protocols have been built using exceptional technology stacks like we have seen with Solana but have largely been overlooked for institutional applications. This presents a huge opportunity to introduce institutional-grade yield-opportunities and infrastructure into DeFi which will allow for a far broader range of investment participation.”
