Nested Finance - Democratizing DeFi Through Social Trading

Problem

One of the major challenges Nested faced was proper accounting with invoices in cryptocurrencies. They often invoice freelancers abroad, notably in developing countries where they prefer to be paid in cryptocurrencies. 

But invoices in crypto tend to be sent via PDF files, in different layouts and formats which have to be meticulously stored and organized. That makes it difficult, and time-consuming for non-crypto native accountants to reconcile. It also makes paying individual invoices one at a time incredibly slow.

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Solution

Request Finance’s invoicing tool standardizes all the invoices they receive in a simple, elegant format that is easy to read for non crypto users such as most accountants. The ability to see the payment statuses of all their invoices in one dashboard, and pay multiple invoices in a single click is amazing.

Nested’s CFO now uses Request to pay their contributors around the world in crypto. That has been critical in helping them to manage a global team of talent as they grow their platform.

Enhanced efficiency and reach

Three of the most important gains that Nested has seen from using Request are:

 (i) The time and effort saved by being able to pay multiple crypto invoices with the click of a button. 

(ii) Being able to easily pay their global team in a wide range of cryptocurrencies. 

(iii) Simplifying accounting with crypto by being able to denominate the value of the invoices in fiat terms at prevailing exchange rates. 

Great user experience

What Nested loves about Request Finance is the UX. 

Being able to see the status of all their invoices in one dashboard makes it easy for their accountants. And with thoughtful features like the ability to pay multiple invoices at once, or send scheduled invoices with pre-filled information. It’s everything you need, and nothing you don’t. 

Nested also uses Utrust because it offers an off-ramp solution. But compared with Request Finance, it’s not as convenient for crypto payments as they do not support L2s, sidechains and other L1s, meaning transaction costs are higher. Also, UTrust’s platform fees are higher. 

The extensive multi-chain support, and low transaction fees make Request Finance the best way to pay in crypto. They will use Request exclusively as soon as fiat off-ramps become available in the Request Finance app. 

“Designing great user experiences is a big part of how Nested makes Web 3.0 usable for all. What I love about Request is the user experience. It makes it easy for our accountants to manage our crypto payments, and simplifies payroll in crypto for our global team with thoughtful features like the ability to pay multiple crypto invoices at once, or schedule invoices.”‍

Rudy Kadoch, founder and CEO at Nested Finance

About Nested

Billed as the "The one-stop SocialFi app to build, manage, replicate and monetize portfolios", Nested was conceived with the aim of addressing key barriers to participation in DeFi.

Firstly, anyone who has used DeFi applications will be quick to note the shockingly poor user experience (UX). Built for web3.0 native users, they are virtually unusable for beginners looking to explore DeFi for the first time. After months of intensive UX testing and design, Nested recently launched its application designed to help non-crypto natives interact with DeFi applications. Nested also aims to make staking and lending crypto assets more accessible by building a cross-chain compatible ecosystem consisting of popular projects and DeFi protocols like Curve, Convex, Yearn, Alpha Homora, and Aave. 

Secondly, Nested hopes social-trading will make DeFi less intimidating for new users. With hundreds of platforms and thousands of coins to choose from, all but the most devoted day traders don't know where to invest their money. On Nested, users can copy other professional traders’ portfolios and be notified each time they make a move, and copy their trades in one click. 

Lastly, Nested wants to foster robust “social trading” communities. As referral links and data commoditization do not yet exist in Web 3.0, one cannot monetize a community as quickly as with centralized platforms. But on Nested, users, through their Nested profiles, create baskets of assets represented by an NFT. Each time someone copies a portfolio, the original creator earns money. This feature will allow Nested users to build their own lending strategies which other users’ can copy. Asset managers can focus on portfolio construction and attract followers through their performance, instead of selling investment reports. 

To date, Nested has raised $7.5M from a mix of boutique funds, and notable angel investors in Web 3.0 like Joseph Eagan, the former president of Polychain Capital, Mounir Benchemled, the founder of decentralized exchanges aggregator Paraswap, and Lily Liu, whose company Earn.com was acquired by Coinbase. 

Eager for new talent, the team is currently composed of 15 talented individuals from notable companies like Ledger, Tezos, and Fusion. The management team is staffed by five C-suite team members covering areas such as technology, product, and marketing.