Identifying Opportunities in Crypto

Episode Description:

In this episode, Kshitij Jayakrishnan (AVP, Elevation Capital) speaks to Shaaran Lakshminarayanan (Founder, Brine Finance) on his journey of building the most seamless and accessible crypto trading platform for the globe.

Shaaran’s foray into the crypto world started at a very young age of thirteen with his keen interest in security and cryptography. Over time, he conceptualized and built Krypto, which was a centralized exchange and was the first avatar of Brine. During the journey, Shaaran was quick to realize that it was essential to build the platform in a decentralized manner in order to ensure a top-notch secure experience. The team has now been working on Brine for the last few months, which provides users the seamlessness of a centralized exchange experience while actually remaining decentralized. While building Brine, the team has ensured that the users don’t have to pay any gas fees, making it a super accessible platform with $1 Bn+ traded volume on testnet across 45k+ users already.

Listen to Shaaran as he talks about his early journey in the Crypto world, the pivot to Brine, its differentiated approach, the tech behind it, building a strong community, and the vision for Brine going forward.

Episode Summary:

00:46 - Introduction to Brine

02:36 - Shaaran’s early start in crypto and the journey so far

06:25 - The pivot from Krypto (earlier avatar of Brine) and identifying the right opportunities

08:43 - Brine’s unique proposition compared to other decentralized exchanges

11:11 - The tech behind Brine and its ramp-up

15:45 - Building the community around Brine

20:02 - Way forward for Brine

22:54 - Lessons for Crypto founders early in their journey