Blockdaemon Acquires DeFi Connectivity Firm Expand to Attract Institutions to Web3

expand.network offers API access to decentralized finance (DeFi), facilitating connections to more than 170 endpoints, such as decentralized exchanges (DEXs), bridges, lending protocols, and oracles.

Key Points:

• Blockdaemon, supported by investors like Goldman Sachs, serves about 70% of the top 500 institutions active in crypto.
• The specific price for acquiring expand.network was not disclosed, but Blockdaemon stated the deal was worth tens of millions of dollars.

Blockdaemon, a prominent provider of crypto infrastructure, has acquired expand.network, a single API connection to the diverse world of decentralized finance (DeFi), with the goal of helping major financial institutions easily access on-chain trading.

While the exact price of the acquisition was not disclosed, Blockdaemon stated the deal was valued in the tens of millions of dollars. expand.network offers API access to DeFi, connecting to over 170 endpoints, including decentralized exchanges (DEXs), bridges, lending protocols, and oracles.

As regulatory clarity for crypto finally emerges in the U.S., banks and large financial institutions are exploring ways to enter the on-chain finance space.

Blockdaemon, supported by major banks like Goldman Sachs, serves approximately 70% of the top 500 institutions involved in crypto. The company operates over 250,000 nodes across 40 data centers, manages staking rewards, and has recently introduced cross-blockchain, self-custody wallet solutions for large players.

Konstantin Richter, founder and CEO of Blockdaemon, stated that the next logical step for banks and institutions is to provide easy access to DeFi lending, borrowing, and automated liquidity through Blockdaemon's interoperable, staking-ready wallets.

"DeFi will significantly reduce the costs of running financial infrastructure for banks and institutions, and it’s where many institutional benefits will emerge over time," Richter explained in an interview. "While it's still early and there's much to be done in terms of regulatory clarity, adoption, and decentralization, the time is right to accelerate this specific vertical within our product offerings."