Samyak Jain is the co-founder of Instadapp, a prominent middleware platform in the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) sector. Alongside his older brother and co-founder, Sowmay Jain, he developed Instadapp from a hackathon project into one of the largest DeFi protocols by total value locked. For his work, Jain was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for both India and Asia in 2022. ^{[1] [2]}​

Career

Born in Hanumangarh and later based in Kota, Rajasthan, Jain's early exposure to technology came from his father, who runs a computer education institute. ^{[1] [6]} Before co-founding Instadapp, he gained professional experience as a software engineer and later as technical head at Fysix Technologies from 2016 to 2018. He also worked briefly as a frontend and DApp developer at Moatfund and as a research analyst at Bennett University in 2018. ^[3]​

Founding of Instadapp

The initial concept for Instadapp originated from the personal experiences of Samyak and his brother Sowmay. While managing their own cryptocurrency holdings in 2018, they found the process of interacting with DeFi protocols like MakerDAO to be overly complex, fragmented, and risky, especially when trying to prevent the liquidation of their positions during market volatility. ^{[7] [1]}​

A pivotal moment occurred in August 2018, when the brothers participated in the ETHIndia hackathon in Bengaluru. They built a prototype of a decentralized application that simplified complex actions on the MakerDAO protocol into single-click transactions. Their project won a bounty from MakerDAO at the event, which provided the validation and momentum they needed to pursue the idea further. ^{[2] [7]} Following the hackathon, they received a grant from Kyber Network to continue their work and began developing the full-fledged Instadapp platform from their home in Rajasthan. ^[1] The Instadapp platform officially launched on the Ethereum mainnet in late 2018. ^[8]​

Growth and Development of Instadapp

As co-founder and the primary technical lead (often cited as CTO), Samyak Jain was the principal architect of Instadapp's core infrastructure. His brother Sowmay focused more on the business and product aspects, with Sowmay stating, "Samyak is more into computer science, geeky stuff... I handle more of business and products." ^[7] Jain's most significant technical contribution was the creation of the DeFi Smart Accounts (DSA). The DSA is a non-custodial smart contract wallet that acts as a central container for a user's assets, allowing them to interact with multiple, disparate DeFi protocols (such as MakerDAO, Aave, and Compound) through a single, unified interface without manually migrating assets. This architecture enables users to execute complex, multi-protocol strategies like collateral swaps and leveraging with significantly reduced complexity. ^{[6] [2]}​

The platform's vision was to serve as a DeFi "middleware layer" or "abstraction layer." In an interview, Sowmay Jain likened their goal to Amazon Web Services, explaining, "We are building an abstraction layer... something like what AWS did for servers. We are doing that for the DeFi ecosystem." ^[9]​

Instadapp's innovative approach attracted significant investor interest. In October 2019, the company secured a 10 million funding round led by Standard Crypto, with participation from DeFi luminaries like Andre Cronje (Yearn.finance), Kain Warwick (Synthetix), and Stani Kulechov (Aave), alongside continued support from Pantera Capital and Coinbase Ventures. ^{[9] [1]}​

The platform experienced substantial growth in adoption. By June 2021, the Total Value Locked (TVL) in Instadapp's smart contracts had exceeded 13 billion, positioning it as one of the top five largest protocols in the global DeFi ecosystem. ^{[1] [4]} In June 2021, the project took a major step towards decentralization with the launch of its native governance token, INST, which transferred control over the protocol to its community of token holders. ^[1]​

In 2023, the team launched Avocado, an EIP-4337 compliant platform focused on account abstraction. Avocado aims to simplify user onboarding and transactions by unifying a user's assets across multiple blockchain networks into a single address and abstracting away complexities like network selection and gas fee management. ^[4]​

Angel Investing and Other Activities

Samyak Jain is an active angel investor, primarily focusing on early-stage companies in the EdTech, Real Estate, and Construction Tech sectors in India, as well as ventures in the Web3 space. His known investments include:

• Vidyakul: Participated in a $1.51 million seed round on June 11, 2022. ^[5]
• Flent: Participated in a $778,000 seed round on April 19, 2024. ^[5]
• Blocknative ^[8]
• Goldfinch ^[8]
• Solv Protocol ^[8]

He has also engaged with the broader tech community as a speaker. He presented on the topic of "build on ethereum" at an E-SUMMIT hosted by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee and was invited as an Investor Delegate to the Dubai FutureTech Decentralized 4.0 event by the Global Blockchain Foundation. ^[3]​

Awards and Recognition

Jain's work on Instadapp has earned him and his brother significant industry recognition.

• Forbes 30 Under 30: In 2022, Samyak and Sowmay Jain were named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for both India (in the "Finance/Fintech" category) and Asia (in the "Finance & Venture Capital" category) for "disrupting the crypto ecosystem with DeFi." ^{[1] [5]}
• ETHIndia Hackathon 2018: Won a top prize for the initial prototype of Instadapp, an achievement that served as the catalyst for launching the company. ^[2]
• Distinguished Alumni Award: Recognized by Bennett University as a "Remarkable Alumnus" for his entrepreneurial success with Instadapp. ^[4]

Interviews

DeFi Infrastructure Discussion #01

In an interview released on July 2, 2021, on the Founder Alpha channel, Samyak Jain, co-founder of Instadapp, discussed aspects of the platform’s development and its role within the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, in a conversation with Dave Liebowitz.

In his description, Instadapp was created as a middleware layer intended to facilitate interaction between multiple DeFi protocols. The platform was presented as integrating different services, including lending and liquidity protocols, allowing users to manage positions through a unified interface. He also referred to its origin as a project initiated during a hackathon, later expanded to incorporate additional functionalities and protocol integrations.

He addressed the introduction of a governance token as part of the platform’s development, describing it as a structural component used to support protocol updates and governance processes. The token was presented as enabling modifications to the system and coordination among participants.

The interview also included observations on the use of automation within DeFi systems, particularly in relation to integrations with external tools. Additionally, he commented on the context of the cryptocurrency sector in India, referring to the presence of a distributed developer base and noting the existence of regulatory uncertainty in the region. ^[11]

Avocado Wallet and DeFi Abstraction #02

In an interview published on May 10, 2023, on the YouTube channel “DeFi Dad,” Samyak Jain discussed the development of Instadapp and the Avocado wallet, outlining his perspective on the structure and progression of decentralized finance (DeFi).

According to Jain, Instadapp was created as a middleware layer intended to facilitate interactions across multiple DeFi protocols. He stated that the platform enables users to manage positions and execute operations such as leverage and refinancing through a single interface, integrating functionalities from different protocols within a unified system.

Jain described the Avocado wallet as an extension of this framework, incorporating mechanisms referred to as network abstraction, gas abstraction, and account abstraction. He explained that these mechanisms allow interactions across different blockchain networks without requiring manual network switching or direct handling of native gas tokens. He also noted that the system supports alternative methods for transaction fee payments, including the use of stablecoins.

He further indicated that the wallet design includes features under development, such as multi-owner and multi-signature configurations, intended to expand account management options. These elements were presented as part of the system architecture rather than as finalized components.

The interview also included references to other activities within the Instadapp ecosystem, including the development of additional protocols. Jain characterized these efforts as related to changes in how DeFi systems are structured and accessed. ^[10]