UNBOUND Founders w/ Scallop.io CEO 🎙️ djchrisssss | DeFi on Sui

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MikeNielsen
@HavenMediaCoOct 10, 2025

The Spaces features host Mike in conversation with Chris, cofounder of Scallop, covering Chris’s journey from a computer science student and Red Bull Thre3style DJ to a DeFi founder. Chris recounts early crypto exposure via Ethereum mining (2017), building on Solana with a no‑loss lottery concept, then a conviction‑led pivot to Sui after deep technical due diligence on Move and Sui’s consensus and object model. He describes survival-focused execution through the FTX collapse, repeated hackathons and Move CTFs, and launching Scallop’s lending market in July 2023, followed by fundraising in early 2024 and a 2024 token launch, reaching about $6M in revenue and multiple exchange listings. The discussion emphasizes security-first design, formal verification, audits, rigorous risk management, and differentiators such as separated collateral and lending assets, Scallop’s sCoin derivative, and a ve‑token model for long‑term holders. Mike highlights the value of storytelling and trusted founders; David warns about shallow repo forking; Duke of DeFi offers praise. Chris closes with Scallop’s vision: solving human finance on Sui with tangible impact for unbanked users worldwide.

Unbound Founders Space with Chris (Scallop)

Participants and Context

  • Host: Mike (Speaker 1)
  • Guest: Chris from Scallop (Speaker 2); cofounders referenced: Donny (cofounder), Nathan (Indonesia-based), and Sean
  • Audience commentators: Dave/David (Speaker 3), Duke of DeFi (Speaker 4)
  • Host notes:
    • The Unbound Founders series records weekly talks with founders/builders; they’ve recorded ~27 sessions.
    • Launching the Unbound Archive website on Walrus (Sui-native data storage) in a few weeks, hosting their recorded Spaces.
    • Observations on market exhaustion and price fighting across communities; recognition that cycles include drawdowns, underscoring the importance of risk management.

Chris’s Journey into Web3: From DJ to DeFi Builder

Early Life, Education, and DJ Career

  • Background: Majored in Computer Science at university. Admits he wasn’t a model student (skipped classes early on).
  • Music/DJ path:
    • Entered DJing during freshman year, immersed in club culture and turntablism.
    • Competed in Red Bull 3Style (2015 era):
      • Taiwan wild-card round had ~50–60 entrants; Chris made the Top 18 and was two rounds away from representing Taiwan.
      • Format: 15-minute set mixing 3+ genres, assembling ~50–60 music “puzzles” (acapellas, instrumentals, original tracks, special mixes). Techniques included tone play, scratching, and role play across turntables/mixers and software (Serato DJ, Ableton Live).
      • Global scale: country-level finalists feed into a multi-round world championship.
    • Realities of the DJ market in Taiwan: Difficult to sustain financially; DJs often treated more like playlist providers than artists with a viable return.

Transition to Software and Early Crypto Exposure

  • Returned focus to Computer Science (web application for graduation project).
  • First job (2017): Full-stack developer at a small gaming firm.
  • Pre-2017 bull market: Built low-budget Ethereum mining rigs (12+ GPUs on a single motherboard), experimented with trading and learned about various chains (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Zcash, Monero, XRP, IOTA).
  • Initial rationale: Bitcoin’s design made conceptual sense to him as a CS student; traded altcoins but paper-handed positions that later appreciated—valuable lesson in cycles and conviction.

Builder Phase: Solana Hacker Journey and Pivot to Sui

  • 2021: Breakpoint—described involvement as a founding member/early contributor with Orca (OG Solana DEX), surprising performance and low-cost transactions drove deeper exploration.
  • Co-founder partnership: Chris and Donny entered DeFi hackathons on Solana, building a “no-loss lottery” and a verifiable randomness interest-rate mechanism.
    • Outcomes: Learned entrepreneurship, go-to-market, smart contract deployment and maintenance, and lending/borrowing primitives.
    • Team scale-up: Brought on Nathan (Indonesia) and expanded team capabilities.
  • Recognized challenges: Early side project suffered from weak business model; sought a more sustainable direction.

Choosing Move and Sui

  • Technical due diligence on Move-based chains (Aptos, Sui, others).
  • Conclusion: Sui would be the “dark horse”—stronger technical potential than Solana on multiple axes:
    • Move’s safety and object-centric design: More secure at the binary level, clearer resource semantics, improved compatibility.
    • Consensus: Sui’s design and upcoming iterations (referenced a V2 target) aiming at leading performance for 2025.
    • Team quality: Strong cryptography, systems, databases, and product experience at Mysten Labs and Sui Foundation.
  • 2022: Joined Sui’s first Builder House; demo competition led to a Sui Foundation grant.
    • FTX collapse occurred two days later, locking half of their angel round (raised $50k; ~$25k frozen), triggering industry-wide stress.
    • Despite this, the team doubled down: participated in Move CTF challenges (Ho Chi Minh, Denver), online/offline hackathons (WebX Move hackathon, Sui online hackathon, local builder houses), consistently showcasing skill and project progress.

Scallop: Timeline, Traction, and Global Presence

  • Product launch: Scallop lending market launched July 2023; joined Sui-native incentive program.
  • Fundraising: Closed a round in Q1 2024.
  • Token: Launched in 2024; mentioned listings on multiple global exchanges (Coinone referenced among others).
  • Revenue: He stated surpassing $6M in revenue.
  • Marketing/community: Active co-marketing with Sui at events across Asia, Europe, US, Africa, Australia—emphasizes real product evangelism, not just blockchain promotion.

Philosophy: Survival, Risk Management, and Brand Trust

  • Industry stance: Survival and risk management outweigh short-term hype; reputation and trust are foundational.
  • Security-first mindset: “Zero trust” approach, open-source codebase, formal verification, and rigorous auditing.
  • Operational pace: Accepts slower speed when necessary to deeply understand product risk at financial, object, binary, and math levels. Aim is to minimize technical debt and create scalable structures.

Technical Differentiation: What Makes Scallop Distinct

  • Built on Sui/Move for security and performance.
  • Money Market Design:
    • Inspired by Compound V3 and Aave V2, adapted to Move’s unique object model.
    • Combines separated collateral and lending asset models.
    • Introduces a market-coin derivative (referred to by Chris as the “Scallop sCoin model”), optimizing capital efficiency and risk segmentation.
  • Tokenomics & Governance:
    • ve-model (inspired by Curve and Pendle) unlocking real utility:
      • Borrow fee discounts via referrals and ve-locking.
      • Fee sharing to ve-holders.
      • Targeted rewards for long-term token holders: on-chain digital IDs, airdrops, and loyalty programs tied to revenue milestones.
  • Security & Transparency:
    • Open-source for ~2 years.
    • Three audits completed; formal verification ongoing.
    • Goal: Best-practice security for money markets on Sui and broader DeFi.
    • Risk management tuned to minimize bad debt, with configurable parameters and transparent controls.

Leadership and Operations: Wearing Many Hats

  • Transition challenges:
    • From cybersecurity and coding to founder: learning fundraising, pitch decks, go-to-market, marketing, and operations.
    • Hackathons as accelerators: workshops, office hours, documentation, feedback loops with sponsors (Sui Foundation, partners), investor input—valuable for improving product and narrative.
  • Leadership priorities: Build consensus, design flexible processes applicable from one to one million users, maintain standards and logical rigor, and constantly seek improvement.

Security Lessons for the Ecosystem

  • Anti “fork-and-go”: Copying repos without reading or understanding security trade-offs can replicate bugs and misconfigure risk parameters, leading to exploits or systemic bad debt.
  • Dave’s commentary reinforced this problem: Teams often “npm run” without reading docs or threat models, then scale on shaky foundations.
  • Scallop’s approach: Deep analysis prior to launch, layered security measures, deliberate pace over speed.

Hardships, Resilience, and Mindset

  • Personal and team adversity:
    • Nathan’s severe illness right before launching the Solana product; team nearly broke financially.
    • Solana price decline intensified stress; necessity to pivot toward a more sustainable chain and model.
  • Strategic course correction: Discussions with FTX, Sui Foundation, Mysten Labs, and others helped the team align on Sui early.
  • Survival philosophy:
    • Conviction that the strategy will work out, but frank acceptance of uncertainty about surviving long enough to see it realized.
    • Avoid leverage; prefer organic, transparent, decentralized behaviors. Sustainability over flash.

Advice to Builders

  • Keep trying—catch every opportunity (hackathons, speaker slots, emails, community pitches). If you don’t try, the probability remains zero.
  • Seek feedback (investors, community, builders) to reveal blind spots in product, business model, or GTM.
  • Propose win–win collaborations; keep efforts organic and transparent.
  • Don’t overthink or let fear block action; bet on yourself and iterate.

Vision: Human Finance on Sui

  • Strategic alignment: Mysten/Sui focus on infra (consensus, binary-level security, object model), while Scallop builds the best finance UX, risk management, and business logic.
  • Mission: Solve human finance—make saving, lending, and borrowing accessible, secure, and efficient.
  • Financial inclusion example: African users without bank accounts or Visa access use Slash wallet and Scallop as their first savings app.
    • Web3 breaks borders for financial services; Scallop aims to be a key component of that transformation.

Host’s Reflections and Closing

  • Mike’s background: CS major who pivoted to marketing—observed the importance of translating technical value to non-technical stakeholders.
  • Emphasized resilience, relationship-building, and long-term roadmaps from Sui Foundation/Mysten Labs.
  • Audience praise:
    • Dave highlighted the uncommon but crucial security insights in Chris’s remarks.
    • Duke of DeFi applauded Chris’s builder ethos and takeaways on persistence.
  • Sponsors acknowledged: Potato Finance and Bluefin support the Founders Spaces.
  • Next session preview: Lineup Games.

Key Takeaways

  • Survival > Hype: Risk management, security, and reputation are essential in volatile cycles.
  • Technical edge: Move’s object model and Sui’s consensus give Scallop a strong foundation for safer, more compatible DeFi primitives.
  • Product differentiation: Combined collateral/lending models, sCoin derivative, ve-token utility targeting long-term holders.
  • Security practice: Open-source, multiple audits, formal verification; deliberate pace to understand risks at every layer.
  • Builder guidance: Act relentlessly—embrace hackathons, feedback loops, and win–win collaborations; avoid leverage, grow organically.
  • Vision: A global “human finance” platform on Sui that brings banking-like services to the unbanked and underbanked.