Splits at ETH NYC

Abram had the pleasure of presenting Splits Teams at the World of Apps session during ETH NYC. The event was not recorded, but Abram made a video of his talk, which we're sharing today. The presentation is just over six minutes long. Abram's notes are also included below.

I'm a founder at Splits, and I'm here to share what we're building and why Ethereum matters for us.

Quick background: We started with basic splitter contracts, which are globally and instantly available neutral financial tools. People talk about a splitter contract as being "the dumbest LLC possible." They're similar in some ways, in that they solve similar problems — yet so different at their core. Similar output, drastically different mechanism. Why? Because each is built upon a different foundation. Foundation matters.

We built a few more payment building blocks and learned that making it easy to share money went beyond just structuring future income or revenue. We needed to solve the aspects around managing that revenue once it's received.

So we looked for a solution that met our needs on usability, security, and scalability. Something that could grow with us as our team grew. We talked to a bunch of other teams who were in similar positions and ultimately didn't find anything. We were all living in this Scylla and Charybdis situation. So we built our own, and that's what I'm here to show you today.

We're building institutional-grade banking that's instantly available to everyone in the world. That's a loaded sentence, so let's unpack that a bit.

Institutional-grade banking means peace of mind. Funds are secure. Funds are usable; they're not so locked down as to prevent new team members from accessing them when they need to. They're legible: we actually know how much we have, who has access, and how money is moving. We're earning interest, our assets are growing, and our books get closed faster.

Instantly available means there's no red tape, no application process, nobody saying "you're worthy of using this piece of software." You can get set up in under a minute, which we'll do together shortly.

Everyone in the world means where you live or where you were born shouldn't impact your ability to use the global financial system. You should have the same access as we do here in the US.

We couldn't do this without Ethereum. We couldn't build an excellent product that solves these issues on any other foundation. We use excellent products, as I'm sure many of you do. Mercury is an excellent product — we love it — and they're actively reducing access, restricting more and more countries from using it. Stripe is another excellent product — and they're actively removing "crypto companies" from using their systems. The foundation upon which you build impacts not only what you build but who can access it.

So that's what we're building. But why else does Ethereum matter for us? I'll keep this brief since I'm preaching to the choir here.

Ethereum is, and will continue to be, the best place to experiment. Why? Because it's global, cheap, and neutral. That makes it ultimately a better product for experimentation: better than existing legal and financial systems, better than existing tech platforms. Better products result in less friction and resistance.

So Ethereum will see more and more experimentation, which means more and more entrepreneurs will get started on Ethereum, which means more and more banking services will be needed to serve these growing businesses. All things in nature follow the path of least resistance. People are no different.

Before jumping into the demo, here are some quick stats on where things stand with this current product: We have about 40 teams using it to manage things day-to-day. Awesome builders like Farcaster, Clanker, Bright Moments, ETHGlobal, Daimo, Titles. Plus tons of mini-app builders too.

In the past 10 months, our users have processed over $25 million through the product. And keep in mind, there is no incentive for using this other than it being a better product. We are not "selling money" — there is no way to get rich using our product alone. We don't give you money for using our product.

One final thought before jumping into the demo. People ask about market size and whether that worries us. Being honest, the answer is, at times, yes. Market size should worry just about any venture-backed company — if you're not a little nervous, then you've missed the advantage of being early. I believe market risk is the right risk to take as a startup founder. We're looking at a lot of early customers and people in the ecosystem who are making money, and it's a lot of casinos and gambling and speculation and games. That's okay!

I think it's helpful to look back at Wells Fargo. They started in San Francisco in the 1850s. Guess who their early customers were? Brothels and gold diggers. And now they're one of the largest banks in the world because they solved a fundamental problem and earned customer trust.

Alright, the demo. I'm going to go from zero to one and actually send transactions: from "no account whatsoever" to "fully onboarded and active" in hopefully under one minute.

At Splits we're building institutional-grade banking that's instantly available to everyone in the world. Built on Ethereum. No account minimums, paperwork, or legal entity needed. Sign up today.

Header photo by Josh Sauceda, via chaskin.eth.