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Crypto represents the next ‘operating system of finance,’ Domain Money CEO says

Domain Money Founder and CEO Adam Dell joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss how his investment platform lets investors trade in the stock market and cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Video transcript

JULIE HYMAN: We also, of course, are continuing to keep an eye on what's going on in cryptocurrencies. And there is a new trading platform where you can trade equities-- and crypto, for that matter-- and also get some ideas as to how to trade them through model portfolios. It's called Domain Money. And the founder and CEO, Adam Dell, is joining us right now. Adam, thanks for being here.

First of all, I would just ask why the world needs another trading platform. There's a lot of competition out there in this space.

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ADAM DELL: Yeah. We think there are a number of investors out there who are looking for a more sophisticated platform to invest in both stocks and crypto on a single platform. We also offer the opportunity for investors to access our actively managed strategies that include both asset classes.

BRIAN SOZZI: Adam, the platform has a large focus on cryptocurrencies. Has the plunge in values-- how do you think that will play out on the platform?

ADAM DELL: Yeah, well, markets in the short term are voting machines, and in the long term, they're weighing machines. And as we look at the cryptocurrency market broadly, we see some incredibly powerful trends. DeFi marketplace lending has gone from less than $1 billion to over $200 billion last year. You see NFT volumes at $23 billion, up from virtually nothing just a few years ago. These all suggest that the cryptocurrency ecosystem is alive and well.

I'll give you some context. Last year, Visa completed $10 trillion in transaction volume. Ethereum alone did $11 trillion. And so as I look at these trends, the scale and the volume of transactions happening in these marketplaces are quite profound and very healthy.

JULIE HYMAN: Adam, who do you see as the customer here that you guys are aiming for that's, as you said, not being served by the existing platforms out there?

ADAM DELL: Yeah, we believe there are investors who are looking for a deeper signal and insights into the data related to these underlying assets. So we've developed a product called Signal which gives investors access to things like flow of funds on exchange which tracks on-chain and off-chain activity, social sentiment where we're looking at the chatter of activity around individual assets. And that level of data, I think, investors are looking for as they make decisions.

BRIAN SOZZI: Adam, you spent a [AUDIO OUT].

JULIE HYMAN: Oh, Adam, I'm sorry. I think Brian's having some technical difficulty here. As you introduce the platform, it's funny that it's being introduced-- we are seeing a really-- I won't say unprecedented time of turmoil in crypto because it's very precedented. There's been a lot of other periods like this in cryptocurrencies. But what does it do to demand for these types of instruments when we have seen them sell off so much from the highs?

ADAM DELL: Yeah. Well, over the last five years, there have been at least four bear markets in bitcoin, and yet it's still up in the thousands percent. Our view is that there's a large group of investors out there who are done playing games around crypto and want to start to take this asset class more seriously. And they want to make decisions based on information rather than just momentum. And so to provide investors with a platform that gives them a level of data they wouldn't otherwise get, we think, serves the market.

And more broadly, we think there are class of investors out there who may not be as familiar with the underlying technologies that make up cryptocurrencies. And our managed strategies give investors the ability to access that asset class by buying a basket of assets.

JULIE HYMAN: I know, Adam, the existing platforms out there make their money in different ways, whether it's fees, whether it's payment for order flow, et cetera. What model are you guys basing all of this on?

ADAM DELL: Yeah, we don't charge fees for trading in equities. We charge 1.49% for trading in crypto, which is less than a number of our competitors. So that's how we make money.

JULIE HYMAN: And finally, I'm curious if you're invested in crypto. I mean, I know you're running the platform. You're not making personal recommendations about what people should do with their money. But I'm curious what you're in and where you see bitcoin going in the short to medium term.

ADAM DELL: Yeah. Well, again, our focus is on long-term, stable bets in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. The thing we're most focused on is protocols that are performing some fundamental market function. DeFi marketplaces where people can borrow and lend have exploded, literally, in the last two years. Those are examples of a real fundamental market function that consumers and investors are looking for.

And so our investment focus is around the operating system of finance, which we believe blockchain technologies represents. If you look at the engineering community, they have voted with their feet. You can't find a technology company focused on the plumbing of our banking system that isn't focused on blockchain technologies. And so it's our focus to help build out the ecosystem of cryptocurrencies serving core market functions.

JULIE HYMAN: Yeah, very true regarding blockchain and big financial firms. Adam, thank you so much for being here. Appreciate it. Founder and CEO of Domain Money on the announcement of its introduction. Thanks so much, Adam.