We’re excited to unveil Glue, an integrated blockchain network built for one purpose: to attract millions of real users to interact with blockchain technology — without realizing they’re using it.
Crypto as we’ve seen it used today, has been primarily self-serving, rather than for the advancement of our currently existing infrastructures for the benefit of the everyday consumer. Memecoins, for example, while fun and entertaining, haven’t showcased their real-world utility in meaningful ways.
Meanwhile, real-world use cases remain niche, or stuck in an endless cycle of developing the next super efficient consensus algorithm to support a sharded L2 ZK data availability layer (or some other buzzword combination). It’s emblematic that despite the technology easily being there now, we still don’t even have a massively adopted payments app on the scale of Venmo or PayPal.
Instead of focusing on the technology, we will focus on Glue’s value proposition for end users and a high-level explanation of how our technology and experience help achieve that purpose. Historically, the average consumer hasn’t cared about how these underlying infrastructures work, so long as they function as intended. We take a similar approach that doesn’t require that daunting step into a whole new world.
So, why are we here? We want to make crypto accessible for everyone. We want to be the glue between two different worlds that make everyday life and business easier without the need to get technical.
Now, we invite you to get to know us and our team here at Glue.
Meet Our Founders
The idea for the Glue ecosystem was incepted amid the last bull run in 2021, founded by blockchain security expert Ogle and renowned entrepreneur, Snapshot.
Ogle is a tech entrepreneur turned crypto enthusiast, white hat hacker, crypto entrepreneur, and most notably a member of the Top 50 in Coindesk’s Most Influential People.
He first became known for leading the BSC Gemz community on Binance Smart Chain and implementing a novel approach for the AMAs there: a team would make a deposit for their AMA, which would then be returned to them if they acted in good faith and didn’t scam users. This has organically brought Ogle to his first successful funds recovery when Stable Magnet tried to steal money from the community.
After that, Ogle has helped recover millions of dollars for over 40 crypto protocols that suffered hacks and fraud, eventually founding his own security company.
Snapshot is a successful tech businessman, whose primary focus has always been user-friendly products and interfaces. Originally from Switzerland, he built several startups in Web2 before getting hooked on crypto and its promise to dramatically change how we live our lives. He’s also an accomplished war photographer and well-traveled.
Where did Glue come from?
Ogle and Snapshot’s relationship pre-dates 2016, and the two have worked together on several projects before coming up with the idea of Glue in 2021.
Ogle has channeled his experience with blockchain security to create a protocol that would put security as the top priority — to make it as safe as holding money in a bank. Snapshot has applied his expertise to make the protocol seamless and intuitive for everyone, not just the tech-savvy users.
Glue was developed in stealth until March 2024, when the team came up with a creative idea for fundraising. They used a typewriter and parchment paper to hand deliver “secret invitations” for the VCs to participate in a validator round at the ETHDenver, which then were delivered in various parts of the world thanks to Snapshot’s traveling lifestyle.
This was the “secret validator round” and it raised $2.5M to find the initial set of network maintainers.
On top of that, Glue raised another $2.5 million in equity funding, with a fully diluted valuation (FDV) of $1.41 billion — the third largest public raise valuation in crypto. After the successful fundraiser, Glue launched its testnet in April 2024 and is now preparing its mainnet launch.
What is Glue?
Think of Glue as your financial hub for everything Web3. Our ecosystem is meticulously crafted to mirror the familiarity and intuitiveness of mainstream finance apps on your mobile device. This will allow you to seamlessly manage your Web3 finances and access multiple accounts within a unified interface just like you do every day! What ties all this together? Safety and Accessibility. The goal is to create a network that people want to use, combining the best in technology currently available with the infrastructure and interface required to make it useful today.
For those users with more familiarity and technical knowledge, Glue is an integrated ecosystem running on Substrate. It’s a Layer-1 (L1) that acts as the central hub and the relay chain of the network, ensuring its security, governance, and compatibility between blockchains.
On top of the L1, Glue has three interconnected Layer-2 (L2) chains:
- Finance L2: EVM-based L2, optimized for DeFi dApps.
- Gaming L2: EVM-based L2, optimized for gaming and other non-time-critical use cases.
- Asset Transfer L2: This network is used to mint and transfer assets from wallet to wallet. Due to its limited functionality, it is extremely fast and inexpensive, empowering P2P payment use cases.
In addition to the multiple purpose-built chains, Glue also features a service layer that lies on top of the chains and adds value for all users and builders. It includes features like chain-level customer support, funds insurance, and continuous security reviews for all projects on the chain. The service layer is the key to making blockchain technology accessible and safe for general users and businesses.
An easy example of all the layers at work is a video game running on Glue. The game’s tokens could be issued on the fast, low-cost layer for asset transfer, while the game logic runs on the gaming-focused L2. All while the main L1 keeps the network safe and the service layer provides the necessary services to make the user experience seamless.
Glue’s strengths
The ecosystem’s main points of strength are security and user-friendly UX/UI.
The ecosystem’s security is backed by:
- The Glue Hub — A central applications hub where users will be able to perform basic crypto functions, access specialized yield strategies, a portfolio tracker, and a pro-trading analytics platform for experienced users.
- Accounts backed by two-factor authentication (2FA);
- Dedicated Glue Security Fund (GSF), which is created from a portion of the system’s transaction fees;
- Rigorous audits for external protocols, which are financed by the GSF, and not only the protocols’ teams themselves. This ensures that security is handled transparently and neutrally, contributing to safety for all the protocols in the system;
- The network is decentralized but siloed, allowing it to block and eventually catch offenders (in collaboration with law enforcement and specialized cybersecurity firms). Even if a security incident were to happen, it would be very difficult to make off with the money.
User-friendly UX/UI is paramount, and on Glue it’s all about keeping things familiar. The terms and flows will be similar to those in Web2 apps, and customer support will work natively on the chain.
We will be breaking away from many crypto “traditions” with Glue. All interactions will be done via one or several dedicated frontends supporting Glue instead of multiple interfaces.
Glue is a user-oriented product, centralizing some aspects of the user experience to make it cohesive and useful while staying true to the values of decentralization, open access, and open governance. Glue is the simple Web3 world that binds traditional experiences with new-age tech.
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