What it was
SnowMind let anyone deposit USDC and have an optimizer move it across the best lending markets on Avalanche C-Chain (Aave V3, Spark, Euler V2, Silo, and Benqi) within strict safety rules. There was no pooled vault. Every user had their own smart account, and only they could ever withdraw.
What I built
As co-founder and CTO, I owned the product and the whole technical stack.
- Custody that stays with the user. ZeroDev Kernel v3.1 smart accounts (ERC-4337), with gas sponsored through Pimlico. Session keys were scoped at the EVM level to supply and withdraw only, so even a compromised backend could not move user funds anywhere else.
- The optimization engine. Live APY polling, 15-minute TWAP smoothing, DefiLlama cross-validation, per-protocol health checks, and a safety-gated rebalancer with allocation caps.
- The stack. TypeScript, Next.js, Node.js, FastAPI, Supabase, ZeroDev, and Avalanche.
Traction
- Launched publicly in late May 2026. Read the launch post on X, and follow @snowmind_xyz.
- 30+ users, $2,900+ in lifetime deposits, and $1,000+ in total value locked, all real capital.
- 293 autonomous on-chain rebalances, with 0% fees during beta. Users kept 100% of their yield.
- Audited by Firepan before and during the beta.
- Partnered with the Avalanche team, and backed by Team1 USA with grants and ecosystem support.
The business side
- Legal. A pre-launch legal review: the non-custodial design as a compliance advantage, decisions on entity structure and Terms of Service, and an in-app risk acknowledgement.
- Risk. A written risk-management framework covering protocol whitelisting criteria, monitoring thresholds, and the security stack.
- Distribution. A mobile distribution plan, starting with Google Play.
Why we shut it down
We shut SnowMind down in September 2026, after about six months live. Three things came together. Retention was weak. Raising more money as a new protocol was hard. And a year of big DeFi exploits, including the Kelp DAO bridge hack in April 2026 where about $292 million was stolen, made people wary of depositing anywhere new.
The lesson: in DeFi, trust comes before everything. When people stop trusting the market, a new protocol feels it first, however safe its own design is.
Before and after
SnowMind came after Reimburse AI, my first company.