BLOK Capital offers self-custody DeFi product

BLOK Capital used an X post on Friday, May 22, to promote a self-custody DeFi investment product that it framed as an alternative to traditional wealth management. The post linked to a thread describing self-custody as a way to avoid centralized counterparty risk, according to the social briefing provided for this story. Public material on BLOK Capital’s website says the product is built around users keeping control of their own wallets rather than transferring assets to a centralized manager. The company describes itself as a decentralized wealth-management protocol on Arbitrum. ### What, exactly, is BLOK Capital selling? BLOK Capital’s website says users can “plant a Garden, follow a curated index, or hire an on-chain manager,” while keeping custody of their own assets. The same page says the product is “accessible to anyone with a wallet” and is aimed at people who do not already have a wealth manager. The protocol page says self-custody means investors do not transfer funds to external parties and instead keep assets on-chain in their personal wallet. (blokc-website.vercel.app) BLOK Capital says that structure is meant to remove the need to hand funds to a centralized custodian. ### How does the company describe the pitch to users? The company’s marketing language centers on control, visibility and lower barriers to entry. (blokc-website.vercel.app) BLOK Capital’s site says, “Your keys, always,” and says positions are written on-chain rather than reported through statements or screenshots. The site also says users can start with 10 USDC and withdraw at any time. A separate version of the website says the protocol offers “self-custody, real returns, on-chain receipts” and presents that as an alternative to wealth managers. (blokcapital.io) That language closely matches the framing described in the X thread referenced in the story brief. ### What chain is it built on, and how open is the project? BLOK Capital’s website says the product runs on Arbitrum One and has been live there since spring 2024. (blokc-website.vercel.app) The site also says there is “no KYC at the protocol layer,” though that statement appears in marketing copy rather than a regulatory filing. GitHub records show BLOK Capital maintains public repositories for documentation, audits, rewards, vesting and other protocol components. (blokc-website.vercel.app) The organization’s GitHub page says it has eight repositories and describes the group as building “Web3 DeFi infrastructure and products.” ### Who is behind the project? BLOK Capital’s website identifies “Sheetal & the gardeners” and says the project was founded in Wyoming in 2023. (blokc-website.vercel.app) An older Medium page attributed to BLOK Capital says the idea emerged when founder Sheetal Nehra discussed the difficulty of self-custody with newer crypto investors. The public website does not, in the material reviewed, provide the kind of executive, investor or licensing detail that a traditional asset manager would typically publish. (github.com) That is a description of what is and is not visible on the site, not a regulatory judgment. ### What should readers watch next? BLOK Capital’s current public materials point readers to its documentation, audits, GitHub repositories and Arbitrum deployment for further detail on how the product works. (blokc-website.vercel.app) The company’s website also says future parameters may be set by DAO vote, indicating governance changes could be one of the next concrete milestones to monitor.