dYdX Makes First-Ever Acquisition, Taps Social Trading for Growth
In a move that signals a new direction for one of crypto’s leading decentralized exchanges, dYdX has announced its first external acquisition: Pocket Protector, a Telegram-native social trading platform.
The acquisition brings in Pocket Protector’s full engineering team and co-founders Eddie Zhang and Kaiser Kinbote, who will step into leadership roles at dYdX as President and Head of Growth, respectively.
“This is a big step forward in our vision to evolve how people trade in crypto,” said dYdX founder and CEO Antonio Juliano, who confirmed the deal closed roughly a month after talks began in March.
While the financial details remain under wraps, Juliano shared that the acquisition was funded through a mix of cash and dYdX tokens, currently trading at $0.67 with a market cap of $507 million.
Expanding into Social Trading
Founded just last year, Pocket Protector quickly made a name for itself by blending crypto trading with social tools. Its Telegram-based bot let users follow top traders, share strategies, and trade in real time with friends—making trading more collaborative than competitive. The company had also developed an iOS app, though it won’t be launched publicly following the acquisition.
Antonio Juliano
The platform attracted early investment from Electric Capital and Dragonfly, raising $7 million before joining dYdX.
With Pocket Protector now under its wing, dYdX plans to explore social features and new forms of trading, though specifics are still under wraps. What’s clear is that the acquisition is as much about people as it is about product. Juliano highlighted the strategic importance of bringing Zhang and Kinbote into the fold.
Zhang, a former product lead at Meta’s Messenger and co-founder of social app Fam, brings a strong consumer product background. Kinbote, meanwhile, has over a decade of crypto-native experience, specializing in tokenomics, community building, and product-led growth.
dYdX Restructures, Rebuilds, and Scales
The acquisition comes on the heels of a broader restructuring effort at dYdX. In October, the company cut 35% of its staff, not due to financial pressure, Juliano emphasized, but to refocus on building with a leaner, more agile team.
Since then, dYdX has brought previously external teams like marketing and business development in-house, forming a new international subsidiary under dYdX Trading Inc..
“It’s been important to keep the team intentional and nimble,” Juliano said. “Now, we’re adding key roles and leadership to scale for the future.”
Founded in 2017, dYdX has handled more than $1 trillion in cumulative trading volume. Pocket Protector, despite its brief existence, built a user base of 50,000 and hit $1 billion in annualized volume at its peak—making it a high-potential addition to dYdX’s ecosystem.
A Growing Wave of Crypto M&A
dYdX’s acquisition is part of a larger trend in crypto as M&A activity heats up in 2025. Other recent headline deals include:
- Coinbase’s $2.9B acquisition of Deribit
- Kraken buying NinjaTrader for $1.5B
- Ripple’s $1.25B deal for Hidden Road
- Stripe purchasing Bridge for $1.1B
- Robinhood’s $200M acquisition of Bitstamp
These moves reflect a maturing market where consolidation, talent, and strategic pivots are shaping the next phase of growth in crypto.
A Social Future for On-Chain Trading?
With Pocket Protector’s team and tools now part of its ecosystem, dYdX is signaling a shift toward a more social, user-friendly approach to decentralized trading. As the crypto landscape evolves, integrating community-driven features could become a defining factor for the next generation of exchanges.
