I sat down with Toby Gilbert, co‑founder of Pact Swap, to dig into how he went from years in telecoms to building infrastructure for the Web3 era. We talk about the problems in decentralized exchanges, why cross‑chain and native Bitcoin support matter, and how Pact Swap is positioning itself to offer DEX functionality at central‑exchange price levels — without KYC and heavy overheads. If you’ve ever wondered how innovation in DEX infrastructure happens behind the scenes, this episode is for you.
Key Learnings
[00:01:00] Toby’s entry into blockchain came via a deep infrastructure dev friend who highlighted the scaling pain‑points of incompatible chains.
[00:02:00] Unlike many who start with Bitcoin or Ethereum apps, Toby started “far further upstream” building infrastructure.
[00:03:00] Pact Swap is a cross‑chain DEX that supports native Bitcoin — tackling usability and cost issues with current solutions.
[00:04:00] The architecture: Rather than locking hundreds of millions in validator collateral, Pact Swap uses per‑trade collateral and reactive smart‑contracts — making swaps ~95% cheaper than some competitors.
[00:05:00] Their go‑to‑market is B2C + B2B (gaming companies, gateways, merchants) — enabling non‑crypto businesses to accept a variety of tokens and instantly swap to stable tokens without KYC overhead.
[00:11:00] They’re launching a governance & utility token: holders will access fee‑pools, burn tokens to unlock collateral — adding a “gamified” arbitrage model.
[00:13:00] Misconception: “Are cross‑chain DEXs safe?” Toby explains how Pact Swap avoids bridges and uses a new architecture to keep it secure.
[00:17:00] Big benchmark: Toby expects $0.5 billion/day of trade volume by end‑2026 — scaling to centralized‑exchange levels.
[00:18:00] Advice for founders: Be ready to pivot, understand regulation, budget accordingly, and build team culture with open conversation.
[00:21:00] On DeFi’s next phase: User experience must evolve to bring in non‑crypto users and expand liquidity sources.
[00:24:00] On raising: “Build product first, not just a pitch deck” — traction matters more than buzzwords.
Disclaimer
Nothing mentioned in this podcast is investment advice and please do your own research.
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