# DELV

> DELV, formerly Element Finance, was a research-driven DeFi company that called itself 'the factory for DeFi.' Founded in 2020 by Will Villanueva and Jonny Rhea, it built open-source infrastructure for fixed- and variable-rate yield - most notably the Element Protocol, the Hyperdrive AMM, and the Council on-chain governance framework. Backed by a16z, Placeholder, and Polychain Capital with about $36.4M raised, the team pursued the idea that reliable fixed rates were essential to mainstream DeFi adoption. After a March 2025 Hyperdrive vulnerability and a conclusion that the product had not found market fit, DELV wound down operations in June 2025 with no reported loss of user funds.

- **Founded:** 2020
- **Headquarters:** Fort Worth, Texas, United States (distributed / remote team)
- **Founders:** Will Villanueva (Co-Founder & CEO (founding)), Jonny Rhea (Co-Founder & CTO), Charles St. Louis (CEO (later tenure, led wind-down))
- **Team size:** ~13 employees
- **Products:** Element Protocol, Hyperdrive, Council, agent0, Elfiverse
- **Notable:** Raised $36.4M from a16z, Placeholder, and Polychain Capital at a $320M valuation., Assembled an angel round including the founders of MakerDAO, Aave, Balancer, Synthetix, and UMA., Shipped Hyperdrive, a novel on-demand-term AMM, across four chains (Ethereum, Base, Gnosis, Linea).

## Products & services

- **Element Protocol** — Fixed- and variable-rate yield protocol letting users access fixed income and trade yield without intermediaries; control handed to the Element DAO in 2022.
- **Hyperdrive** — Novel AMM for fixed and variable rates with on-demand terms - positions are minted on demand and redeemed 1:1 at maturity, so LPs earn without rollovers. Deployed on Ethereum, Base, Gnosis, and Linea.
- **Council** — Modular, open-source on-chain DAO governance framework used by Element DAO, Gyroscope, and Arcade.
- **agent0** — Python simulation and agent framework for testing and trading on Hyperdrive, supporting human, AI-powered, and hybrid agents.
- **Elfiverse** — Community-driven NFT collection commemorating the launch of the Element DAO.

## Achievements

- Raised $36.4M from a16z, Placeholder, and Polychain Capital at a $320M valuation.
- Assembled an angel round including the founders of MakerDAO, Aave, Balancer, Synthetix, and UMA.
- Shipped Hyperdrive, a novel on-demand-term AMM, across four chains (Ethereum, Base, Gnosis, Linea).
- Open-sourced the Council governance framework, adopted by multiple external DAOs.
- Handed the Element Protocol to a community-governed DAO in 2022.
- Wound down in 2025 with no reported loss of user funds.

## Latest updates

- **2023-03** — Element Finance rebranded to DELV to reflect a broader multi-protocol 'DeFi factory' identity.
- **2024-01** — Hyperdrive reached mainnet, integrating yield sources like sDAI and stETH across multiple chains.
- **2025-03** — A vulnerability was discovered in Hyperdrive; all pools were paused with no known loss of funds.
- **2025-06** — DELV announced it was winding down operations after concluding the product had not found market fit.

## Links

- Website: https://delv.tech
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/delv-tech
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/delv_tech
- GitHub: https://github.com/delvtech

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/delv
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-12