What if equity could move as fast as code?

Most founders spend thousands on lawyers, cap table management, and outdated infrastructure just to raise money and distribute equity. Joris Delanoue thinks that's ridiculous. As co-founder and CEO of Fairmint, he's building the rails to move private equity onto the blockchain, turning cap tables into smart contracts and making ownership as easy to transfer as sending an email.

In this episode of Rising Tide Startups, Joris shares his journey from being a serial entrepreneur in France to a blockchain pioneer in Silicon Valley. After selling multiple companies and experiencing the pain of locked-up investments and cap tables that were impossible to manage, he moved to the US with one goal: to fix capitalism. What started as an idea for a startup exchange using SPVs evolved into Fairmint, a platform that's already moved over $1 billion in equity onto the blockchain.

Joris breaks down why blockchain is the superior technology for securities, how Fairmint is deintermediating traditional finance without sacrificing compliance, and why privacy features like zero-knowledge proofs are unlocking trillions of dollars in institutional capital. He also discusses the shift from infrastructure as CapEx to OpEx, and how transfer agents are suddenly the most sought-after role in finance. Additionally, he shares his belief that entrepreneurship changes the world faster than politics ever will.

Key Takeaways:

Blockchain is a superior infrastructure for equity. Just like cloud computing replaced private servers, blockchain will replace traditional financial rails because it's faster, cheaper, and more efficient.
Cap tables should be smart contracts. Moving equity onto the blockchain eliminates intermediaries, reduces costs, and makes ownership programmable and liquid.
Compliance is a feature, not a bug. Being an SEC-registered transfer agent means investors don't lose their assets if they lose their private keys. You can always recover securities with proper ID.
Infrastructure can become a profit center. With the right tokenomics, what used to be operational expenses can now generate revenue instead of costing money.
Equity should be accessible to everyone. Employees, contractors, partners, and community members who contribute value should be able to participate in the financial upside.
Entrepreneurship beats politics. As a founder, you can impact billions of people through what you build, the values you embed, and the vision you execute.

 

Listen to the full conversation here:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@risingtidestartups
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rising-tide-startups/id1330525474
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2eq7unl70TRPsBhjLEsNZR

 

Connect with Joris:

Fairmint: https://www.fairmint.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/delanoue/


Closing thought: "The worst thing you can do is not know what to do and start chasing rabbits. Sometimes it's just better to do nothing."

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