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Blind devUpShift - an accessible path to institutional returns through DeFi. Analysis of the team, concept, coin, and code + practice
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The UpShift project from prime broker August opens up access to strategies previously unattainable outside of funds for retail users. From delta-neutral hedges to systematic stablecoin strategies - all managed by funds at the level of Tulipa Capital and MNNC Group. I analyzed UpShift in five areas: team, concept, coin, code, and practice. Let's look at the results.
There is a link to their LinkedIn:
82 tracking. As you can see, there are also posts - that's good.
The last one was 3 weeks ago with 2 reactions.
Unfortunately, there are no links here, so I used my main account to view team members. And there were 5 out of 12 there.
There are services - good. 1,143 followers.
Last post 2 weeks ago with 7 reactions and 1 comment.
Work experience:
Chief Executive Officer at A gov since May 2024
Mentor of the Upshift educational project by UNICEF since November 2023. But how this relates to our project is unclear...
Head of Communications at Ukrainian Professional Development since September 2023
Business Development Executive at Noomo Agency from May 2022 to April 2024
Business Enhancement Consultant at Consimple from November 2020 to May 2022
And other experience (total 11).
Education:
National Technical University "Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute": Master's degree, Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services from September 2014 to June 2019
Background: Completed training at the first school in Ukraine, created by practitioners from the creative agency Arriba!, which is in the TOP-20 creative and effective agencies in the country. The educational process is designed as a full immersion in the work of a real creative agency - with real briefs, clients, teamwork, and mentorship from creative and art directors of leading agencies. As part of the training, I took courses: "advertising communications" - on creating meanings and campaigns that work; "integrated marketing"
- on a strategic approach to promotion "Writing" - an author's course on copywriting that enhances style, clarity, and the power of the text.
In general, there is experience, but no connection to the project. Some educational company with a similar name is mentioned, but that's not it...
1,840 followers, only shares content (none of their own among the latest).
Work experience:
Fellow at Sigma Squared Society since April 2025
Growth Lead at Upshift since March 2025
Head of GTM & Product at Lava Network from July 2022 to February 2025
At Google: Associate Account Strategist from October 2020 to September 2021, Account Strategist from October 2021 to April 2022, Account Manager from April to June 2022
Fellow at Initiator VC from February to May 2022
And others (total 18)
Education:
University of Bristol: BA English, 1st class from 2017 to 2020
Alleyn's School: from 2010 to 2017
strong specialist with a rare combination of technical and marketing experience. Previously, he grew Lava Network from scratch to $3.5 million ARR and 100+ billion API requests, worked at Google, and participated in accelerators like Sigma Squared. Understands infrastructure, DeFi yield, and user acquisition in the context of CeFi/DeFi integration. His profile is perfect for scaling UpShift.
480 followers, no posts.
Work experience:
Information Systems Consultant at UPSHIFT SARL since February 2018. I have doubts again that UPSHIFT SARL is UPSHIFT...
Expert Keycloak (external) at VERLINGUE since May 2023
At MAIF VIE: Architect (external) from November 2019 to June 2021, DevOps Engineer (external) from July 2021 to June 2023
Project Architect (external) at Groupe IMA from January 2018 to November 2019
Infrastructure Consultant at WEKEY SAS from September to December 2017
System Architect at DARVA from December 2008 to July 2017
And other experience (total 10)
Education:
ENSEIRB-MATMECA: Ingénieur, Réseaux et systèmes répartis from 1992 to 1996
Lycée Joffre, Montpellier: CPGE from 1990 to 1992
Conclusion: a very strong infrastructure engineer and architect, with deep expertise in Kubernetes, OpenShift, Linux, and Red Hat-level DevOps tools. His profile demonstrates nearly 30 years of experience in system architecture and corporate IT, including design, containerization, and security.
The only concern is the work at UPSHIFT SARL since 2018 - the UPSHIFT project appeared recently.
1,202 followers. Last post 2 weeks ago with 14 reactions and 3 comments.
The previous one - 3 weeks ago with 12 reactions.
Work experience:
Senior Capacity Building Officer at Acted since March 2022
Mentor-facilitator of the UPSHIFT program (Unicef) since May 2023
Regional Coordinator of the REAct project (Public Health Alliance International Foundation) since August 2023
Regional Coordinator of the IREX Dream and Act project from January 2024 to January 2025
Analyst at Flora NGO from January 2020 to February 2022
Head of the MIO Department at KOW VBO VM LJV from March 2012 to June 2017
Studied at Spi Pedagogical Academy: Specialist, Practical Psychologist from September 2000 to May 2005.
Again, this incomprehensible company, not a project. Plus, not a very main position...
There are services. 2,246 followers.
Last post less than a month ago with 5 reactions.
Work experience:
Consultant, Coach & Mentor at Dipl.-Kfm. H.M. Johannes Weiss since April 2005
Founder of Human Upshift Institute | author of the book "Human Upshift" since August 2023 (freelance)
Independent Securities Broker and Consultant at Johannes Weiss Trading & Holding GmbH since August 2021
International Partner at World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF) from October 2023 to December 2024
Private Securities Broker from 2021 to September 2022 (self-employed)
And other experience (total 10).
Education:
Universität Regensburg: Master, Business Administration from November 1990 to June 1995
Technische Universität Berlin from July 1995 to June 1997
Also thanks to Cryptorank I found LinkedIn August Digital:
11 thousand followers. Last post 6 months ago with 28 reactions, 1 comment, and two reposts.
But that's on the main page, and here are the company's people. Let's take a look at them.
I won't describe each one in detail, but I'll just write the conclusions with links:
Alexandre Elkrief. Co-Founder & Co-CEO at August Digital since March 2022.
Previously, he was Co-Founder & President at Knowhere, Summer Analyst at Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs, which is cool! Interestingly, he was an Intern at Societe Generale Corporate and Investment Banking - SGCIB.
This indicates that he has experience in both management and traditional finance, which is good for the project.
He studied mathematics and computer science, by the way.
Aya Kantorovich. 8,344 followers, last post 3 weeks ago with good engagement. He himself is Co-Founder & Co-CEO at August Digital since 2023. Previously, he was Head of Institutional Coverage at FalconX - significantly.
Significantly: Associate at Pantera Capital.
Bachelor's degree in finance.
This speaks to the professionalism that can help in the current position.
Krishna Sharma. 2,837 followers. Last post 5 months ago with average engagement. Senior Software Engineer at August Digital.
Previously Founder at Satosi, Software Engineer at Shipsy, Software Engineer at RevvSales Inc and Full Stack Engineer at Masai.
Judging by previous positions, he also has good experience, which will help in Upshift.
By the way, he studied Android development and received a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science.
Varshitha Katti. 837 followers and last post 2 months ago with good engagement. In the team, Head of Business Operations since June 2024. Previously, he was Trading Operations Specialist at FalconX and Operations Associate and Operations Analyst at Goldman Sachs - that's cool!
Also worth mentioning, he worked as Operations Analyst at J.P. Morgan.
Discord is active. They replied to my question relatively quickly in a ticket:
I just didn't find links to Github and tokenomics in the documentation. I don't like it when people make excuses...
Got a response on the second try, and they still didn't mention Github:
Had to ask about this separately. I don't understand why they can't just answer properly from the start...
In the announcements, the last post was yesterday - good:
In the main chat, they don't write often (last message 1.5 hours ago):
In "contributions" they wrote on October 2nd and 5th:
But this could be a plus: an opportunity for active users to get roles.
In proposals, the last message was yesterday - normal:
Last post on October 2. Basically okay, although it's strange that there are fewer announcements than on Discord.
5 videos, the last one 4 months ago. Also 5 subscribers
x @upshift_fi:
10.2 thousand subscribers, 1,807 posts. The last one was on October 8 with 3 replies, 2 reposts, 7 likes, and 1,331 views.
The previous one was on October 4 with 3 replies, 4 reposts, 10 likes, and 1,113 views.
In general, subscriber activity is low, but posts are published periodically.
Audit by Moni:
Moni Score
Level: 4. Established
2308
+11/day
Good level and growth.
Mentions by smarties 93, 142 smarties.
Subscribed projects: Pendle, Balancer, Injective, The Graph, LFJ.gg, Euler Labs, Biconomy, BENQI, SwissBorg, Fenix.
Funds: Dragonfly ＞|＜, The Spartan Group, Castle Labs 🏰, 6MV, Archetype, Stake Capital Group, CMT Digital, Hutt Capital.
Analysis X by Tweetscout:
According to the service, the account has many bots - level 4 (Alarming).
Overall Score 512. Level 3 (Credible).
Projects: olimpio, Pendle, Biconomy, The Daily Degen, SwissBorg, sealaunch.xyz, Alea Research, USD.AI | Public Launch is Live, beam, Zealy and others.
Venture capital: Andrew Steinwold, Sfermion, DeFi Dad ⟠ defidad.eth, Fourth Revolution Capital, scoopy trooples, eGirl Capital 仙女資本 and others.
Rating 4 out of 5: team member list exists, but on the LinkedIn project site, the list is incomplete. Although I found co-founders and developers for the parent company. If they are all currently working on Upshift - good, as most are professionals.
Social media is active. They respond to questions, but not fully.
There is documentation:
Let's study it to determine the project concept and how good it is.
Great that there is documentation for developers here: API, universal adapter contract and Vault Contract Interface.
But despite the fact that they write about decentralization, the project is actually partially centralized. More on that later.
Upshift is a platform aimed at democratizing access to institutional income.
It offers a suite of products for retail users and partner protocols, providing access to managed yield strategies (Vaults), lending (Lend), and Vault-as-a-Service (VaaS).
Vaults are non-custodial and built on the ERC-4626 standard, with August's infrastructure providing brokerage functions and processing large volumes of operations via smart contracts. The project emphasizes an institutional stack (including KYC/KYB for borrowers in Lend), cross-chain capabilities, and the use of August subaccounts to separate strategies.
Excellent. Below is a fully rewritten and smoothed version of all six points of the Upshift documentation analysis.
The text retains technical accuracy but has become readable, coherent, and professional - in the style of an analytical review for investors or a whitepaper document.
It is based on the ERC-4626 standard, where each vault is represented by a separate ERC-20 token. The user deposits funds in an allowed deposit asset and receives in return a receipt token (shares), reflecting the ownership share and automatically increasing in price as income is accrued.
Capital management is done through August subaccounts (subaccounts) - smart contracts to which the vault distributes funds for individual strategies. These subaccounts isolate risks between strategies and provide managers (Curators or Strategists) the ability to work within a given whitelist without having direct access to withdraw funds.
The architecture identifies several roles:
Vault Owner - sets the vault parameters and emergency functions;
Vault Operator - is responsible for executing credit operations and loan calls;
Curator - manages strategies within the allowed list;
Lender/Owner (multisig) - approves the whitelist and manages access rights.
The process of fund movement looks like this: the user makes a deposit → funds go into the vault → are distributed to August subaccounts → strategies generate income → profit is returned to the vault, increasing the cost of the receipt token.
The system implements mechanisms for redeem requests, cooldown periods and keeper control, ensuring transparent and predictable liquidity management.
The current version of the documentation lacks a comprehensive analysis of competitors, market, and demand.
The description focuses on Upshift's functional advantages - institutional infrastructure, hybrid architecture, and Vault-as-a-Service - but does not include a comparative analysis with other solutions (e.g., Yearn, Convex, Ribbon, or Dopex) and does not provide quantitative market estimates (TVL volumes, audience, demand dynamics, etc.).
Upshift combines elements of decentralized architecture with components of centralized management.
Smart contracts ensure non-custodial, on-chain execution, and limit the rights of curators, making the system technically secure. However, key functions - managing whitelists, vault parameters, and strategy access - are controlled via multisig and off-chain processes (including KYC/KYB for Lend).
The project also relies on the infrastructure of August, which is an external provider of prime brokerage services. This creates a dependency on a third party and partially reduces the level of decentralization.
In its current form, Upshift's architecture can be described as hybrid: on-chain logic and execution are combined with centralized management and institutional processes.
To increase the degree of decentralization, the project should provide a roadmap for transitioning to a DAO model and transferring key management decisions to on-chain voting.
The document indirectly indicates built-in security measures:
Curators are limited by the whitelist and cannot withdraw funds directly;
the system uses automatic exit mechanisms through Hexagate to minimize losses;
KYC/KYB checks reduce credit risks;
using August increases the reliability of execution and scalability.
These elements can be considered as the main risk reduction measures built into the platform's design.
Additional risks:
Smart-contract risk - possible vulnerabilities in the ERC-4626 logic, share recalculation mechanisms, and liquidity handling.
Counterparty risk (August) - dependence on an external prime-brokerage provider.
Centralization of management - compromise of multisig or whitelist management errors.
Lend credit risk - borrower defaults even with collateral or KYC filtering.
Market risk and liquidity - inability to quickly implement strategies during mass outflows.
Cross-chain risk - synchronization errors and possible bridge vulnerabilities.
Regulatory risk - the project is oriented towards institutional capital and RWAs, which may attract the attention of regulators.
Operational risks - errors in processing applications, delays in keeper updates, and miscalculations when updating NAV.
Risk of censorship or pressure - due to centralized components like whitelist and KYC functions.
The documentation provides an example of management fee - 2% per annum, which is equivalent to approximately 0.038% per week and is reflected in the price of the reference token.
However, other types of fees (performance fee, withdrawal fee, interest spreads for Lend, and keeper rewards) are not specified.
In DefiLlama:
TVL $356.62 million
Fees (annualized) - $33.7 million
Revenue (annualized) - $6.85 million
There was only one dashboard in Dune, and it only showed depositor ratings in different pools. So I won't show it.
Rating 3 out of 5: no market and demand analysis, the project is semi-centralized (uses multisigs and a broker). But the plus is that there is a detailed description of the project and architecture, as well as developer documentation.
According to Cryptorank, the project raised $16M:
Investors: Dragonfly, The Spartan Group, Circle, Hack VC, Robot Ventures, CMT Digital, Maven 11 Capital, 6th Man Ventures, QCP Capital, GoldenTree Asset Management and others.
Unfortunately, there is no tokenomics.
Rating 3 out of 5: good level of investment including from well-known investors, for example, Circle (issuer of USDC) and others. Amount: $16M.
But there is no tokenomics (utility and initial distribution).
The source code is closed. There is a Fractal protocol repository, but there is essentially no code there:
But the documentation provides links to deployed contracts:
It is important that all contracts (I checked) are verified, which allows studying their code in block explorers.
Here, for example, the pool implementation:
There are links to smart contract audits in the docs:
1. ChainSecurity (January 2025, report for August Core Vault)
Overall impression: the codebase is recognized as secure and mature.
Results:
Critical vulnerabilities: 0
High severity: 3 — 2 fixed, 1 risk accepted
Medium severity: 6 — all fixed
Low severity: 8 — 2 fixed, 1 specification changed, 1 risk accepted, 4 acknowledged and monitored
Unresolved: one high severity vulnerability (access to funds from blacklisted addresses under certain conditions), deemed acceptable risk with compensation through Hexagate monitoring and parameter lagDuration.
2. Sigma Prime (August 2024, Fractal Network report)
Overall impression: contract logic is correct, all identified issues were either fixed or closed.
Results:
Total found: 13 issues
Critical: 0
High severity: 1 — fixed
Medium severity: 3 — all fixed
Low severity: 2 — all fixed
Informational: 7 (comments on style, naming conventions, and optimizations)
There are no unresolved high or medium severity issues.
Notably: a potential DoS vector on an empty storage has been prevented, compatibility with EVM versions (Paris) has been ensured, and double call protection has been optimized (reentrancy).
Score 3 out of 5: the code is partially open (only verified smart contracts are available, which is not enough for review). Audits are also published, and most issues have been fixed. I just couldn't find a bug bounty, which is critical.
You could also give a score of 2 - it's up to you to decide.
Moving on to the application:
"Connect Wallet":
I select the wallet and check the box, agreeing to the terms:
"Connect" and connect.
They offer to get a 5x multiplier while the project's TVL has not reached 750 MILLION $:
"View Ways To Earn Points" will take you to the Points page:
We see that the current TVL is 419 MILLION $. In "Active Rewards" there are options for additional yield, for example, in Morpho or Pendle. But no links yet.
There is also a leaderboard for Upshift Associates.
Below you can see deposit options with multipliers for earning points. For example, Deposit USDC in Upshift Gamma USDC Vault vault gives 10X.
It is also interesting that there is an option "Deposit WHYPE in Hyperbeat Ultra HYPE vault" with a 5x multiplier in HyperEVM (if you don't want to pay Ethereum fees and have HYPE, it's a good option).
There are actually many options. You can even choose pools in BSC, Avalanche, or Meso.
Go to the main page (which is also Deposit):
You can sort and filter by pool type. For example, I'll choose "Pre-deposit":
There are only 3 of them, and they are not very interesting (launched a long time ago).
And I chose all pools, but in HyperEVM:
I think the point is clear.
So, I chose "Upshift Gamma USDC Vault" - I go to it:
I recommend reading the description and parameters to avoid surprises if the pool turns out to be high-risk.
In this case, the description is as follows:
"USDC vault Gamma uses neutral positioning in the market within several DeFi protocols to maximize returns while considering risk. Thanks to the systematic implementation of delta hedging strategies and cross-chain farming capabilities, the vault provides stable returns, prioritizing capital protection and minimizing losses".
I think this is fine. Of course, I wouldn't invest everything, but $100-200 is quite alright.
So I click "Deposit Into Vault", after exchanging Ethereum for USDC:
Read the terms: 20% APY, 96-hour (4-day) withdrawal period, and 10X multiplier.
Always pay attention to these parameters.
Click "Approve Input Amount" and confirm the spending in the wallet. Then confirm the deposit transaction itself.
Done:
Clicking "View position" takes us to the portfolio (Portfolio page):
We see the statistics. Below are the tabs: active positions, expected withdrawals, and history.
You can also filter by blockchain and token, but I'll leave it as is - only one position.
You can click "Withdraw" and withdraw:
But I won't do that for now.
We also see that the commission is 0%, the withdrawal period is 4 days, and the strategy is Gamma Research.
Referrals page:
Here we can copy and share the link, as well as view the statistics of invitations and referral income.
Moving on to the Stake page:
They say that the staking function will soon be removed.
So, here you can stake AVAX or AUSD on Avalanche.
Basically, you can't do anything else here except view.
Rating 5 out of 5: user-friendly interface, stable operation, no errors, commission and other parameters are transparently visible.
18 out of 25:
Team: 4 out of 5: there is a list of team members, but on the LinkedIn project site, the list is incomplete. Although I found co-founders and developers at the parent company. If they are all working on Upshift now, it's good, as most are professionals.
Social media is active. They answer questions, but not fully.
Concept: 3 out of 5: no market and demand analysis, the project is semi-centralized (uses multisigs and a broker). But the plus is that there is a detailed project description and architecture, as well as developer documentation.
Coin: 3 out of 5: good investment level, including from well-known investors, for example, Circle (USDC issuer) and others. Amount: $16M.
But there is no tokenomics (utility and initial distribution).
Code: 3 out of 5: code is partially open (only verified smart contracts are available, but this is not enough to study). Audits are also published, and most issues have been fixed. I just didn't find a bug bounty, which is critical.
You can put a rating of 2 - here you decide for yourself.
Practice: 5 out of 5: user-friendly interface, stable operation, no errors, commission and other parameters are transparently visible.
Subscribe to https://t.me/blind_dev - there are new reviews, tokenomics analysis and accessibility for the blind with convenient interfaces, as well as news of my developments.
The UpShift project from prime broker August opens up access to strategies previously unattainable outside of funds for retail users. From delta-neutral hedges to systematic stablecoin strategies - all managed by funds at the level of Tulipa Capital and MNNC Group. I analyzed UpShift in five areas: team, concept, coin, code, and practice. Let's look at the results.
There is a link to their LinkedIn:
82 tracking. As you can see, there are also posts - that's good.
The last one was 3 weeks ago with 2 reactions.
Unfortunately, there are no links here, so I used my main account to view team members. And there were 5 out of 12 there.
There are services - good. 1,143 followers.
Last post 2 weeks ago with 7 reactions and 1 comment.
Work experience:
Chief Executive Officer at A gov since May 2024
Mentor of the Upshift educational project by UNICEF since November 2023. But how this relates to our project is unclear...
Head of Communications at Ukrainian Professional Development since September 2023
Business Development Executive at Noomo Agency from May 2022 to April 2024
Business Enhancement Consultant at Consimple from November 2020 to May 2022
And other experience (total 11).
Education:
National Technical University "Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute": Master's degree, Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services from September 2014 to June 2019
Background: Completed training at the first school in Ukraine, created by practitioners from the creative agency Arriba!, which is in the TOP-20 creative and effective agencies in the country. The educational process is designed as a full immersion in the work of a real creative agency - with real briefs, clients, teamwork, and mentorship from creative and art directors of leading agencies. As part of the training, I took courses: "advertising communications" - on creating meanings and campaigns that work; "integrated marketing"
- on a strategic approach to promotion "Writing" - an author's course on copywriting that enhances style, clarity, and the power of the text.
In general, there is experience, but no connection to the project. Some educational company with a similar name is mentioned, but that's not it...
1,840 followers, only shares content (none of their own among the latest).
Work experience:
Fellow at Sigma Squared Society since April 2025
Growth Lead at Upshift since March 2025
Head of GTM & Product at Lava Network from July 2022 to February 2025
At Google: Associate Account Strategist from October 2020 to September 2021, Account Strategist from October 2021 to April 2022, Account Manager from April to June 2022
Fellow at Initiator VC from February to May 2022
And others (total 18)
Education:
University of Bristol: BA English, 1st class from 2017 to 2020
Alleyn's School: from 2010 to 2017
strong specialist with a rare combination of technical and marketing experience. Previously, he grew Lava Network from scratch to $3.5 million ARR and 100+ billion API requests, worked at Google, and participated in accelerators like Sigma Squared. Understands infrastructure, DeFi yield, and user acquisition in the context of CeFi/DeFi integration. His profile is perfect for scaling UpShift.
480 followers, no posts.
Work experience:
Information Systems Consultant at UPSHIFT SARL since February 2018. I have doubts again that UPSHIFT SARL is UPSHIFT...
Expert Keycloak (external) at VERLINGUE since May 2023
At MAIF VIE: Architect (external) from November 2019 to June 2021, DevOps Engineer (external) from July 2021 to June 2023
Project Architect (external) at Groupe IMA from January 2018 to November 2019
Infrastructure Consultant at WEKEY SAS from September to December 2017
System Architect at DARVA from December 2008 to July 2017
And other experience (total 10)
Education:
ENSEIRB-MATMECA: Ingénieur, Réseaux et systèmes répartis from 1992 to 1996
Lycée Joffre, Montpellier: CPGE from 1990 to 1992
Conclusion: a very strong infrastructure engineer and architect, with deep expertise in Kubernetes, OpenShift, Linux, and Red Hat-level DevOps tools. His profile demonstrates nearly 30 years of experience in system architecture and corporate IT, including design, containerization, and security.
The only concern is the work at UPSHIFT SARL since 2018 - the UPSHIFT project appeared recently.
1,202 followers. Last post 2 weeks ago with 14 reactions and 3 comments.
The previous one - 3 weeks ago with 12 reactions.
Work experience:
Senior Capacity Building Officer at Acted since March 2022
Mentor-facilitator of the UPSHIFT program (Unicef) since May 2023
Regional Coordinator of the REAct project (Public Health Alliance International Foundation) since August 2023
Regional Coordinator of the IREX Dream and Act project from January 2024 to January 2025
Analyst at Flora NGO from January 2020 to February 2022
Head of the MIO Department at KOW VBO VM LJV from March 2012 to June 2017
Studied at Spi Pedagogical Academy: Specialist, Practical Psychologist from September 2000 to May 2005.
Again, this incomprehensible company, not a project. Plus, not a very main position...
There are services. 2,246 followers.
Last post less than a month ago with 5 reactions.
Work experience:
Consultant, Coach & Mentor at Dipl.-Kfm. H.M. Johannes Weiss since April 2005
Founder of Human Upshift Institute | author of the book "Human Upshift" since August 2023 (freelance)
Independent Securities Broker and Consultant at Johannes Weiss Trading & Holding GmbH since August 2021
International Partner at World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF) from October 2023 to December 2024
Private Securities Broker from 2021 to September 2022 (self-employed)
And other experience (total 10).
Education:
Universität Regensburg: Master, Business Administration from November 1990 to June 1995
Technische Universität Berlin from July 1995 to June 1997
Also thanks to Cryptorank I found LinkedIn August Digital:
11 thousand followers. Last post 6 months ago with 28 reactions, 1 comment, and two reposts.
But that's on the main page, and here are the company's people. Let's take a look at them.
I won't describe each one in detail, but I'll just write the conclusions with links:
Alexandre Elkrief. Co-Founder & Co-CEO at August Digital since March 2022.
Previously, he was Co-Founder & President at Knowhere, Summer Analyst at Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs, which is cool! Interestingly, he was an Intern at Societe Generale Corporate and Investment Banking - SGCIB.
This indicates that he has experience in both management and traditional finance, which is good for the project.
He studied mathematics and computer science, by the way.
Aya Kantorovich. 8,344 followers, last post 3 weeks ago with good engagement. He himself is Co-Founder & Co-CEO at August Digital since 2023. Previously, he was Head of Institutional Coverage at FalconX - significantly.
Significantly: Associate at Pantera Capital.
Bachelor's degree in finance.
This speaks to the professionalism that can help in the current position.
Krishna Sharma. 2,837 followers. Last post 5 months ago with average engagement. Senior Software Engineer at August Digital.
Previously Founder at Satosi, Software Engineer at Shipsy, Software Engineer at RevvSales Inc and Full Stack Engineer at Masai.
Judging by previous positions, he also has good experience, which will help in Upshift.
By the way, he studied Android development and received a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science.
Varshitha Katti. 837 followers and last post 2 months ago with good engagement. In the team, Head of Business Operations since June 2024. Previously, he was Trading Operations Specialist at FalconX and Operations Associate and Operations Analyst at Goldman Sachs - that's cool!
Also worth mentioning, he worked as Operations Analyst at J.P. Morgan.
Discord is active. They replied to my question relatively quickly in a ticket:
I just didn't find links to Github and tokenomics in the documentation. I don't like it when people make excuses...
Got a response on the second try, and they still didn't mention Github:
Had to ask about this separately. I don't understand why they can't just answer properly from the start...
In the announcements, the last post was yesterday - good:
In the main chat, they don't write often (last message 1.5 hours ago):
In "contributions" they wrote on October 2nd and 5th:
But this could be a plus: an opportunity for active users to get roles.
In proposals, the last message was yesterday - normal:
Last post on October 2. Basically okay, although it's strange that there are fewer announcements than on Discord.
5 videos, the last one 4 months ago. Also 5 subscribers
x @upshift_fi:
10.2 thousand subscribers, 1,807 posts. The last one was on October 8 with 3 replies, 2 reposts, 7 likes, and 1,331 views.
The previous one was on October 4 with 3 replies, 4 reposts, 10 likes, and 1,113 views.
In general, subscriber activity is low, but posts are published periodically.
Audit by Moni:
Moni Score
Level: 4. Established
2308
+11/day
Good level and growth.
Mentions by smarties 93, 142 smarties.
Subscribed projects: Pendle, Balancer, Injective, The Graph, LFJ.gg, Euler Labs, Biconomy, BENQI, SwissBorg, Fenix.
Funds: Dragonfly ＞|＜, The Spartan Group, Castle Labs 🏰, 6MV, Archetype, Stake Capital Group, CMT Digital, Hutt Capital.
Analysis X by Tweetscout:
According to the service, the account has many bots - level 4 (Alarming).
Overall Score 512. Level 3 (Credible).
Projects: olimpio, Pendle, Biconomy, The Daily Degen, SwissBorg, sealaunch.xyz, Alea Research, USD.AI | Public Launch is Live, beam, Zealy and others.
Venture capital: Andrew Steinwold, Sfermion, DeFi Dad ⟠ defidad.eth, Fourth Revolution Capital, scoopy trooples, eGirl Capital 仙女資本 and others.
Rating 4 out of 5: team member list exists, but on the LinkedIn project site, the list is incomplete. Although I found co-founders and developers for the parent company. If they are all currently working on Upshift - good, as most are professionals.
Social media is active. They respond to questions, but not fully.
There is documentation:
Let's study it to determine the project concept and how good it is.
Great that there is documentation for developers here: API, universal adapter contract and Vault Contract Interface.
But despite the fact that they write about decentralization, the project is actually partially centralized. More on that later.
Upshift is a platform aimed at democratizing access to institutional income.
It offers a suite of products for retail users and partner protocols, providing access to managed yield strategies (Vaults), lending (Lend), and Vault-as-a-Service (VaaS).
Vaults are non-custodial and built on the ERC-4626 standard, with August's infrastructure providing brokerage functions and processing large volumes of operations via smart contracts. The project emphasizes an institutional stack (including KYC/KYB for borrowers in Lend), cross-chain capabilities, and the use of August subaccounts to separate strategies.
Excellent. Below is a fully rewritten and smoothed version of all six points of the Upshift documentation analysis.
The text retains technical accuracy but has become readable, coherent, and professional - in the style of an analytical review for investors or a whitepaper document.
It is based on the ERC-4626 standard, where each vault is represented by a separate ERC-20 token. The user deposits funds in an allowed deposit asset and receives in return a receipt token (shares), reflecting the ownership share and automatically increasing in price as income is accrued.
Capital management is done through August subaccounts (subaccounts) - smart contracts to which the vault distributes funds for individual strategies. These subaccounts isolate risks between strategies and provide managers (Curators or Strategists) the ability to work within a given whitelist without having direct access to withdraw funds.
The architecture identifies several roles:
Vault Owner - sets the vault parameters and emergency functions;
Vault Operator - is responsible for executing credit operations and loan calls;
Curator - manages strategies within the allowed list;
Lender/Owner (multisig) - approves the whitelist and manages access rights.
The process of fund movement looks like this: the user makes a deposit → funds go into the vault → are distributed to August subaccounts → strategies generate income → profit is returned to the vault, increasing the cost of the receipt token.
The system implements mechanisms for redeem requests, cooldown periods and keeper control, ensuring transparent and predictable liquidity management.
The current version of the documentation lacks a comprehensive analysis of competitors, market, and demand.
The description focuses on Upshift's functional advantages - institutional infrastructure, hybrid architecture, and Vault-as-a-Service - but does not include a comparative analysis with other solutions (e.g., Yearn, Convex, Ribbon, or Dopex) and does not provide quantitative market estimates (TVL volumes, audience, demand dynamics, etc.).
Upshift combines elements of decentralized architecture with components of centralized management.
Smart contracts ensure non-custodial, on-chain execution, and limit the rights of curators, making the system technically secure. However, key functions - managing whitelists, vault parameters, and strategy access - are controlled via multisig and off-chain processes (including KYC/KYB for Lend).
The project also relies on the infrastructure of August, which is an external provider of prime brokerage services. This creates a dependency on a third party and partially reduces the level of decentralization.
In its current form, Upshift's architecture can be described as hybrid: on-chain logic and execution are combined with centralized management and institutional processes.
To increase the degree of decentralization, the project should provide a roadmap for transitioning to a DAO model and transferring key management decisions to on-chain voting.
The document indirectly indicates built-in security measures:
Curators are limited by the whitelist and cannot withdraw funds directly;
the system uses automatic exit mechanisms through Hexagate to minimize losses;
KYC/KYB checks reduce credit risks;
using August increases the reliability of execution and scalability.
These elements can be considered as the main risk reduction measures built into the platform's design.
Additional risks:
Smart-contract risk - possible vulnerabilities in the ERC-4626 logic, share recalculation mechanisms, and liquidity handling.
Counterparty risk (August) - dependence on an external prime-brokerage provider.
Centralization of management - compromise of multisig or whitelist management errors.
Lend credit risk - borrower defaults even with collateral or KYC filtering.
Market risk and liquidity - inability to quickly implement strategies during mass outflows.
Cross-chain risk - synchronization errors and possible bridge vulnerabilities.
Regulatory risk - the project is oriented towards institutional capital and RWAs, which may attract the attention of regulators.
Operational risks - errors in processing applications, delays in keeper updates, and miscalculations when updating NAV.
Risk of censorship or pressure - due to centralized components like whitelist and KYC functions.
The documentation provides an example of management fee - 2% per annum, which is equivalent to approximately 0.038% per week and is reflected in the price of the reference token.
However, other types of fees (performance fee, withdrawal fee, interest spreads for Lend, and keeper rewards) are not specified.
In DefiLlama:
TVL $356.62 million
Fees (annualized) - $33.7 million
Revenue (annualized) - $6.85 million
There was only one dashboard in Dune, and it only showed depositor ratings in different pools. So I won't show it.
Rating 3 out of 5: no market and demand analysis, the project is semi-centralized (uses multisigs and a broker). But the plus is that there is a detailed description of the project and architecture, as well as developer documentation.
According to Cryptorank, the project raised $16M:
Investors: Dragonfly, The Spartan Group, Circle, Hack VC, Robot Ventures, CMT Digital, Maven 11 Capital, 6th Man Ventures, QCP Capital, GoldenTree Asset Management and others.
Unfortunately, there is no tokenomics.
Rating 3 out of 5: good level of investment including from well-known investors, for example, Circle (issuer of USDC) and others. Amount: $16M.
But there is no tokenomics (utility and initial distribution).
The source code is closed. There is a Fractal protocol repository, but there is essentially no code there:
But the documentation provides links to deployed contracts:
It is important that all contracts (I checked) are verified, which allows studying their code in block explorers.
Here, for example, the pool implementation:
There are links to smart contract audits in the docs:
1. ChainSecurity (January 2025, report for August Core Vault)
Overall impression: the codebase is recognized as secure and mature.
Results:
Critical vulnerabilities: 0
High severity: 3 — 2 fixed, 1 risk accepted
Medium severity: 6 — all fixed
Low severity: 8 — 2 fixed, 1 specification changed, 1 risk accepted, 4 acknowledged and monitored
Unresolved: one high severity vulnerability (access to funds from blacklisted addresses under certain conditions), deemed acceptable risk with compensation through Hexagate monitoring and parameter lagDuration.
2. Sigma Prime (August 2024, Fractal Network report)
Overall impression: contract logic is correct, all identified issues were either fixed or closed.
Results:
Total found: 13 issues
Critical: 0
High severity: 1 — fixed
Medium severity: 3 — all fixed
Low severity: 2 — all fixed
Informational: 7 (comments on style, naming conventions, and optimizations)
There are no unresolved high or medium severity issues.
Notably: a potential DoS vector on an empty storage has been prevented, compatibility with EVM versions (Paris) has been ensured, and double call protection has been optimized (reentrancy).
Score 3 out of 5: the code is partially open (only verified smart contracts are available, which is not enough for review). Audits are also published, and most issues have been fixed. I just couldn't find a bug bounty, which is critical.
You could also give a score of 2 - it's up to you to decide.
Moving on to the application:
"Connect Wallet":
I select the wallet and check the box, agreeing to the terms:
"Connect" and connect.
They offer to get a 5x multiplier while the project's TVL has not reached 750 MILLION $:
"View Ways To Earn Points" will take you to the Points page:
We see that the current TVL is 419 MILLION $. In "Active Rewards" there are options for additional yield, for example, in Morpho or Pendle. But no links yet.
There is also a leaderboard for Upshift Associates.
Below you can see deposit options with multipliers for earning points. For example, Deposit USDC in Upshift Gamma USDC Vault vault gives 10X.
It is also interesting that there is an option "Deposit WHYPE in Hyperbeat Ultra HYPE vault" with a 5x multiplier in HyperEVM (if you don't want to pay Ethereum fees and have HYPE, it's a good option).
There are actually many options. You can even choose pools in BSC, Avalanche, or Meso.
Go to the main page (which is also Deposit):
You can sort and filter by pool type. For example, I'll choose "Pre-deposit":
There are only 3 of them, and they are not very interesting (launched a long time ago).
And I chose all pools, but in HyperEVM:
I think the point is clear.
So, I chose "Upshift Gamma USDC Vault" - I go to it:
I recommend reading the description and parameters to avoid surprises if the pool turns out to be high-risk.
In this case, the description is as follows:
"USDC vault Gamma uses neutral positioning in the market within several DeFi protocols to maximize returns while considering risk. Thanks to the systematic implementation of delta hedging strategies and cross-chain farming capabilities, the vault provides stable returns, prioritizing capital protection and minimizing losses".
I think this is fine. Of course, I wouldn't invest everything, but $100-200 is quite alright.
So I click "Deposit Into Vault", after exchanging Ethereum for USDC:
Read the terms: 20% APY, 96-hour (4-day) withdrawal period, and 10X multiplier.
Always pay attention to these parameters.
Click "Approve Input Amount" and confirm the spending in the wallet. Then confirm the deposit transaction itself.
Done:
Clicking "View position" takes us to the portfolio (Portfolio page):
We see the statistics. Below are the tabs: active positions, expected withdrawals, and history.
You can also filter by blockchain and token, but I'll leave it as is - only one position.
You can click "Withdraw" and withdraw:
But I won't do that for now.
We also see that the commission is 0%, the withdrawal period is 4 days, and the strategy is Gamma Research.
Referrals page:
Here we can copy and share the link, as well as view the statistics of invitations and referral income.
Moving on to the Stake page:
They say that the staking function will soon be removed.
So, here you can stake AVAX or AUSD on Avalanche.
Basically, you can't do anything else here except view.
Rating 5 out of 5: user-friendly interface, stable operation, no errors, commission and other parameters are transparently visible.
18 out of 25:
Team: 4 out of 5: there is a list of team members, but on the LinkedIn project site, the list is incomplete. Although I found co-founders and developers at the parent company. If they are all working on Upshift now, it's good, as most are professionals.
Social media is active. They answer questions, but not fully.
Concept: 3 out of 5: no market and demand analysis, the project is semi-centralized (uses multisigs and a broker). But the plus is that there is a detailed project description and architecture, as well as developer documentation.
Coin: 3 out of 5: good investment level, including from well-known investors, for example, Circle (USDC issuer) and others. Amount: $16M.
But there is no tokenomics (utility and initial distribution).
Code: 3 out of 5: code is partially open (only verified smart contracts are available, but this is not enough to study). Audits are also published, and most issues have been fixed. I just didn't find a bug bounty, which is critical.
You can put a rating of 2 - here you decide for yourself.
Practice: 5 out of 5: user-friendly interface, stable operation, no errors, commission and other parameters are transparently visible.
Subscribe to https://t.me/blind_dev - there are new reviews, tokenomics analysis and accessibility for the blind with convenient interfaces, as well as news of my developments.
Claudio Romero. 81 followers. Blockchain Engineer at August Digital.
Previously Blockchain Engineer at Digifox, Blockchain Engineer at PlanetHome Investment, Blockchain Engineer + Machine Learning at Software Mind Americas and Software Developer at BairesDev.
In total, he has been working in the current position for 9 years, and in development for 16+ years.
He studied as a programmer and economist - this is useful for the project.
Johannes Grasser. 2,169 followers. Head of Finance at August Digital since July 2025.
Previously, he was Head of Finance at the well-known NFT marketplace Magic Eden, Head of Finance & Operations at Truv.
Also worked at Uber. Last position there - Global Strategy & Planning Community Operations.
He studied business administration and management, as well as finance.
This speaks to professionalism and extensive experience, which can help the project's development.
Max Clarke. 3,910 followers. Last post 6 months ago. Works at August Digital as Head of DeFi Business Development.
Previously Territory Manager at Thomson Reuters. Also held other positions in that company, for example, International Business Development Manager (worked there for 10 years in total).
Earlier - Co-Founder at Spark Events Group and .Net Recruitment Consultant at Opus Recruitment Solutions.
He doesn't have such an obvious connection to the current position, so I can't say that he can contribute to the company's success. Although the fact that he held adjacent areas is good.
By the way, he studied economics.
Christopher Evanko. 531 followers. Has been with the company for over two years. Last position - Senior Software Engineer.
Previously Quantitative Developer at Family Office. At Block Renovation, he held several positions, the last of which was Operations Engineering Associate.
At least 5 years of experience. So can be considered a professional.
Education is also targeted - financial engineering, which is important for the project.
Alenson Jun Wei Toh. 1,117 followers. Engages in DeFi strategies at August Digital since September 2025 (only a month).
Previously, he was a trader at Pattern Research, Aralian Capital and Trading Analyst Intern at Glencore.
4 years of experience. DeFi experience is unknown...
Education in financial engineering and just engineering.
Claudio Romero. 81 followers. Blockchain Engineer at August Digital.
Previously Blockchain Engineer at Digifox, Blockchain Engineer at PlanetHome Investment, Blockchain Engineer + Machine Learning at Software Mind Americas and Software Developer at BairesDev.
In total, he has been working in the current position for 9 years, and in development for 16+ years.
He studied as a programmer and economist - this is useful for the project.
Johannes Grasser. 2,169 followers. Head of Finance at August Digital since July 2025.
Previously, he was Head of Finance at the well-known NFT marketplace Magic Eden, Head of Finance & Operations at Truv.
Also worked at Uber. Last position there - Global Strategy & Planning Community Operations.
He studied business administration and management, as well as finance.
This speaks to professionalism and extensive experience, which can help the project's development.
Max Clarke. 3,910 followers. Last post 6 months ago. Works at August Digital as Head of DeFi Business Development.
Previously Territory Manager at Thomson Reuters. Also held other positions in that company, for example, International Business Development Manager (worked there for 10 years in total).
Earlier - Co-Founder at Spark Events Group and .Net Recruitment Consultant at Opus Recruitment Solutions.
He doesn't have such an obvious connection to the current position, so I can't say that he can contribute to the company's success. Although the fact that he held adjacent areas is good.
By the way, he studied economics.
Christopher Evanko. 531 followers. Has been with the company for over two years. Last position - Senior Software Engineer.
Previously Quantitative Developer at Family Office. At Block Renovation, he held several positions, the last of which was Operations Engineering Associate.
At least 5 years of experience. So can be considered a professional.
Education is also targeted - financial engineering, which is important for the project.
Alenson Jun Wei Toh. 1,117 followers. Engages in DeFi strategies at August Digital since September 2025 (only a month).
Previously, he was a trader at Pattern Research, Aralian Capital and Trading Analyst Intern at Glencore.
4 years of experience. DeFi experience is unknown...
Education in financial engineering and just engineering.
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