Kairos Swap uses Formo to understand their DeFi users on Base. From anonymous wallets to actionable profiles in minutes. See how they track $200M+ in volume.

Time to first insight: <10 minutes · Engineering hours saved: 40+/month · $200M+ volume 

"Formo gave us valuable insight into our existing users - where they're finding us, how active they are across DeFi, and social connections where we can reach them for feedback."

— Vince, CTO at Kairos Swap

Meet Vince, CTO at Kairos Swap

Vince has been in crypto for over a decade and building software even longer. He's worked at Asana, Goldman Sachs, and Gemini before going full-time DeFi. Now he leads the technical vision at Kairos Swap.

About Kairos Swap

Kairos Swap is introducing a new DeFi primitive: interest rate swaps. This is one of the largest financial markets in traditional finance, underpinning all global debt as the mechanism lenders use to hedge interest rate risk.

Their mission is to grow onchain credit markets and facilitate long-term fixed-rate loans by giving lenders the tools to hedge rate risk. Beyond hedging, Kairos enables fixed income strategies across DeFi and speculative plays on future rate movements.

Target audience:

• Institutional DeFi lenders managing rate exposure

• Crypto hedge funds seeking sophisticated yield strategies

• Traders who want to speculate with rate predictions

The team brings deep experience from Silicon Valley, Goldman Sachs, Gemini, and years of DeFi-native building. They recently graduated from Alliance, DeFi's leading accelerator program, and pitched top VCs at demo day.

The Challenge: Building in the Dark

Before Formo, Kairos faced a common challenge for early-stage DeFi protocols: limited visibility into who their users actually were.

This is a well-known gap in Web3 analytics. Traditional tools like Google Analytics can't see onchain data, while blockchain explorers can't connect wallet activity to acquisition sources. Without purpose-built tooling, even strong teams operate with incomplete information.

• Limited insight into user origins: Where were users discovering Kairos? Twitter threads? Discord mentions? Referrals from other protocols?

• Unclear user quality signals: Were these users active DeFi participants with meaningful capital, or casual browsers?

• Difficult feedback loops: Without clear visibility into power users, gathering targeted product feedback was harder than it needed to be

"We initially had very little insight into who our users are, where they come from, and their activity level in DeFi. Growing a user base in the dark on these things makes it tricky to build for the customer."

For a protocol introducing an entirely new primitive to DeFi, understanding their early adopters wasn't optional. It was essential for product development and go-to-market.

Why Kairos Chose Formo

When evaluating analytics solutions, Kairos needed something purpose-built for crypto, not a generic web analytics tool retrofitted for Web3.

What made Formo the clear choice:

1. Ease of integration: Install the script and go. No complex setup or engineering overhead. What would typically require weeks of custom analytics development was live in under 10 minutes.

2. Crypto-native features: Wallet tracking, onchain activity metrics, and social profile connections that generic analytics simply can't provide. Building this in-house would mean dedicating an engineer full-time, or cobbling together Dune queries, custom indexers, and manual wallet lookups.

3. Immediate value: The dashboard was useful from day one, tracking MAUs and user activity right out of the box. No waiting for data pipelines or dashboard configuration.

"Super simple - install the script and go. The dashboard was useful almost immediately and allowed us to track our MAUs right off the bat."

The alternative? Building in-house means cobbling together scripts, internal databases, and BI tools. It's a time sink that's expensive to run and complex to maintain:

• Custom wallet tracking infrastructure (~2-3 weeks of engineering)

• Dune dashboards for onchain analytics (~1 week setup + ongoing maintenance)

• Manual social profile lookups (hours per week)

• Estimated cost: 40+ engineering hours/month, or the equivalent of a part-time hire

How Kairos Uses Formo Day-to-Day

Vince checks Formo 1-2 times per week, typically after major social pushes or content drops, to measure the real-time impact of their GTM strategies.

Core use cases:

• Tracking organic growth: Watching MAU growth alongside marketing efforts to understand what's working

• Gauging potential TVL: Using onchain metrics to estimate the capital depth of their user base

• Identifying high-value users: Finding active DeFi participants worth reaching out to for feedback

• Closing the feedback loop: Using social profile data to connect directly with users on Twitter

"It's fantastic to see in real time the results of our GTM strategies and organic growth via X."

Results & Impact

Since launching their beta on Base, Kairos has processed over $200M in notional volume. Formo has been instrumental in understanding the users behind that activity.

Time & Resource Savings

Key Outcomes

• ✓ Complete user visibility: From anonymous wallets to identifiable DeFi profiles with social connections

• ✓ Real-time GTM feedback: Instant visibility into which content and campaigns drive actual users (check results within hours, not days)

• ✓ Onchain context: Understanding user activity across other protocols and chains

• ✓ Direct user access: Social links enabling direct outreach for product feedback

With mainnet launch planned for Q1 2026, Kairos now has the user intelligence foundation to scale with confidence, without dedicating engineering resources to building complex analytics infrastructure.

Advice for Builders

Here is Vince’s advice for builders just starting their journey:

"Learn about your customers, build in public, and let the market decide what to build. Be persistent, build for your users, and gather feedback early and often."

Summary

For DeFi teams building new apps and primitives, Formo provides the crypto-native analytics layer that generic tools can't match:

• Unified Analytics: Track the entire user journey from first click to onchain transaction in one dashboard. No more juggling fragmented tools and complex instrumentation.

• Wallet Intelligence: Segment users into cohorts like "Power Users" based on in-app activity and onchain data.

• Onchain Attribution: Measure true campaign ROI by tracking which channels drive volume and revenue, not just clicks.

• Real-Time Dashboards: Identify drop-off points and make data-driven decisions without breaking the bank or complex SQL.

"I would 100% recommend Formo to other crypto teams who want valuable insights into their crypto-native customer profile."

— Vince, CTO at Kairos Swap

Measure what matters with fewer tools, faster launches, and better visibility. Book a demo to get started. 

Follow Formo on LinkedIn and Twitter to get product updates and onchain growth insights.

Follow Kairos Swap

• Website

• Twitter: @KairosSwap

• Twitter: @0xVinnieJames

• Twitter: @unofficial_thom

FAQs

What is Kairos Swap?

Kairos Swap is a DeFi protocol building interest rate swaps onchain. It allows lenders to hedge interest rate risk, enables fixed income strategies, and lets traders speculate on future rate movements. The team recently graduated from Alliance accelerator and has processed over $200M in notional volume on their Base beta.

What analytics challenges do DeFi protocols face?

DeFi protocols often struggle with fragmented analytics. Traditional tools like Google Analytics can't see onchain data, while blockchain explorers can't connect wallet activity to acquisition sources. This makes it hard to understand user origins, identify power users, and measure marketing ROI.

How long does it take to set up Formo?

Kairos Swap was able to get actionable insights in under 10 minutes. Setup involves installing a script with no complex configuration or engineering overhead required.

How much engineering time does Formo save?

Kairos Swap estimates Formo saves them 40+ engineering hours per month compared to building and maintaining custom analytics infrastructure, Dune dashboards, and manual wallet lookups.

Can Formo track users across multiple chains?

Yes. Formo provides onchain context that shows user activity across other protocols and chains, giving teams a complete picture of their users' DeFi behavior.

Does Formo work for early-stage DeFi projects?

Yes. Kairos Swap started using Formo during their beta phase on Base and found immediate value in tracking MAUs, understanding user origins, and measuring the impact of GTM strategies.