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Panos Mekras, Anodos Finance
Give us the elevator pitch!
Anodos is building a one-stop shop for “Onchain Finance”, using blockchain technology to help users manage, spend, and grow their money and assets in a new, secure, and non-custodial way. We enable individuals and businesses to effortlessly engage with and benefit from the transformative potential of decentralized finance.
What pain points is it trying to solve?
Panos: Anodos addresses the complexity of traditional finance and the barriers to entry in the world of crypto and decentralized finance by providing tools that simplify the process, offering clear, easy steps for users to engage with our services. Additionally, we tackle the concerns around security and trust by leveraging blockchain's decentralized nature, ensuring funds are not at risk at a single point of failure. Our goal is to blend Web2 and Web3 so seamlessly that users won't even notice they are using blockchain technology for finance or any other purpose.
How are you using blockchain technology and the XRP Ledger?
Panos: We use the XRP Ledger to facilitate secure, fast, and low-cost on-chain finance, enhancing the user experience significantly. This ensures that financial operations are transparent, decentralized, and accessible, aligning with our goal of making finance simple and empowering for everyone. Our long-standing experience within the XRPL ecosystem allows us to leverage these capabilities for maximum user benefit.
Why did you join the Aquarium residency?
I joined the Aquarium residency to further develop Anodos within a community of innovators, gaining insights and mentorship to refine our approach to on-chain finance, as well as connect with other builders.
What’s next for your project?
Looking ahead, we plan to expand our suite of solutions by introducing innovative features like passkey-based wallets for enhanced security and seamless onboarding to the XRPL, to add efficient on/off-ramping, and cross-chain swaps connected to XRPL. Additionally, our next product will be Paridim - my main focus during the Aquarium, which will serve as a platform for businesses to reduce costs and boost efficiency in onchain treasury management.
Watch Panos' testimonial here.
Aroh Sunday, RYTU
Give us the elevator pitch!
RYTU (Right-to-Use) is a decentralized, borderless marketplace designed to empower creators by enabling seamless licensing and sale of digital content rights through blockchain technology. The platform enables creators to issue NFTs representing usage rights while offering flexible terms and automated royalty distribution to collaborators and stakeholders - all lowering the barriers for content creators to participate in the global digital economy.
What pain points is it trying to solve?
RYTU addresses all inefficiencies in the current digital content economy, such as delayed payments, disputes over intellectual property (IP) ownership and unmonitored IP usage, opaque licensing due to lack of smart contract-based agreements, high transaction costs, and the lack of verifiable ownership.
How are you using blockchain technology and the XRP Ledger?
Beyond unbeatable transaction speed and cost, RYTU leverages the XRP Ledger for immutable content provenance, hashing content, and licensing on-chain to verify authenticity and monitor IP usage. RYTU also deploys Automated Royalties, for transparent royalty distribution to all stakeholders in real time. Finally, RYTU issues NFTs linked to digital usage rights, ensuring regional compliance and traceability.
Why did you join the Aquarium residency?
The Aquarium residency provides unparalleled access to mentorship, resources, and the XRPL community of developers and innovators. Participating allows RYTU to refine its integrations, accelerate feature development, and receive strategic support to scale globally while strengthening community engagement.
What’s next for your project?
RYTU’s focus is on launching its decentralized marketplace, featuring NFT-based licensing, AI-driven monitoring, automated royalties, and gamification. Upcoming milestones include implementing Dutch auctions, onboarding early adopters, forging creator partnerships, and expanding global access via XRPL-powered cross-border payments. We aim to become the go-to marketplace for ethical and efficient digital rights management.
Modupe Diyaolu, meCash
Give us the elevator pitch!
MeCash is a cross-border payments emissions business targeted at emerging market SMEs. The idea is to deliver low-cost, fast, and regulatory-compliant settlements for businesses on blockchain rails.
What pain points is it trying to solve?
TradFi for cross-border payments is very expensive and very slow. The problem is particularly acute in emerging markets, lacking access to the established payment solutions, thus incurring additional costs and forcing activity on unregulated rails. So with blockchain, for the very first time, we can connect emerging markets with the rest of developed markets.
How are you using blockchain technology and the XRP Ledger?
We provide on-and-off rails for cross-border transactions. SMEs in, say, Africa or Latin America can send or receive cross-border funds, by converting fiat to XRP (on-ramp), transferred, and converted back to the local currency or US Dollars (off-ramp). This is all done within minutes, powered by MeCash. So the customer interacts with our blockchain rail the same way they would with a TradFi solution today.
Why did you join the Aquarium residency?
I joined the Aquarium 15 months into building MeCash. I felt it was important as it is driven by the XRP Ledger - creating our first on-chain mechanism. And doing so working with developers and people interested in the many blockchain use cases. The quality of the other cohort members and builders helped me to focus, and better understand the gaps we needed to bridge, and made for an amazing opportunity to grow.
What’s next for your project?
I am pleased to share that we are on the tail end of closing our seed investment round—including an investor who got on board after hearing my pitch at Demo Day at XRPL Commons! We are also at the pre-scale phase of our solution. We currently live in one country and expect to operate in four countries by the end of 2025.
In the words of Guillermo, Founder of RiverPulse [a decentralized water quality monitoring platform]:
“We joined the Aquarium residency to refine our community-driven, water data collection method, and align it with best practices in blockchain technology while building connections with like-minded innovators. The residency provides us with a platform to bring our vision to life, helping us scale our impact globally. This industry, which I consider a rare intersection of finance, tech, and economics, is surging in Paris with talent, investments, and opportunities—all out of one of the most beautiful cities in the world.”
Watch Guillermo's testimonial here.
Apply to the next Aquarium Cohort: https://www.xrpl-commons.org/residency
