Written by Martin Young, Staff Writer. Reviewed by Felix Ng, Staff Editor.
Written by Martin Young, Staff Writer.
Reviewed by Felix Ng, Staff Editor.
Legend becomes latest DeFi app to throw in towel
Latest NewsPublishedMay 13, 2026
“The product that wins isn’t the one that explains crypto better, it’s the one that hides it completely,” stated CEO Jayson Hobby.
Decentralized finance mobile “superapp” Legend has revealed it is winding down after about two years of operation, adding to a string of crypto apps deciding to shut down this year.
Legend was a DeFi aggregator that aimed to bring DeFi to its users rather than forcing them to sign into multiple different wallets or applications to utilize their crypto.
“We believed the right interface could put DeFi’s most powerful primitives in front of mainstream users.” Legend co-founder Jayson Hobby stated on Tuesday.
nevertheless, despite the product finding an audience, it didn’t “grow to the scale the company needed to be sustainable long-term,” stated Hobby. “Closing is the right call for our team and our investors.”
Over 20 DeFi, NFT and GameFi protocols have revealed they are shutting down this year, including ZeroLend, which stated in February that it planned to shut down after three years of operations, citing an unsustainable business model.
Closure notice on the Legend website. Source: Legend.xyz
Solana DeFi aggregator Step Finance stated it was closing down in February after a $40 million treasury wallet breach in January, and DeFi derivatives protocol Polynomial also ceased operations in February.
Balancer Labs, the team behind the DeFi protocol Balancer, shuttered in March after mounting financial pressure following a $116 million hack in November.
Meanwhile, Seamless Protocol, a DeFi lending protocol on Base, stated it was winding down in April, blaming volatile market conditions.
Users don’t care whether product is onchain or not
Legend is a non-custodial, mobile-first DeFi aggregator introduced around late 2024 by former Compound Finance executives, including CEO Hobby. It is used for earning, trading, borrowing and swapping assets like stablecoins and Ether via integrations with other DeFi protocols such as Aave, Compound and Uniswap.
It aimed to bring DeFi to its users rather than forcing them to sign into multiple different wallets or applications to utilize their crypto.
It revealed its first funding round, raising $15 million from Andreessen Horowitz and Coinbase Ventures, in February 2025.
Related: Kelp DAO eyes unpausing withdrawals after attackers’ rsETH on Arbitrum is burned
nevertheless, Hobby stated that mainstream users don’t care if a product is onchain or not. “They want outcomes,” he stated. “Better yield, faster payments, more control over their money.”
“The product that wins isn’t the one that explains crypto better, it’s the one that hides it completely. The benefits are felt, not explained.”
Legend has not disclosed active user counts or total value locked figures, as it operates as an aggregator, but the TVL for the broader DeFi ecosystem has tanked 50% since October in the wider crypto bear market.
The Legend app will keep running normally for the next 60 days and will go offline on July 12, stated Hobby.
Magazine: DeFi’s billion-dollar secret: The insiders responsible for hacks
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- DeFi
- DApps
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