In this exclusive BrandTalk interview with Roc Zacharias—CEO and co‑founder of the Layer 2 DEX QuickSwap—he shares the pivotal lessons from his Web3 journey, from walking away from a career in medicine to shaping industry standards in decentralized finance.
Having left a doctoral path behind after discovering the Bitcoin whitepaper, Roc immersed himself in the world of crypto. His dedication paid off when Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder of Polygon, approached him with a bold proposal: to build a DEX on the then-fledgling Polygon network. That conversation ultimately led to the creation of QuickSwap—now one of the most prominent DEXs in the space.
“I didn’t know the first thing about building a DEX,” Roc admits. “But I said we’d try. We focused on what we were great at—business development, community, marketing—and left the tech to the best devs Sandeep could find.”
The result? QuickSwap became the first Layer 2 DEX to hit $1B in daily volume, and the first application on Polygon to surpass $1M in total value locked. But Roc’s success wasn’t fueled by VC backing.
He famously turned down multimillion-dollar investment offers from Lightspeed, Coinbase Ventures, and Mark Cuban.
“We were offered between $30M to $50M, but we said no,” Roc reveals. “At the time, I was worried about regulatory pressure. But more importantly, I believed in building something truly decentralized. If we took VC money, we’d risk becoming just another project where VCs dump on the community.”
Instead, the QuickSwap team allocated 97% of the token supply to the community. Roc himself took no allocation at launch.
“No VCs to dump on, and truly permissionless access for users,” he says. “That’s how we became the top DEX in Web3.”
While the approach was unconventional, Roc believes it created a “social capital advantage” that money can’t buy. Over time, that trust has helped QuickSwap set DeFi benchmarks—from pioneering dynamic fees with Algebra to scaling up ALM adoption through its partnership with Gamma.
“We call it the QuickSwap Effect,” he adds. “Every time we partner with or support a tech provider, their usage explodes—and eventually becomes an industry standard.”
Through his venture studio Lunar Digital Assets, Roc and his team have incubated other major projects, including Dogechain and Chromia. He also serves on the grant board for Polygon’s $1B ecosystem fund and mentors early-stage teams at Tim Draper’s BitcoinFi Accelerator.
Despite the accolades, Roc remains grounded—and quick to remind founders that Web3 is not a straight road.
“The biggest challenge in this space is market uncertainty,” he says. “Crypto cycles are brutal. You have to be lean and build like the bear market could last two more years—because sometimes, it does.”
He adds that many founders underestimate how mentally demanding this environment can be. “In Web2, you have structure. In Web3, you’re building in chaos. That’s why most projects pivot, rebrand, or die.”
Looking back, Roc says he does have minor regrets about turning down early funding. “It would’ve given us runway to hire more devs, ship faster. But then again, staying independent gave us flexibility and credibility that no amount of capital could replicate.”
It’s not just about decentralization—it’s about principles.
“I’ve never taken a dollar from the QuickSwap Foundation. I’ve never sold a Quick token. People notice that. It’s why communities trust me, and why I get the right kind of opportunities.”
Even Uniswap has referenced QuickSwap in governance discussions as a model for how competition can improve product design. “They A/B test things on Polygon because we’re actually competitive,” Roc notes with pride.
Today, Roc sees major growth potential in real-world assets (RWAs) and stablecoin-based payments. He points to projects like Courtyard—trading tokenized Pokémon cards on-chain—and notes that Polygon is becoming a hub for tokenizing everything from collectibles to bonds.
“RWAs are blowing up because they’re solving real problems—liquidity, transparency, access,” he says. “The next big phase of DeFi will merge with traditional finance in a meaningful way.”
He’s also backing Stratex, a new project incubated by Lunar Digital Assets that builds a DeFi strategy marketplace. It recently received treasury investment from the QuickSwap community. “Think of it as an app store for DeFi strategies—curated, tokenized, and tradable.”
Roc’s advice to new founders is simple but non-negotiable:
→ Work harder than anyone else.
→ Learn obsessively.
→ Earn trust before trying to raise capital.
“My biggest hack is I listen to podcasts and audiobooks all day—when I sleep, when I eat, when I work out. You don’t need an MBA. You need curiosity.”
And most of all, he says, founders must choose between being missionaries or mercenaries.
“Missionaries want to change the world. Mercenaries want a quick flip. Funny enough, the missionaries usually make more money in the end.”
As the interview wraps, Roc offers one final reminder:
“You’re writing the book of your life every day. Make it a good one.”
Watch the full interview with BrandTalk host Lilly Douse to discover how today’s founders can build decentralized, community‑driven Web3 projects—without over‑relying on VC dollars.Explore more:
🔗 QuickSwap DEX
🔗 Lunar Digital Assets
