Sam Battenally is trying to fix the two things everyone hates about trading:it’s slow, and it’s full of hidden costs.

Sam is the co-founder and CEO of RISE, a new blockchain built to feel like modern web apps: instant, smooth, and (on their new exchange RiseX) zero gas fees. He’s also just acquired perp DEX team BSX to help turn that vision into a pro-grade, on-chain trading platform.

In this episode of DealFlow Founder Stories, we break it down in plain English no crypto jargon required.

We talk about:

- What RISE actually is in web2 terms (think: ultra-fast backend for trading apps)

- RiseX, the new zero-gas trading app built on RISE

- How RISE plans to be the “one great app first, ecosystem later” chain

- Why Sam thinks future apps should feel like grandma-friendly fintech, not clunky wallets

- How he raised over $10M from VCs and the community

- What he learned shutting down his previous DeFi product – and why that pain led to RISE

- The trade-offs: speed vs decentralization, and why he’s okay with “geo-centralization”- Using AI at work (and why it probably boosted their productivity by 30%+)

- How he’s juggling being a new dad, constant travel, and building a massive infra company

If you’re curious about where trading, crypto, and “Wall Street on-chain” might actually go next, this convo will make it click without needing to be crypto-native.

Subscribe for more raw, founder-first conversations from DealFlow.

Guest:

Sam - https://x.com/sam_battenally

RISE - https://risechain.com/

Host:

Keira - https://x.com/RealMissAI

DealFlow - https://x.com/dealflowpodcast

MH Ventures - https://www.mhventures.io/