Ryan Li possesses extensive familiarity with both artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency. He commenced his involvement with AI approximately a decade ago while pursuing his undergraduate studies at UC Berkeley, and subsequently established two cryptocurrency ventures. This background has informed his conviction that prevalent AI services such as ChatGPT and Perplexity generate an excessive number of inaccuracies concerning crypto, and these mistakes could result in financial losses for traders amounting to millions, or even billions, of dollars. Consequently, he became a co-founder of Surf, an AI platform specifically designed for the cryptocurrency domain.
TL;DR
- Ryan Li co-founded Surf, an AI platform for cryptocurrency, due to inaccuracies in general AI models.
- Surf secured $15 million in funding from Pantera Capital, Coinbase Ventures, and Digital Currency Group.
- The platform has over 300,000 users and aims for $10 million income by 2026 via subscriptions.
- Surf claims four times the performance of ChatGPT and Grok for crypto queries, validated by Princeton University.
This past Wednesday, the company he founded revealed it secured $15 million in funding from Pantera Capital, joined by Coinbase Ventures and Digital Currency Group. In a conversation with Coins2Day, Li, who leads the startup as CEO, refrained from sharing the firm's valuation.
“Surf was something that we wanted to build for ourselves, and it turns out the market loves it,” he said. “I think Surf is the best model for crypto, and we want to make sure people trust Surf instead of relying on hallucinations from other models.”
The offering debuted as an exclusive service in July, then became accessible to everyone in September. The company reports that over 300,000 individuals are utilizing the system, which has produced in excess of one million inquiries. Li states that the platform is capable of addressing a wide range of queries concerning cryptocurrency, spanning from fundamental principles to highly specialized topics. He notes that 80% of the platform's clientele consists of everyday individuals not employed in the cryptocurrency sector, while the remaining 20% hail from investment firms, trading platforms, and other businesses associated with crypto.
The company reports generating several million dollars in income and anticipates achieving $10 million by the close of 2026. Surf earns its income through a subscription model, where customers pay between $15 and $399 monthly, depending on their chosen service level. A complimentary version is available, allowing individuals to pose a limited number of inquiries daily. The firm presently employs fewer than 30 individuals.
Li considers his startup's rivals to be established AI systems such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Grok. The firm asserts that its service achieves four times the performance of ChatGPT and Grok for cryptocurrency-related queries, according to a study benchmark testing conducted jointly with Princeton University. Although ChatGPT might offer marginally quicker responses, Surf provided answers that were more tailored to the crypto domain and included a greater number of references, as indicated by a direct comparison of the two systems that Li presented to Coins2Day. .
“ChatGPT is a really good generalist, but it doesn’t know the crypto industry enough,” Li said. “Surf is like that expert that worked in the industry for a long time by us training the model just for crypto.”
The startup intends to introduce Surf 2.0, a more sophisticated version, in February 2026, thanks to the recent investment.
