In brief
- Donut Labs raised $22 million to develop an AI-powered crypto trading browser.
- The tool merges automation, market analysis, and security in one platform.
- Founder Chris Zhu says agentic browsers will soon become the default online.
AI browsers are becoming the next frontier in how people interact with the web—and crypto traders just got their own. New York startup Donut Labs announced on Monday that it has raised $22 million across pre-seed and seed rounds to develop what it claims is the first agentic AI browser that can research, analyze, and execute trades autonomously.
Founder and CEO of Donut Labs, Chris Zhu, said that the idea for the Donut browser grew out of frustration with existing platforms after his team’s TikTok-based app was abruptly shut down.
“Browsers haven’t really changed in 30 years,” Zhu told Decrypt. “We wanted to build the largest front end on the internet—but do that for crypto.”
That experience led Zhu to a broader realization that if AI is becoming the interface for everything online, crypto needs a browser built for it.
“We saw signs that this agentic browser wave was starting—OpenAI launched Atlas, Perplexity has Comet, and we wanted to create one that could actually handle trading,” Zhu explained.
The funding, led by Bitkraft Ventures, Sequoia China, Sky9 Ventures, Matrix Partners, Makers Fund, and Altos Ventures, positions Donut Labs among the early players racing to redefine how AI and crypto merge.
Building the Agentic Browser
According to Zhu, Donut’s AI browser is designed to understand a user’s trading context, synthesize data from multiple sources, and perform actions across exchanges—all within the browser itself.
Zhu said Donut’s system is structured with layered security—modeled on the “levels” used in Tesla’s self-driving software. Tasks range from pure research to fully authorized transactions requiring multiple confirmations.
“The reason prompt injection happens in other browsers is because they handle HTML links with not enough security,” he explained.
To address this, Donut processes authorizations on the backend rather than simulating user clicks. The company also partners with key management firm Turnkey to safeguard private keys.
“We actually don’t give the agent the ability to click into your other wallets,” Zhu said. “Our wallet backend operates separately so the agent never sees your balances.”
How It Works
Behind the scenes, Donut uses an “open router” that dynamically selects the right AI model for each task—from lightweight models for token swaps to advanced reasoning systems for complex analysis. The browser’s agents draw on liquidity and pricing data from sources like CoinGecko and Pyth, while custom-built tools allow automated execution and research.
Zhu said the company plans to unveil a full suite of products—a standalone browser, extension, web app, and mobile app—to cover “the full life cycle of your trading career.”
The Human Element
Will AI browsers make human traders obsolete? Zhu said the opposite is more likely:
“Right now, quants are great at high-frequency trades,” he said. “But AI browsers know your whole context—they make it easier for you to do what you already do, across the internet.”
He added that AI will eventually become a trading equalizer rather than a threat.
“Over a long enough time horizon, we do want to get to the point where it’s just me, myself, and my hundred quants,” he said. “But the strategies will be unique to each person.”
As AI systems evolve from chatbots to fully autonomous tools, browsers may become the main interface for both human and machine activity online. Zhu argues that crypto traders—accustomed to automation and volatility—will be among the first to embrace that shift.
“Our species is looking for rapid growth,” he said. “Choosing AI to help us get there is one of the easiest ways to evolve.”
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Source: https://decrypt.co/347204/ai-browsers-headed-crypto-donut-labs-22-million-build-first
