Bake

Bake — originally launched as CakeDeFi in 2019 — was a centralized crypto yield platform built to make passive income from digital assets accessible to retail investors. Positioned under the tagline "Making Finances Fun," it offered staking, DeFi-powered lending, savings, and customizable investment bundles across a range of blockchain networks including Solana.

Background and Founding

CakeDeFi was founded in Singapore in June 2019 by Dr. Julian Hosp and U-Zyn Chua. The platform grew rapidly during the 2020–2021 bull cycle, reaching more than 1 million registered users across 190 countries by 2021, with $500 million in customer assets under management and over $230 million in cumulative reward payouts distributed to users. In 2022 the company secured a Lithuanian regulatory license and completed a PCAOB audit, establishing early compliance credentials. The platform rebranded from CakeDeFi to Bake in 2023, unifying its identity around the bake.io domain.

In 2025, the original founders stepped back and the company was acquired by GSTechnologies, a fintech-focused firm that operates digital asset services through its subsidiary GS Fintech UAB. At the time of acquisition, Bake had approximately 700,000 registered users and $80 million in user-held digital assets. GSTechnologies intended to integrate the platform into its European-regulated digital asset ecosystem.

Core Products and Mechanism

Bake operated as a CeDeFi — centralized-custodial DeFi — platform. Rather than requiring users to manage wallets, private keys, or protocol interactions directly, Bake custodied assets on their behalf and deployed them into staking and lending markets, returning net yields to user accounts.

Staking was the platform's flagship product. Bake used a unit-based accounting system: user deposits were converted into units representing their proportional stake, with rewards accumulating continuously by increasing the value of those units. This structure deferred tax obligations for users until redemption. Staking required no lockup period for most assets — users could enter and exit at any time — with the sole exception of Polkadot (DOT), which required a five-day unbonding window. Bake charged a 10% commission on staking rewards (15% on DFI, DASH, and MATIC); published APYs reflected net returns after these fees.

Supported staking assets included Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Polygon (MATIC), Polkadot (DOT), Sui (SUI), Cosmos (ATOM), Celestia (TIA), Cardano (ADA), NEAR Protocol (NEAR), and DeFiChain (DFI). SOL staking was added to the platform in 2023. DeFiChain, a Bitcoin-native DeFi chain co-created by the founders, was deeply integrated with the platform and its native token DFI received prominent placement throughout.

Lending offered DeFi-powered stablecoin yields marketed as hassle-free returns. A blog post noted a DeFi upgrade for the lending product through a partnership with NuWealth, incorporating risk-managed vaults.

Savings provided a simpler pathway for crypto growth with compounding yield applied twice daily.

Smart Bundles were Bake's differentiating investment product — customizable multi-asset baskets that combined several cryptocurrencies into a single investment vehicle with compounding yield layered on top. Users could create their own bundles and share them through an affiliate program to earn additional rewards.

Recurring Buys allowed users to automate periodic purchases, reducing timing risk through dollar-cost averaging.

Bake Pro was a membership tier offering enhanced platform features.

Solana on Bake

Bake supported Solana staking as part of its multi-chain yield offering. Users could stake SOL through the custodial interface without managing validators or on-chain transactions directly. Bake delegated pooled SOL to validators on users' behalf, returning net staking rewards after its commission. No information was published about specific validators used or the delegation strategy for SOL.

Security and Transparency

Bake maintained cold storage for user assets and required multi-signature authorization for transactions. The platform published periodic transparency reports disclosing reward payout metrics. In 2022, the company completed a PCAOB-standard audit — the same audit framework applied to publicly listed companies in the US — representing an unusual level of financial attestation for a crypto yield platform. The platform also obtained a regulatory license in Lithuania in the same year.

Regulatory Issues and Platform Suspension

Bake encountered significant regulatory friction in 2025 and 2026. Singapore regulators from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) restricted the platform's operations in the country effective May 1, 2025, requiring Singapore-based users to withdraw their funds by April 30, 2025.

In Europe, the platform failed to obtain a license under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). As a consequence, Bake suspended all crypto-asset trading services effective April 15, 2026. The suspension notice on the platform stated that it remains indefinite pending a MiCA license being obtained in Poland. Users were directed to withdraw all funds before the April 14, 2026 deadline. As of July 2026, the website and help center remain online but active investing services are no longer available.

Ecosystem Position

Bake sat at the intersection of centralized finance and DeFi infrastructure, providing an onboarding layer for retail users who wanted yield from proof-of-stake networks — including Solana — without engaging directly with validators, liquid staking protocols, or on-chain interfaces. At its peak it was one of the larger retail-facing CeDeFi platforms serving Southeast Asia and Europe, built on a foundation of the DeFiChain ecosystem before expanding to multi-chain coverage. Its suspension in 2026 reflects broader regulatory pressure on centralized crypto yield platforms operating in MiCA-governed markets.