Nemil Dalal is a Visiting Partner at Y Combinator, focusing on crypto startups and bringing deep expertise in blockchain infrastructure and DeFi. He joined YC in late 2024 after a transformative 7-year tenure at Coinbase.

Nemil participated in Y Combinator Summer 2012 with his 3D printing startup Dreamforge, earned his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, and holds a BS in Electrical Engineering and Economics from Stanford. Before crypto, he was the first product manager at Wildfire Interactive, acquired by Google.

Nemil wrote a stablecoin whitepaper in 2014 and co-authored Ethereum's first security guide in 2016 with Consensys. His startup CryptoFin launched a DeFi protocol in 2017 and was acquired by Coinbase in 2018.

At Coinbase, Nemil led the growth of USDC to over $1 billion, spearheaded the Coinbase Developer Platform, and launched x402, an open protocol for onchain payments. He served as Head of Crypto and later led the Developer team before departing in October 2025.

Y Combinator has backed over 70 crypto startups including Coinbase and OpenSea, with a combined portfolio valuation exceeding $600 billion. Nemil now mentors the next generation of crypto founders, supporting innovations in stablecoins, tokenization, DeFi, and onchain infrastructure.