Leighton Cusack is a United States-based angel investor and entrepreneur best known as the co-founder and CEO of PoolTogether, a no-loss prize savings protocol built on Ethereum. His investment activity stems directly from his position inside the Ethereum and DeFi ecosystem, where he has backed a small number of early-stage projects as a personal angel. With a reported portfolio of five companies, Cusack operates as a conviction-led individual investor rather than a fund manager.
Cusack began building in the Ethereum ecosystem around 2018–2019. PoolTogether, which he co-founded, combines the mechanics of a savings account with a prize lottery: depositors contribute funds, yield accrues across the pool, and one depositor wins the interest each period while all principal remains redeemable. The protocol attracted backing from notable venture investors including a16z crypto and Dragonfly Capital. His direct experience building a DeFi primitive from zero to significant TVL gives his angel checks a practical, builder-first perspective.
Notable investments
- PoolTogether – Co-founded and continues to lead as CEO; the protocol has operated across Ethereum mainnet and multiple L2 networks. (pooltogether.com)
- Public information about the remaining four portfolio investments held by Cusack as an angel is limited. No verified deal names or amounts have been disclosed in public sources as of mid-2026.
Team
Cusack co-founded PoolTogether alongside Brendan Asselstine. Both are engineers with backgrounds in software development prior to entering the Ethereum space. Beyond the PoolTogether team, no managing partners or co-investors operating alongside Cusack in a formal angel capacity have been publicly identified. He appears to invest independently.
Recent activity
In 2023 and 2024, PoolTogether underwent a significant governance and structural transition, migrating toward a more decentralized autonomous organization model. Cusack remained a visible spokesperson for the protocol through this period. His angel investment activity during 2024–2026 has not been publicly disclosed through Crunchbase, regulatory filings, or press coverage, so the timing and terms of his five reported portfolio positions are not verifiable from open sources.
Geographic focus appears to be the United States and the broader global Ethereum developer ecosystem, consistent with where PoolTogether's core contributors and investors are concentrated. Year of first angel investment is not publicly confirmed.
Cusack represents a category of crypto angel common in the DeFi era: a founder who became an investor through proximity to capital and early community relationships rather than through a traditional venture path. His track record as a builder gives him credibility in early DeFi and savings-protocol projects, though the full scope of his personal investment portfolio remains largely private. Investors and founders seeking more detail should contact him directly or monitor on-chain governance activity where his wallet participation is sometimes traceable.
