What Baking Bad does

Baking Bad is a Tezos-focused blockchain development company that builds and maintains foundational infrastructure for the Tezos ecosystem. Operating as a distributed team with four named core members — CEO Vladimir Zarechnev, CTO Michael Zaikin, Head of DeFi Alexander Rakunov, and Lead Developer Maksim Strebkov — plus a broader open-source contributor community, the company produces blockchain explorers (TzKT, Better Call Dev, Celenium), a Tezos API (TzKT, handling 1B+ monthly requests), the DipDup selective indexing framework, and SDKs (PyTezos for Python, Netezos for .NET). It also operates DeFi products including the Atomex multi-chain atomic-swap wallet, the 3Route DEX aggregator, and the Juster liquidity protocol, alongside a Tezos staking rewards auditor and the Baking Bot Telegram notification service.

Baking Bad's technology stack is anchored by TzKT, a real-time indexer aligned to Tezos protocol upgrades (e.g., Tallinn protocol support shipped in TzKT v1.17.0 in January 2026, smart rollup operations added in 2023). The DipDup framework lets third-party developers build selective indexers on top of TzKT, integrates with Hasura GraphQL and auto-generated typed SDKs via GenQL, and — since April 2025 — supports the Model Context Protocol so LLM clients like Claude Desktop, GitHub Copilot, and Cursor can interact with indexed blockchain data. Beyond that, the team co-developed a Tezos-on-Tezos Michelson VM optimistic rollup in collaboration with Nomadic Labs, Trilitech, and other Tezos core contributors.

Baking Bad's revenue model is hybrid. Core developer tools (TzKT, Better Call Dev, DipDup, PyTezos, Netezos, the staking auditor) are free and open-source, serving as top-of-funnel adoption. Direct monetization comes from two streams: (a) custom enterprise solutions — proprietary NFT indexers and explorers built for clients including Rarible, Ubisoft Quartz, Decentralized Pictures, plus work for the Tezos Foundation — delivered under bespoke professional-services arrangements; and (b) DeFi transaction economics, including Atomex ($77M+ cumulative DEX volume), 3Route (400+ liquidity pools), and Juster ($5M+ Tezos liquidity). Distribution is product-led and community-led via GitHub, Telegram, Twitter, Discord, YouTube, and an active technical blog; enterprise sales flow directly through [email protected]. The company is privately held, with no disclosed funding rounds and Tezos Foundation grants as the most prominent external financial support signal.

Name

Baking Bad

Legal name

Baking Bad

Website

https://baking-bad.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Baking Bad develops open-source Tezos blockchain infrastructure — explorers (TzKT, Better Call Dev, Celenium), the TzKT API, the DipDup indexing framework, Python and .NET SDKs, and DeFi products (Atomex, 3Route, Juster) — serving Tezos developers, DApps, and select enterprise clients via custom indexing and integration work.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Tezos Blockchain Infrastructure & Developer Tools

akta.pro primary industry

Smart Contract Developer Platforms & Tooling (SDKs, APIs, frameworks, indexing) (FSAPAAAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Testing, Simulation & Local Dev Environments (testnets, forks, fuzzing, CI) (FSAPABAG), Deployment, Automation & DevOps (build pipelines, contract deployment tools) (FSAPABAH)

Keywords

• Tezos blockchain infrastructure
• Blockchain explorer
• Smart contract indexing
• DeFi developer tools
• Crypto blockchain APIs

Headquarters

HQ city

Zug

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Open-source / Free Tools: Core products (TzKT explorer, TzKT API, Better Call Dev, DipDup, Baking Bad staking auditor) are free and open-source, used to build ecosystem adoption and brand reputation.
2. Custom Enterprise Solutions: Baking Bad creates custom solutions on top of their stack for clients' specific use cases (e.g., Rarible NFT aggregator, Ubisoft Quartz NFT indexer, Decentralized Pictures T4L3NT explorer). Revenue likely generated through professional services and custom development contracts.
3. DeFi Products: Atomex wallet (DEX), 3Route DEX aggregator, and Juster liquidity provision products generate volume-based revenue. Atomex has processed $77M+ DEX volume.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Baking Bad builds, maintains, and scales open-source Tezos blockchain infrastructure — including the TzKT explorer/API indexer, the Better Call Dev smart contract explorer, the DipDup selective indexing framework, Python and .NET SDKs (PyTezos, Netezos), and DeFi products (3Route DEX aggregator, Atomex multi-chain wallet, Juster liquidity protocol). In parallel, the company develops custom blockchain solutions for enterprise clients such as Ubisoft, Rarible, and Decentralized Pictures on top of its stack.

Product overview

Baking Bad is a Tezos blockchain development company offering a comprehensive suite of products including explorers (TzKT, Better Call Dev, Celenium), APIs (TzKT API with 1B+ monthly requests), SDKs (.NET/Netezos, Python/PyTezos), and the DipDup indexing framework. The company also provides DeFi products (3Route DEX aggregator, Atomex multi-chain wallet, Juster liquidity protocol) and staking tools (Baking Bad rewards auditor, Baking Bot Telegram notifications). Products emphasize open-source development with free core offerings and scale blockchain applications for the Tezos ecosystem.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• TzKT: Main Tezos blockchain explorer with API, offering 1B+ monthly requests
• Better Call Dev
• Celenium
• 3Route
• Atomex
• Juster
• DipDup
• Netezos
• PyTezos

Products and services

• TzKT Free, open-source Tezos blockchain explorer and indexer processing 1B+ monthly API requests across REST and WebSocket endpoints with deep selecting, sorting, filtering, and Smart Rollups operations support.
• Better Call Dev (BCD) Tezos smart contract explorer with contract interaction, deploy tools, fork feature, global constants registry, operation filters, and wallet connect integration; receives 140k+ monthly views.
• Celenium Tezos blockchain explorer with 500k+ monthly views positioned as an explorer experience under the Baking Bad portfolio.
• TzKT API Public REST and WebSocket API for the Tezos blockchain providing normalized data on tokens, token balances, transfers, accounts, operations, and bakers; 1B+ monthly requests.
• 3Route DEX aggregator on Tezos with 400+ liquidity pools enabling decentralized cross-pool asset swaps.
• Atomex Multi-chain DeFi ecosystem featuring an atomic swap wallet supporting Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum (EIP1559), and Tezos with $77M+ processed DEX volume.
• Juster DeFi protocol on Tezos providing liquidity for derivatives and financial instruments with $5M+ Tezos liquidity provided.
• Baking Bad Staking Rewards Auditor Free Tezos staking rewards auditor and delegation tracker for monitoring baker performance and reward distributions.
• Baking Bot Telegram bot that monitors Tezos delegation payments and staking rewards and sends baker change notifications.
• Netezos Cross-platform .NET SDK for Tezos blockchain development.
• PyTezos Python SDK and CLI for Tezos blockchain enabling Michelson value handling, contract interaction, and blockchain queries.
• DipDup Open-source framework for building selective blockchain indexers for Tezos DApps; works with TzKT API, integrates with Hasura GraphQL, supports REST endpoints, cron jobs, hooks, Docker deployment, and MCP integration for AI assistants.

Quantifiable outcome

• TzKT API handles 1B+ monthly requests
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability3 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Nomadic LabscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Nomadic Labs (Tezos core development team) collaborated with Baking Bad on the Tezos-on-Tezos smart rollup project. Nomadic Labs provided assistance and numerous fruitful discussions during the development of the Michelson VM-based rollup.
• TrilitechcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Trilitech (Tezos development company) collaborated with Baking Bad on the Tezos-on-Tezos Michelson smart rollup project, providing technical assistance and fruitful discussions.
• FunctoriminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Functori collaborated with Baking Bad on the Tezos-on-Tezos Michelson smart rollup project, providing technical assistance and numerous fruitful discussions.
• RariblecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Baking Bad built a custom indexing solution for Rarible that aggregates NFT sell orders from the Rarible Platform and major Tezos marketplaces into a unified view. This is a flagship case study demonstrating Baking Bad's ability to handle complex Tezos NFT data at scale.
• Ubisoft QuartzcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2022Baking Bad developed a TzKT Plugin to support Ubisoft Quartz token metadata, which is stored in a non-standard way on Tezos. This integration enables Ubisoft Quartz NFTs to be properly tracked and displayed in TzKT ecosystem tools.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Etherscan: Dominant Ethereum block explorer and analytics platform. Directly analogous to TzKT in product function, but vastly larger scale and Ethereum-only — illustrates both the model Baking Bad replicates and the gap to incumbent explorers.
• Moralis: Web3 development platform offering APIs, SDKs, and authentication across chains. Competes in the same developer-tooling category as PyTezos, Netezos, and DipDup, but at a multi-chain, higher-marketing scale.
• Infura: Web3 infrastructure provider offering RPC endpoints, APIs, and developer tools. Comparable as RPC/API infrastructure adjacent to Baking Bad's TzKT and DipDup offering, but with a much wider chain footprint.
• Alchemy: Broad blockchain developer platform providing node infrastructure, APIs, and tooling across many chains. Competes with Baking Bad's full stack (indexing, APIs, SDKs) at a multi-chain, enterprise-funded scale.
• Tenderly: Smart contract development, debugging, and monitoring platform. Adjacent to Better Call Dev's contract interaction and debugging functionality, though primarily EVM-focused and broader in scope.
• QuickNode: Multi-chain node infrastructure and developer platform. Comparable to Baking Bad's API and indexing stack for developers, though QuickNode positions as a broader multi-chain alternative rather than chain-specialist.

Direct peers

• The Graph: Decentralized indexing protocol for blockchain data via GraphQL subgraphs. Most direct competitor to TzKT/DipDup as a multi-chain indexing layer, though primarily focused on Ethereum and EVM chains rather than Tezos.
• Covalent: Unified blockchain data API and indexer offering historical and real-time access across multiple chains. Direct competitor to the TzKT API on multi-chain data delivery, including support for Tezos.
• BlockScout: Open-source EVM blockchain explorer with multi-chain support. Closely comparable to TzKT and Better Call Dev as an open-source explorer/indexer product, though EVM-focused rather than Tezos-native.

Regional players

• Nomadic Labs: Core Tezos protocol R&D organization. Strategic collaborator with Baking Bad on the Michelson rollup project, and operates within the same Tezos ecosystem with overlapping developer tooling focus.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/TezosBakingBad
• GitHubgithub.com/baking-bad
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCg-jUk-6MVEMSZ4Qhfrt40Q
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tezos-baking-bad

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Baking Bad