After his financial tech venture Kindrid was acquired, Leighton entered the Praxis Studio as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR), to explore ideas for his next venture. He was particularly interested in exploring industries that were traditionally associated with vice, such as lotteries. He began to think about financial tools that could build economic mobility for product users instead of exploiting them.

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As Leighton cycled through various ideas and prototypes, he had a conversation with another Praxis Fellow and EIR, Alex Forrester, who mentioned a concept called a “no-loss lottery.” With guidance from Praxis mentors Andy Crouch and Ben Chelf, Leighton brought this idea together with blockchain technology to create PoolTogether. PoolTogether is a no-loss lottery with a mission to create financial security by offering a healthy alternative to lotteries. The app launched in June 2020 and is currently generating lottery wins through interest for participants. Leighton hopes PoolTogether is a step in redeeming the good in stigmatized financial tools and work to apply those dynamics to healthy financial behaviors.

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In 2021, Leighton was featured in a Fortune cover story on decentralized finance. At the time of publication, PoolTogether had over $200M in total deposits, with nearly $100K in weekly prizes delivered through prize-linked savings accounts.