Asia
Figment CEO Lorien Gabriel’s Big Bet on Staking Has Paid Off
Published
3 days agoon
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adminLorien Gabel has spent decades building internet infrastructure companies, from ISPs to cloud security firms. In 2018, recognizing the transformative potential of proof-of-stake networks, he co-founded Figment, which has since become one of the world’s largest independent staking providers, offering technology and services that enable users to stake their tokens without having to use a centralized exchange or custodian.
Today, the company manages $15 billion in assets and serves over 500 institutional clients.
This series is brought to you by Consensus Hong Kong. Come and experience the most influential event in Web3 and Digital Assets, Feb.18-20. Register today and save 15% with the code CoinDesk15.
Here, Gabriel, who will be a speaker at Consensus Hong Kong, discusses Figment’s expansion into Asia, bitcoin staking experiments and his company’s careful process for deciding which new crypto networks to support.
This interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.
What led you to start Figment?
This is the fourth company my co-founders and I have built together over three decades. Our previous ventures were all in internet infrastructure. When we started exploring blockchain in 2018, staking was barely a thing — Tezos had launched, and Ethereum was still only discussing it. But we saw a natural alignment between our expertise in network security, cloud infrastructure and scaling B2B solutions and what proof-of-stake (PoS) could become. If PoS gained traction, we believed our experience in building secure, institutional-grade networks would be invaluable.
We originally planned to start a fund, and now we do have a VC fund. But the fund didn’t come first — the staking infrastructure company did, and then we launched Figment Capital. We basically took a flyer on proof-of-stake, believing it had some advantages over proof-of-work, and we were lucky enough that it actually worked and took off.
How large is Figment now?
We currently manage $15 billion in staking assets and serve 500 institutional clients. While employee count isn’t always a meaningful metric, we have about 130 employees and expect to reach 150 by year-end. Asia is our next big expansion focus. We opened our Singapore office last year, and we’re adding Japan, Hong Kong and other key markets. While North America remains our base, Asia’s demand for staking services is growing rapidly.
What challenges do you see to Asia’s adoption of staking compared to other regions?
First, Asia isn’t one market — it’s a collection of vastly different economies and regulatory landscapes. Japan, Indonesia and Korea, for example, have distinct business cultures, adoption levels and regulatory frameworks. We’ve always been compliance-focused, working only with institutional clients rather than retail users. But in Asia, compliance varies widely by country. Unlike the U.S., where you primarily navigate SEC and CFTC rules, each Asian market has its own regulators and policies.
Also, Western companies often fail when expanding into Asia by not understanding local hiring, scaling strategies or customer behavior. I was born in Kuala Lumpur, and I’ve seen North American firms overinvest too quickly or misread market needs. That’s why we started small in Singapore with three people, so we could learn before scaling.
Education is another challenge. In many Asian markets, staking is not well-defined and is sometimes misconstrued as DeFi lending. We spend a lot of time at conferences, client meetings and media interviews explaining what staking is and why institutions should consider it over riskier yield-generating alternatives.
What has been the biggest challenge in scaling your business, and how did you overcome it?
The hardest part of any startup is the “zero to one” phase — figuring out whether an idea will work, what customers need and how the business model will evolve.
Early on, we ran multiple experiments — we had a remote procedure call (RPC) infrastructure business, a developer knowledge portal and different revenue streams. But once we found a strong product-market fit in staking, we shut down the rest and focused entirely on scaling one core offering.
The second major challenge is crypto’s volatility. Our business operates like a mix between a data center company, a fund and a software business, but with variable pricing in dozens of volatile digital assets. That complicates planning. I joke that my unofficial title is “Chief Stoic” — I don’t get too euphoric when markets are booming, and I don’t panic when things go south. Whether it’s FTX’s collapse or bitcoin hitting $100,000, we focus on long-term execution.
Are you seeing increased institutional interest in staking in Asia?
Yes, institutional adoption is accelerating, particularly from banks and telecoms. We’ve had institutional equity investors from Asia for a while — big names like Monex and B Capital—but over the last year, we’ve seen more traditional financial institutions actively entering staking. Each market has its own dominant exchanges and custodians, and we often partner with them rather than dealing with end users. As more banks explore staking, we expect adoption to snowball — similar to how institutions in the U.S. started cautiously investing in staking before scaling operations.
How do you decide which tokens to support for staking? Do Asian markets influence this?
We have an evaluation framework that we’ve refined over the past six years. Since we can only support a limited number of new tokens each year, we have to be selective — last year, we added support for 12 or 13, which is quite a lot given the complexity of each integration. Right now, we’re supporting around 40 networks, but every new addition requires careful analysis.
The process starts with the basics: is this a real project or a scam? Does it have a strong thesis and a team capable of executing it? In many ways, it mirrors a VC framework. From there, we dig deeper, speaking with the foundation and founders, assessing the level of custody support available — since that’s crucial for institutional adoption — and evaluating the broader ecosystem.
At some point, though, when you have 20 strong candidates but can only support 10, you have to make a bet. Sometimes we get it right, sometimes we don’t. Over the years, we’ve seen enough network launches to develop a strong intuition about what works and what doesn’t. We try to offer guidance to projects where we can, though ultimately, it’s up to them whether they take our input.
Customer demand is another factor in our decision-making, and the Asian market is an important part of this. Occasionally, a major institutional client will request support for a project we might not have otherwise considered — or even heard of — so we conduct an expedited evaluation. In some cases, we’ve had to tell clients no, either because we don’t see the project as legitimate or we suspect it might be a scam. Those are tough conversations, but they’re necessary. Ultimately, we also look at how many of our clients are likely to hold or stake a given token, which plays into our final decision.
With many Asian investors seeking high-yield opportunities, how does Figment ensure competitive returns while staying secure and reliable?
Staking is not the highest-yield activity in crypto, but it’s the safest way to earn yield without counterparty risk. We focus on providing the highest risk-adjusted staking rewards. While some providers chase higher returns by cutting corners (e.g., ignoring OFAC compliance or MEV risks), our clients — mainly institutions — prioritize security and compliance.
In crypto, staking is the equivalent of a 10-year Treasury bond — it’s the stable, reliable option compared to high-risk DeFi strategies. Some investors prefer liquidity pooling or lending for higher yields, but institutions typically choose staking for its security.
Are there any staking-related trends or innovations in Asia that excite you?
Some of the most exciting trends in staking right now include liquid staking and re-staking, with EigenLayer leading the charge globally in these areas and having a strong presence in Asia. Bitcoin staking is another area of interest, with projects like Babylon exploring its potential, though demand remains uncertain. Additionally, we’re seeing new chains with significant Asian influence, such as BeraChain, which is rapidly growing its user base in the region. We’re actively supporting BTC staking while closely monitoring new staking models emerging from Asia.
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Asia
EasyA Wants to Attract More Than Just ‘Bounty Hunters’ to Its Hackathons
Published
5 days agoon
January 27, 2025By
adminMany participants in industry hackathons are just looking to make some quick prize money and move on to the next contest — Dominic Kwok calls them “bounty hunters.”
But EasyA, the start-up for developers that he and his brother Phil started four years ago, is looking for a different type of competitor — those who are looking to build companies that can have a significant impact on Web3. It’s an approach that has proved fruitful, with the companies coming out of EasyA’s app community and monthly in-person hackathons having raised money at a collective valuation of over $3 billion from top VC firms such as a16z crypto and CMT Digital. And EasyA’s mobile app, which helps developers easily start building their own Web3 projects, has over a million users worldwide.
At the first EasyA Consensus hackathon in Austin last May, more than 700 participants launched 100 different crypto projects, and the Kwoks are expecting similar numbers for upcoming events at Consensus Hong Kong and Consensus Toronto (if you’d like to apply for the EasyA Hackathon at Consensus Hong Kong 2025, please go here).
Here they discuss why their unique approach to hackathons, how they expect Consensus Hong Kong will differ from hackathons in other parts of the world and how Donald Trump’s election could affect the types of projects crypto developers focus on.
This series is brought to you by Consensus Hong Kong. Come and experience the most influential event in Web3 and Digital Assets, Feb.18-20. Register today and save 15% with the code CoinDesk15.
This interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.
How did EasyA get started?
Dominic: So we originally launched EasyA about four years ago as the go to place for anyone to learn about the world’s best blockchains. Anyone can use the EasyA app on iOS and Android to learn about the top Layer Ones out there, like Solana, Polkadot, Stellar and Ripple’s XRP Ledger. And people can learn how to not only develop, but also launch their own projects. We also host a lot of big hackathons in person all around the world, in which hundreds of people come in person and launch projects on our blockchain partners. And the goal is to get these people not just launching, but then also founding and building startups that go on to get funded by the ecosystem and VCs.
How do you approach hackathons differently than other companies that run these?
Dominic: Two things. The first is that EasyA is very focused on founders who want to start their own companies, versus hackathon “bounty hunters.” We really want to make sure that our participants actually stick around and build their projects because that’s where we see the future of Web3 really being built from. And the second thing is most of our hackathons are single chain, so participants focus on one piece of tech and they actually launch on that one, as opposed to focusing on 50 different chains. We want to put people in front of the best ecosystems that have the most support for developers.
How do you think the Consensus hackathon in Hong Kong will be different from those you hold in other parts of the world?
Dominic: The scale is just going to be super big. We’ve already had a record number of people apply for the seats in the arena. We’ll obviously have people from Hong Kong, but then also from other Asian countries like India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and China. And we’re also seeing huge numbers of people from the West want to come. For many of those people, it’ll be the first time they’ve actually been to Asia.
Do you expect there to be differences in the types of projects that developers in Asia pursue, as opposed to those in other parts of the world?
Phil: There’s a geographical element and then there’s also a thematic one. A huge theme that we’ve seen come up over the past couple of weeks is AI x Web3, and a lot of developers are excited about that intersection. We’ve also seen protocols like virtuals really kick off and become very successful, so I think we’ll see a lot of that. Geographically, in Asia there are obviously so many different currencies, and we’re seeing that developers there actually understand those cross-border use cases a lot better. If you’re a U.S.-based developer, you don’t necessarily see those friction points a ton. So I think that we’re going to see a lot more of the cross border payment solutions start to flesh themselves out.
How do you think Donald Trump’s presidency will affect the kinds of projects you see at your hackathons?
Phil: Obviously DeFi has always been one of the biggest areas of product market fit in crypto — arguably one of the few that actually has that fit. But so far because of, frankly, how scared a lot of developers were in the States, a lot of people just weren’t building nor launching in the U.S. And so you’d often go on to a decentralized app and it’ll say “Oh, you’re in the States, you can’t use this.” So that’s a very visible area where we’re going to start seeing changes. Another area where you can’t participate if you’re from the U.S. is airdrops. So if you are an end user, you couldn’t really access a lot of crypto. And if you wanted to target this demographic, which of course is the wealthiest in the world, you couldn’t. So I think DeFi is really going to explode, especially in the States.
Both of you are also speakers at Consensus Hong Kong. What will you be talking about?
Dominic: Our keynote will be about why it’s so hard right now for Web3 ecosystems to attract developers now. And we’re going to be giving some of our tips on how they can attract developers more easily and at a bigger scale. Right now, Web3 firms are competing over the same developers, and the growth of Web3 devs has pretty much stagnated. And obviously at EasyA, our whole mission is actually to bring way more developers into the space. That starts with making it easy. But we’re also making several big tech upgrades that will allow developers to build much more easily on-chain. And we’re going to be revealing those on stage.
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WHAT WE’RE READING: Blockspace Media
A recent Blockspace article deeply resonated with me as someone who’s lived in Asia and the West. It examined how Asia-based Bitcoiners are mostly profit maximalists, not philosophically driven Bitcoin maxis.
This rang true from my experience. When I meet Asian Bitcoiners, money and profit seem to be the primary motivators. Contrast that to Westerners, who often cite the cypherpunk, privacy, and political ideals behind Bitcoin.
Of course, this is a broad generalization. Many exceptions exist across both continents, but the general lens is that each side’s views on Bitcoin differ substantially.
Cultural and economic differences likely drive this divide. Western Bitcoiners are often born into prosperity with strong infrastructure. Money itself doesn’t captivate them, as it’s abundantly available. Thus, they have the luxury of prioritizing loftier Bitcoin goals like privacy, censorship resistance, and decentralization.
Meanwhile, many Asian Bitcoiners grew up poor, struggling for money amidst crumbling infrastructure. When they discover Bitcoin, it understandably represents financial opportunity above all else. After lacking money their whole lives, profits take precedence over philosophical concerns.
A prime example is the common maxi argument against altcoins – that they lose value against Bitcoin over time. This philosophical stance falls flat in Asia where people judge investments based on empirical results measured in fiat gains. If an altcoin generates a 20x fiat return, Asians won’t care that it dropped 98% against Bitcoin. Their profit-centric framework renders certain Western philosophical arguments ineffective.
You can see the results where Bitcoin maximalism thrives – predominantly in the West. Asia has practically no maxis comparatively. Again, incentives align. When your sole goal is profit maximization, altcoins and tokens become fair game.
That’s why we are seeing more Bitcoin season 2 projects emerging from Asia, which will continue to be the case.
This isn’t to say one mindset is superior. Both are integral to Bitcoin’s success. Asian business drive adoption at all costs, and provide the capitalist engine. Western idealism keeps the protocol ethos on track. Together they produce the checks and balances Bitcoin needs to thrive.
Observing Asia’s profit-first mentality versus the West’s ideological leanings provides insight into Bitcoin’s cultural landscape. Neither outlook is right or wrong per se. By understanding both mentalities, Bitcoin can synthesize the best of both worlds.
This article is a Take. Opinions expressed are entirely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
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