Lorien Gabel has spent decades to create Internet infrastructure companies, ISPs to Cloud Security Companies. In 2018, recognizing the potential transformer of the proof of staging networks, it has co -founded the fruit, which has since become one of the largest independent ignition suppliers in the world, offering technology and services that allow users to reach their tokens without having to use a centralized or guardian exchange.
Today, the company manages $ 15 billion in assets and serves more than 500 institutional customers.
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Here, Gabriel, who will be a speaker at Consensus Hong Kong, discusses the expansion of file in Asia, the Bitcoin stalling experiences and the careful process of his business to decide the new cryptographic networks to be supported.
This interview was condensed and slightly modified for more clarity.
What led you to start the figure?
This is the fourth company that my co-founders and I built together over three decades. Our previous companies were all Internet infrastructure. When we started to explore the blockchain in 2018, the development was barely one thing – Tezos had launched, and Ethereum was still discussing it. But we have seen a natural alignment between our expertise in network security, cloud infrastructure and the scaling of B2B solutions and what proof of bet (POS) could become. If the POS was gaining ground, we thought that our experience in the construction of secure networks of institutional quality would be invaluable.
We initially planned to create a fund, and now we have a VC fund. But the fund did not come first – the implementation infrastructure company did so, then we launched capital. We essentially took a leaflet on proof of proof, thinking that he had advantages on proof of work, and we were lucky that it worked and took off.
What is the size now of the figure?
We currently manage $ 15 billion in assets and serve 500 institutional customers. Although the number of employees is not always a significant metric, we have around 130 employees and we plan to reach 150 by the end of the year. Asia is our next major extension orientation. We opened our Singapore office last year and add Japan, Hong Kong and other key markets. While North America remains our basis, Asia’s demand for the clearing services increases rapidly.
What challenges do you see in the adoption by Asia to mark out compared to other regions?
First, Asia is not a market – it is a collection of very different economies and regulatory landscapes. Japan, Indonesia and Korea, for example, have distinct business crops, adoption levels and regulatory executives. We have always been focused on compliance, only working with institutional customers rather than retail users. But in Asia, compliance varies considerably depending on the country. Unlike the United States, where you mainly sail on dry and CFTC rules, each Asian market has its own regulators and politicians.
In addition, Western companies often fail during expansion in Asia by not understanding local hiring, the strategies or customer behavior. I was born in Kuala Lumpur, and I saw North American companies too quickly or poorly read market needs. This is why we started little to Singapore with three people, so that we can learn before we scale up.
Education is another challenge. In many Asian markets, the development is not well defined and is sometimes misinterpreted as defi loans. We spend a lot of time in conferences, customer meetings and interviews with the media explaining what the implementation is and why institutions should consider it on more risky yield alternatives.
What was the biggest challenge in scaling your business and how did you overcome it?
The most difficult part of any startup is the “zero zero” phase – to determine if an idea will work, which customers need and how the business model will evolve.
At the beginning, we organized several experiences – we had an infrastructure infrastructure company (RPC), a developer knowledge portal and different sources of income. But once we have found a solid market in the product market in the stimulum, we closed the rest and we have completely focused on scaling a basic offer.
The second major challenge is the volatility of crypto. Our company works as a mixture between a data center company, a fund and a software business, but with variable prices in dozens of volatile digital assets. This complicates planning. I joke that my unofficial title is “stoic chief” – I am not too euphoric when the markets are booming, and I do not panic when things go south. Whether it is the collapse of FTX or Bitcoin reaches $ 100,000, we focus on long -term execution.
Do you see an increased institutional interest to mark out in Asia?
Yes, institutional adoption is accelerating, in particular banks and telecommunications. We have had investors in institutional actions in Asia for a while – big names like Monex and B Capital – but in the past year, we have seen more traditional financial institutions enter actively. Each market has its own dominant exchanges and guardians, and we often associate themselves with them rather than dealing with end users. While more and more banks are exploring stimulation, we expect adoption to a snowball – similar to the way institutions in the United States began to invest in care ‘scale operations.
How do you decide which tokens to support for the implementation? Do Asian markets influence this?
We have an evaluation framework that we have refined in the past six years. Since we can only support a limited number of new tokens that each year we must be selective – last year, we added support for 12 or 13, which is much given the complexity of each integration. Currently, we support around 40 networks, but each new addition requires careful analysis.
The process begins with the basics: is it a real project or a scam? Does he have a solid thesis and a team capable of executing it? In many ways, he reflects a VC frame. From there, we dig more deeply, let’s talk to the foundation and the founders, assessing the level of support for the available guard – because this is crucial for institutional adoption – and the assessment of the wider ecosystem.
At one point, however, when you have 20 solid candidates but you can only maintain 10, you need to make a bet. Sometimes we succeed, sometimes we don’t do it. Over the years, we have seen enough network launches to develop a strong intuition on what works and what does not work. We are trying to provide advice to projects where we can, but in the end, it is to them if they make our contribution.
Customer demand is another factor in our decision -making, and the Asian market is an important part. Sometimes a major institutional client will require support for a project that we may not have considered – or even heard – so we carry out an accelerated assessment. In some cases, we had to say to customers not either because we do not consider the project as legitimate or we suspect that it could be a scam. These are difficult conversations, but they are necessary. In the end, we also examine how much of our customers are likely to hold or mark out a given token, which plays in our final decision.
With many Asian investors looking for high-performance opportunities, how do figures guarantee competitive yields while remaining safe and reliable?
The development is not the highest activity in crypto, but it is the safest way to win the return without counterparty risk. We focus on providing the highest adjusted ignition rewards. While some suppliers pursue higher yields by cutting corners (for example, ignoring the conformity of the OFAC or MEV risks), our customers – mainly institutions – grant safety and compliance.
In crypto, the development is the equivalent of an obligation of the treasury at 10 years – it is the stable and reliable option compared to high -risk DEFI strategies. Some investors prefer to pool liquidity or loans for higher yields, but institutions generally choose to mark out for its safety.
Are there trends or innovations related to the implementation in Asia that excite you?
Some of the most exciting trends in the development at the moment include the clearing and the reappearance of liquids, with Eigenwaye leading to the global scale in these areas and having a strong presence in Asia. Bitcoin Staking is another area of interest, projects like Babylon exploring its potential, although demand remains uncertain. In addition, we see new channels with significant Asian influence, such as Berachain, which quickly increases its user base in the region. We actively support the development of the BTC while closely monitoring new models of implementation emerging from Asia.
