Lorien Gabriel, CEO of Figment

Lorien Gabel spent decades to build an Internet infrastructure company from ISP to Cloud Security Company. In 2018, he recognized the potential of the transformation of the Internet, and he founded it together. pictureSince then, it has become one of the largest independent enterprise providers in the world, providing technology and services, and users can use tokens without having to use a centralized exchange or custodian.

Today, the company manages $ 15 billion in assets to provide services to more than 500 institutional customers.

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Here, Gabriel (Gabriel) will be a spokesman for the consensus of Hong Kong. He discusses the expansion of Figment to Asia. Essence

The interview has been condensed and milded to clarify.

What prompts you to start Figment?

This is my co -founder and the fourth company established with the Chinese Communist Party in 30 years. Our previous adventures were in Internet infrastructure. When we started exploring the blockchain in 2018, Staking is almost one thing-TEZOS is initiated, and Ethereum is still just discussing it. However, we have seen our professional knowledge in network security, cloud infrastructure, and expansion of B2B solutions. What kind of certification (POS) is consistent. If POS is concerned, we believe that our experience in establishing a secure institutional network will be priceless.

We originally planned to establish a fund, and now we have a venture capital fund. But the fund is not the first place-this integral infrastructure company, and then we launched Figment Capital. In the case of second -hand verification verification verification verification verification, we believe that it has some advantages than the work proof, and we are lucky to be effective and take off.

How old is it now?

We currently manage $ 15 billion in assets and provide services to 500 institutional customers. Although the number of employees is not always meaningful, we have about 130 employees and are expected to reach 150 by the end of the year. Asia is our next large expansion focus. Last year, we opened the Singaporean office, and we are increasing Japan, Hong Kong and other major markets. Although North America is still our foundation, Asia’s demand for points services is growing rapidly.

Compared with other regions, what do you think is the challenge of Asia’s equity?

First of all, Asia is not a market, but a collection of different economies and regulatory landscapes. For example, Japan, Indonesia and South Korea have different business culture, using horizontal and regulatory frameworks. We have always centered on compliance and cooperate with institutional customers rather than retail users. But in Asia, compliance varies from the country. Unlike the United States that mainly browse the SEC and CFTC rules in the United States, each Asian market has its own regulatory agencies and policies.

Similarly, Western companies usually fail when they do not understand local recruitment, expanded strategies or customer behavior. I was born in Kuala Lumpur, and I saw that North American companies invested too quickly or misunderstood market demand. This is why we start small with three people in Singapore, so we can learn before expansion.

Education is another challenge. In many Asian markets, the definition of Staking is not clear, and sometimes misunderstood as a defiral. We spent a lot of time in the meeting. The customer meeting and media interview explained what points are, and why institutions should take into account a higher risk to generate alternatives.

What are the biggest challenges to expand business? How do you overcome your business?

The most difficult part of any startup is the “zero to one” stage-to figure out whether a idea is effective, what customers need and how business models will develop.

In the early days, we conducted multiple experiments-we have a remote program call (RPC) infrastructure business, developers’ knowledge portals and different sources of income. However, once we find that a strong product market is suitable for breeding, we will turn off the remaining products and fully focus on expanding a core product.

The second main challenge is the fluctuation of cryptocurrencies. Our business is similar to the mixed between data center companies, funds and software business, but dozens of volatile digital assets with prices. This complicates the plan. I joked that my informal title is “Chief Resoluteness” -Eye the market is booming, I won’t be too happy, and when I walk south, I will not feel panic. Regardless of the collapse of FTX or $ 100,000 Bitcoin, we are focusing on long -term execution.

Do you see the increase in interest you enjoyed in Asia?

Yes, the institution is accelerating, especially banks and telecommunications. We have owned institutional equity investors from Asia for a while-well-known people like MoneX and B Capital-but in the past year, we have seen more traditional financial institutions actively entering accumulation. Each market has its own dominant exchanges and custody. We often cooperate with them instead of dealing with end users. As more and more banks explore Staging’s exploration, we are expected to adopt snowballs-similar to the United States began to invest in STAKING before expanding business.

How do you determine which token you want to support? Will the Asian market affect this?

In the past six years, we have a framework. Since we can only support a new number of token cards every year, we must have selectivity-last year, we increased support for 12 or 13. In view of the complexity of each integration, this is a lot of things. At present, we are supporting about 40 networks, but each new addition requires careful analysis.

This process began at basic knowledge: Is this a real project or a scam? Does it have a strong papers and a team that can execute it? In many ways, it reflects the VC framework. From there, we will talk to the foundation and the founder more deeply to evaluate the available levels of monitoring support, because this is essential for institutions and evaluates a broader ecosystem.

However, at some point, when you have 20 powerful candidates, but you can only support 10, you must bet. Sometimes we do right, sometimes we are incorrect. Over the years, we have seen enough network startups to develop strong and ineffective intuition about what effective and invalid. We tried to provide guidance for the projects we provided, although in the end, whether they accept our opinions on or not, it depends on them.

Customer demand is another factor in our decision -making, and the Asian market is an important part of it. Sometimes, a major institutional customer will provide support for a project that we may not be considered (even heard), so we have made a quick assessment. In some cases, we have to tell customers not, either because we don’t think the project is legal, or we suspect that this may be a scam. These are difficult dialogue, but they are necessary. In the end, we also studied how many customers may hold or hold a given token, which is our ultimate decision.

With many Asian investors seeking high income opportunities, how does Figment ensure that competitive returns are ensured while maintaining safe and reliable?

Discharge is not the most income event in cryptocurrencies, but this is the safest way to trade risks without trading. We focus on providing the highest risk adjustment rewards. Although some providers pursue higher returns by reducing corners (such as ignoring OFAC compliance or MEV risk), our customers (mainly institutions) give priority to security and compliance.

In Crypto, Staking is equivalent to 10 years of Treasury bonds-compared with high-risk DEFI strategies, this is a stable and reliable choice. Some investors prefer liquidity sets or loans to increase their yields, but institutions usually choose to accumulate for their safety.

Does Asia have trends related to stacks or innovation cause your excitement?

At present, some of the most exciting trends in Sticking include liquid evaporation and re -production, and Eigenlayer’s global leading position in these fields has a strong influence in Asia. Bitcoin’s possession is another area of ​​interest. Although the demand is still uncertain, projects like Babylon have explored its potential. In addition, we have seen new chain stores with major Asian influence, such as Berachain, which is rapidly developing its user base in the region. We are actively supporting the accumulation of BTC while closely monitoring new accumulation models from Asia.