A big bet on the Lorien Gabel stake in Figment CEO was rewarded

Lorien Gabel has built Internet infrastructure companies for decades, from ISP to cloud security companies. In 2018, he co -founded the demonstration of the proven network, recognizing the transformational possibility of the proven network. Since then, it has been one of the world's largest stake -up providers, providing technology and services that can be betting tokens without using it. Intensive exchange or custodian.

Today, the company manages $ 15 billion assets and provides services to more than 500 clients.

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Here, Gabriel, a consensus Hong Kong speaker, is discussing his company's cautious processes to determine the expansion of figures into Asia, bitcoin staking experiments, and the new cipher network to support. 。

This interview is condensed and clearly edited.

What started you starting you?

This is the fourth company of my co -founder, and I have built it together for over 30 years. All the previous ventures were on the Internet Infrastructure. When I started searching for blockchain in 2018, stating was rarely. Tesos has been launched, and Ethereum is still discussing it. However, there were natural consistency between network security, cloud infrastructure, and scaling B2B solutions and what proof (POS) would be like. If POS gained traction, we believed that the experience of building a safe facility grade network was very valuable.

We originally planned to start a fund, but now we have a VC fund. But the fund did not come first -the stake -in -frustration company did so, and we launched a figure capital. We basically took a flyer on proof of proof. I believed that it had some benefits than the proof of work.

How big is the figure now?

Currently, it manages $ 15 billion of stool assets and provides services to 500 institutions. Employees are not always meaningful indicators, but we expect about 130 employees to reach 150 by the end of the year. Asia is the focus of the next major extension: Last year, we opened Singapore Office and added Japan, Hong Kong and other major markets. North America remains our base, but the demand for Asian stakeen services is growing rapidly.

What are the tasks of adopting Asian stakeings compared to other areas?

First, Asia is not one market. This is a collection of significant different economies and regulations. For example, Japan, Indonesia and South Korea have clear business culture, adoption levels, and regulations. We are always focusing on compliance and have cooperated only with institutional clients, not retail users. However, in Asia, compliance varies greatly from country to country. Unlike the United States, which mainly navigates the SEC and CFTC rules, each Asian market has its own regulatory authorities and policies.

Western companies often fail when expanding to Asia by not understanding local employment, scaling strategies, or customer behavior. I was born in Kuala Lumpur, but I have seen North American companies over investing too much and reading the needs of the market by mistake. As a result, I started to be small in Singapore, so I was able to learn before scaling.

Education is another task. Many Asian markets have not clearly defined and sometimes misunderstood as definition lending. We spend a lot of time in conferences, client meetings, and media interviews, and explains what states should be, and why institutions should take into account rather than alternatives for high -risk yield generation.

What was the biggest issue in expanding your business, and how did you overcome it?

The most difficult part of the startup is the phase of the “one to one”. Understand whether the idea works, what customers need, and the evolution of business models.

At an early stage, we conducted multiple experiments. There were Remote Pro Sea Jacquol (RPC) infrastructure business, developers' knowledge portals, and various revenue sources. However, when a powerful product market suitable for stinking was found, the rest was shut down and the scaling of one core product was completely focused.

The second major issue is the encryption volatility. Our business works like a mix of data center companies, funds, and software businesses, but there are dozens of unstable digital assets. It makes the plan complicated. I'm joking that my unofficial title is “Chief Stick”. When the market is booming, I don't feel euphoric. Regardless of whether it is the collapse of FTX, it focuses on long -term execution, whether bitcoin has reached $ 100,000.

Do you think that institutional interest in stating in Asia is increasing?

Yes, institutional adoption from banks and communications is accelerating. For a while, we have seen stock investors from Asia (MONEX and B Capital, etc.) last year that more traditional financial institutions have been stating. Each market has its own dominant exchange and custards, which often partner with them, not end users. As more banks explore the stake, we expect to be used for a snowball style. It's the same as the US institution has begun to invest in a stake before the operation scaling.

How do you decide a token that supports stinking? Does the Asian market affect this?

There is a sophisticated rating framework in the past six years. You need to be selective because you can only support new tokens every year. Last year, we added 12 or 13 support. Currently we support about 40 networks, but we need to carefully analyze all new additions.

The process starts from the basics. Is this an actual project or a scam? Does it have a strong paper and a team that can do it? In many ways, the VC framework is reflected. From there, we will dig deeper into the Foundation and the founder, and because it is essential for institutional recruitment, we evaluate the level of available custody support and evaluate a wider range of ecosystems.

However, at some point, if there are 20 powerful candidates, but only 10 can be supported, you will need to bet. Occasionally we do it right, sometimes we don't. For many years, we have seen a sufficient network to develop a strong intuition of what works and what does not work. We try to provide guidance to the project as much as possible, but ultimately it is up to them whether they will get our input.

Demand for customers is another factor in making decisions, and the Asian market is an important part of this. Occasionally, we carry out prompt evaluations, as clients from major institutions require support for projects that we do not consider or have not heard of it. In some cases, I had to tell the client to the client because I didn't think the project was legal or was fraudulent. They are difficult conversations, but they are needed. Ultimately, we will consider the number of clients that may hold or bet a specific token.

How do many Asian investors seek high -yield opportunities, so how do you make a fierce return of competition and make it safe and reliable?

Staking is the safest way to get the yield without the risk of a counter party, although it is not the highest profit activity in cipher. We are focusing on providing the highest risk -adjusted stake -up rewards. Some providers chase a higher return by cutting the corner (for example, ignoring AC compliance and MEV risks), clients (mainly institutions) prioritize security and compliance.

Cryptography is equivalent to 10 years of Finance Bonds. This is a stable and reliable option compared to a high -risk debt strategy. Some investors prefer fluid pooling or loans for higher yields, but they usually select staking for their security.

Are there any trends or innovations related to Asian stinking that excites you?

Some of the most exciting trends of the current stake are included in liquid stake and re -streaming, and the unique layers lead globally in these areas and have a strong presence in Asia. I am. Bitcoin Staking is another field of interest, and projects like Babylon are investigating the potential, but demand remains uncertain. In addition, there are new chains that have a major impact of Asia, such as Vellacaine, which rapidly grows the user base in this area. We actively support BTC Stakeing while carefully monitoring the new stinking models that appear from Asia.