Growing up in a financial hub like Hong Kong, I took financial services and the banking system for granted. However, after relocating to Korea, I found out that workers from developing countries are making use of stablecoins to send their hard-earned money to families back home because banking fees are prohibitively expensive for them. They’ve shown me we need an alternative financial system to bank the unbanked through distributed ledger technology (DLT).
I feel lucky to have gone through different ‘crypto winters’ with my co-workers and friends, who are real believers in blockchain and DLT. Just as with other emerging technologies, such as AI, there are many speculators who join the blockchain industry looking for short-term gains. Many of them have left after realising that building blockchain infrastructure as an emerging technology amid a crypto winter is a two-steps-forward, one-step-back reality.
I enjoy the process of building cutting-edge blockchain infrastructure with high-profile clients
I co-founded Bisonai, a fast-growing blockchain start-up in Seoul, and we recently completed our seed-round fundraising. I enjoy the process of building cutting-edge blockchain infrastructure with high-profile clients that were also start-ups before they turned into unicorns. Some key members of our team come from such companies, and we are now working with other unicorns while aspiring to become one ourselves.
After completing a technology MBA in Korea, I returned to Hong Kong and worked in traditional finance until 2017. I then returned to Korea to join a blockchain accelerator as one of their early members. It’s been a long journey, but I’ve since been an active builder and investor in the blockchain industry in Korea.
Many products fail because their developers do not have enough support from finance professionals
ACCA is widely recognised in many blockchain hubs, such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi. After the fall of FTX and other leading blockchain firms in 2022, companies are eager to recruit professional accountants to beef up financial planning, risk management and corporate governance capability.
Professional accountants have a role to play to advise and support software developers in risk management in decentralised finance (DeFi) products. Many products fail because their developers do not have enough support from finance professionals to manage and control risks when the market is under stress.
My biggest achievement so far is building up some Web3 infrastructure in the Korean blockchain ecosystem as a foreigner. I developed the first cryptocurrency research centre in Seoul back in 2017, where I published the first Korea cryptocurrency market index and other research papers to highlight the importance of understanding the fundamentals. Later, I was involved in the early days of building and developing the Klaytn blockchain ecosystem, which was selected by Forbes magazine as one of the top 50 blockchain projects in the world.
