Redefining the Fabric of the Internet with Blockchain- Why I Joined BanklessVC
Today I’m thrilled to share that I've joined Bankless Ventures as a Partner.
I've spent the better part of a year collaborating with the BanklessVC team, and during this time, it became increasingly clear that our venture philosophies align remarkably well.
We’re leaving behind the hype-driven, low-float, high-FDV token playbook and instead, investing from first-principles in ambitious founders building 0-to-1 companies.
About me:
I've spent the last 5+ years obsessed with the idea of permissionless finance. Like many others, I started my journey as a retail investor, trying to replicate the parabolic returns I saw on Reddit. However, I soon found myself deep in the Ethereum forums learning about the inner workings of decentralized ledgers. It quickly became clear to me that blockchains are a step-function improvement over the existing internet and will underpin everything from payments to commerce to physical services and marketplaces.
During my 3 year tenure at HashKey Capital, one of the largest crypto funds in Asia, I had the privilege of backing a number of incredible crypto companies; spanning from onchain commerce, smart contract-level compliance, and cutting-edge solutions in the MEV space.
I’m beyond excited to step into this new chapter with Bankless Ventures. We’ll be at the forefront of a new wave of next-gen companies. Backing founders building category-defining primitives across DeFi, Consumer, Fintech and anything in between. And with the growing momentum around pro-crypto regulation and clear institutional adoption, I believe the timing couldn’t be any better to capture the Cambrian explosion of blockchain innovation.
On that note, I wanted to share a few 0-to-1 ideas we’re excited about:
Crypto-Powered Fintech
Traditional financial systems primarily serve affluent citizens in developed nations, leaving the majority of the world's population underbanked. This neglected majority faces significant challenges: prohibitively expensive cross-border transfers, limited credit access, and inability to invest in global markets like U.S. stocks and bonds. These barriers severely restrict business development and personal financial growth in emerging economies.
Crypto is already reducing payment costs to near-zero while providing instant settlement, extending credit opportunities to previously excluded populations, and enabling global investment access through tokenization. This represents not merely an incremental improvement but a fundamental breakthrough in financial inclusion; creating a more equitable, interconnected global economy accessible to all.
Endless Pursuit of Capital Efficiency
One of crypto’s defining features is composability: the ability to combine independent “money legos” into novel financial products without needing permission. This evolution has progressed from basic stablecoins to yield-bearing dollars, and now to synthetic dollars that generate returns from diverse sources including real estate, market-making strategies, and green energy investments.
Imagine purchasing pre-IPO startup shares, borrowing USDC at 5% against those shares, and then allocating that USDC into a high-yield private credit product offering 12% returns. The ability to seamlessly combine independent products into comprehensive strategies, once accessible only to institutional investors, is now becoming possible on blockchains.
At BanklessVC, we believe blockchains will serve as a canvas for infinite economic relationships, far surpassing anything achievable within today’s traditional financial systems.
Publisher-Exchanges
A “publisher-exchange” is a content platform that allows you to exchange value directly in-app (think TikTok shop, Instagram shop, WhatsApp Business or Pinterest) wherein content and commerce are inextricably unified.
In Web2, popular consumer applications are expertly engineered to deliver frequent, small doses of dopamine, effectively keeping users engaged. We’ve already seen through the likes of WeChat and Douyin that when you layer financial products on top of sticky consumer apps, they perform extremely well.
In today's digital landscape, we consume information at unprecedented speeds. Now imagine if financial transactions could move just as quickly and effortlessly- this is crypto's fundamental breakthrough. Crypto-enabled consumer apps can transform user engagement through stablecoin micropayments, native asset issuance and onchain attribution. When thoughtfully designed, these applications can cultivate deeper user loyalty than current platforms, allowing emerging publisher-exchanges to challenge established market leaders.
Looking Forward
The blockchain space is at an inflection point wherein regulatory and infrastructure maturity meets application-layer innovation. I believe we're just beginning to scratch the surface of what's possible onchain, and I couldn't be more excited to support the founders building it.
About Bankless Ventures
Bankless Ventures is an early-stage Web3 Venture fund launched in 2023 to empower pioneers to explore the frontier of web3.
We’re currently fundraising for Fund II. If you want to invest in Bankless Ventures Fund II, you can submit an interest form as a Limited Partner (LP):
If you’re a startup that wants to be reviewed by our investment team, show us what you’re building here:
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