I know we all tend to focus on metrics like TVL as milestones, but the thing that I am most proud of at
@BluejayFinance
is building our amazing team. They are the reason why I am excited everyday to wake up and grow this company with them.
Here are a few things I'm grateful for:
A journey of billions in market cap starts with a single mint.
Today, we launched our first stablecoin $bluSGD. We couldn't be more excited about everything that we're going to be building to create a stablecoin economy that connects on-chain liquidity with real world needs.
We are now LIVE with $bluSGD - as we carry on building the future of non-USD
#stablecoins
.
With a great discount on $SGD/$DAI LP Bonds - it's a great time to get your hands on some $BLU.
Not sure how? We've got you covered with a handy guide.
I heard recently that there were some comments about me playing poker "recklessly" while being a founder and I want to address a few points:
1/ I do not play poker recklessly. I have a bankroll that I manage and will never play at stakes that I can't afford to lose
I often get asked why I decided to leave the US (where I'm from) and Silicon Valley (where I started working) to build in Singapore. Where the opposite is often true where ppl outside of the US move there for the American dream of working in SF or NYC. This is my story...
In order for our DeFi as an industry to move forward, it needs to find new customers, capital and economic value-generating activities. I.e., pursuit of "real GDP" of DeFi outside of over-leveraged and speculative trading.
no one should mock someone for taking a chance on an idea
at least they had the bravery to attempt to DO what 90% of ppl only TALK about but never do, KNOWING that they have a 90% chance of failing
so...here's to all the builders out there hustling against all odds
My friend taking a bet that I would raise my Series A before I get into my next relationship is the biggest backhanded compliment I've received recently
5/ Finally, I want to defend poker as an activity that should not be stigmatized as gambling, but considered a game of skill. Learned and played correctly, it is a fantastic way to learn how to place smart calculated bets, become adaptable, and improve your ability to read people
So many times when I explain that stablecoins can be used for FX/remittances, ppl say "just use Transferwise."
But if you look at a $7.5K USD to SGD swap:
- Transferwise: 1.5%
- UniV3: 0.08%
So which do you choose anon?
1/ We are excited to announce the sale of ONDO tokens via
@CoinList
to over 18,000 purchasers. Over $10MM was raised via the sale across two tranches at a weighted average network valuation of $525MM.
I swear there are people in the US who still have no concept of timezones.
"SG sounds cool!
Would you like to a Zoom call between 1-4pm EST"
(that's 1am-4am SGT - I guess we're not expected to sleep in this part of the world)
It is hard to believe that the day is almost here that
@Bluejay
will be launching. It has been one of the most rewarding journeys that Iโve been, and I am forever grateful for the opportunity to be able to play a role in the greatest times of innovation since the Internet.
I don't like it when someone in traditional finance hears "blockchain" and automatically shuts it down because they think of the worst parts like the scams.
Just like I don't like it when someone in crypto hears about "non-crypto collateral" in traditional finance and
I'm really proud of our team for executing the Earn launch and getting our first pool fully subscribed in under 8 hours.
This was not easy since it came at a time of great uncertainty in the market given SVB & USDC.
TBH I think by now RESILIENCE is one our greatest strengths.
Southeast Asia is becoming more and more recognized as an epicenter of crypto growth. It's the 3rd largest crypto market, receiving almost $1 trilion in crypto value in the last year.
There was so many insights/alpha that was shared on the
@goldfinch_fi
twitter spaces last week, where we had
@aaronherawan
come on and speak. Summarizing a few main takeaways I had below ๐
It's been a bit of a crazy and tough 72 hours in the crypto world. Sharing a few of my thoughts here:
1. I think now is a more important time than ever to ignore the numbers and empathize with each other as humans. Lots of people have lost a lot, and now is not the time to gloat
4/ What someone does in their free time is their own business. Some founders enjoy risk-taking activities like skydiving, but that doesn't mean they're going to throw all fiscal discipline out the window for their company. It's called a recreation and escape for a reason.
Super excited to share that Bluejay Earn is going to be launching on March 20th.
Bluejay Earn will allow you to gain access to global investment opportunities to earn 7%+ interest backed by assets like private credit.
How I describe the value of NFTs to normal ppl: since the history of time, ppl have been paying crazy amounts of money for social signalling. If ppl pay $400K for these thrift-shop looking bags (Birkin Bags), they will pay 111 ETH for a cap-wearing monkey pfp
Happy to report that we oversubscribed Bluejay Earn in under 8 hours!
The macro environment might be what it is but we will still persevere in our mission to make finance more open and accessible to all with Earn.
๐คฏ Our very first Loan Pool has been 100% filled in under 8 hours!
๐Thank you to everyone who participated, you are now on your way to earning a fixed income on your $bluSGD!
๐Our next Loan Pools will launch soon, stay tuned for updates from us below:
This is just my own story, my own lived experience, of what ultimately motivates me to take this slightly unconventional path in life. One that I am extraordinary privileged to be able to take bc of the leap of faith and unconventional path my parents took a generation before.
People have asked me what I think is the x factor that founders need...is it pure genius, analytical skills, incredible foresight, amazing charisma?
I tell them...just thick skin and no shame.
Vision is deteriorating in just one of my eyes, and am finally going to see a doctor this week. Reminder to myself to take myself out of my work and take care of my health b/c that stuff is still very important.
Wish me luck!
What's it like being a founder?
It's like operating a high-speed train w/ low visibility while constantly repairing an engine that might explode at any moment but still managing to keep things together.
...But it's still my favorite job and I won't trade it for anything
Only 0.05% of startups ever raise venture capital, and only 2% of these are female founders, making that number 0.001%. In honor of the month of International Women's Day, I applaud all the amazing founders out there who fought to beat those odds.
Unpopular opinion: "Build and they will come" mentality is a reason why a lot of products will not scale.
Ideas don't take off b/c of the ideas alone. Ideas take off b/c the founders hustled to create the conditions, the end-to-end ecosystems, to MAKE those ideas happen.
Almost everyone in the world desires financial freedom - the ability to have the money they need to accomplish their goals and have peace of mind everyday.
However, only the 1% have the access to the full suite of financial products that allow them to grow their money.
Just realized I have one more weekend in Singapore before I'm off to the US for the rest of the year. Time flies...
If you're in SF or Bay Area, HMU!
If you're in SG, happy new year and see you when I'm back!
I got asked...
where does ambition and drive come from? ๐ค ...
It comes from immigrant parents who would kick your ass if you weren't
#1
in something.
They didn't move all the way to the US for you to just be 2nd place.
3/ Despite my jokes about playing "degen," I actually try my best to play the most EV-optimal strategy. I'm lucky to have friends like
@VincentLKN
who are amazing poker pros who help me learn and improve my game.
Appreciative of a random act of kindness from stranger today. Someone saw me without an umbrella and gave me cover with his until I got to the train station.
Thank you Aston Martin shirt guy ๐
I went down a bit of a rabbithole learning about the current state of GameFi, as it's one of the most fascinating crypto-native economies and one that is applicable to crypto adoption in Southeast Asia. Sharing some of them below (credit goes to OP) in no particular order.
As a precaution, I'm going to be removing all of my funds from centralized exchanges starting today. I don't want to sit here wondering whether or not the FUD is true.
Always remember - wealth, status and power are all ephemeral, and can be taken away in a blink of an eye.
Crypto winter is a reminder to us to stay humble, and make sure you build for the right reasons, and treat people the right way.
I am lucky to say that my bankroll is okay b/c I worked a salaried job at a big tech company for over 6 years and have savings
2/ There are plenty of founders and investors that enjoy poker for networking and analytical thinking.
Unpopular opinion: If you're only technical, your life as an early stage founder can also hard.
A good founding team is a team that mixes commercial, technical, and good ol' executional talent.
Some ppl have it all in one person (you're lucky) but more often than not they come
During the last weekend,
@BluejayFinance
has been resilient in the face of the USDC crisis, maintaining solvency and a tight peg despite volatile market conditions.
Here are a few things that we did before and after ๐
One of the biggest topics being discussed right now is around how we could create sustainable use cases tied to
#RWA
.
Come check out this webinar on Tokenizing Real World Assets happening tmrw at 4pm SGT, where we will be sharing our viewpoints from
@BluejayFinance
.
A pattern I noticed in life...the busiest people often tend to be the most generous people as well.
Some of the most supportive ppl in my life are other founders who still find the time to lend an ear when they are working 100 hours a week.
Finally back in Singapore from an exhilarating trip to visit HK and Tokyo to learn about the ecosystems there.
Looking forward to sharing more learnings about my time there!
Used stablecoins again for payments (poker settlements last night) but it takes an extra step to do the FX conversion between SGD and USDC (for both sender and receiver to verify).
If only there were locally-denominated stables...
PengPal Mafia 2022
Final snapshot just in time for
@pudgypenguins
@Pudgy_Asia
party on wed! ๐ฅณ๐ฅณ
You may now own it on Opensea, 30 copies @ 0.08888 ETH each
Shop here!
People think working in crypto means capitalizing on an industry where there are incredible short-term gains.
But tbh, any "x is the future" narrative takes years to fully play out, so the real winners are the ones who stick around for the long term.
It is understandable, yet a bit disheartening to see entrepreneurs who were all-in on web3 leave the space to join AI as the latest hype train.
FYI - building an AI company is harder than you think, even if it seems like raising money is easier at the moment.
Excited to announce that
@BluejayFinance
going to be going on testnet in a week! It was absolutely incredible to see the team build this at lightning โก๏ธ speed from ground up in <2 months.
Live your life with regret minimization, not risk minimization.
Don't leave this world regretting that you didn't take that shot at the dream because of the fear of failure.
Listening into the MAS's talk on crypto makes me realize how long of a way we have to go in bridging the conversation between the builders in the space and the policymakers...Eth merge =/= L2 scaling ๐คฆโโ๏ธ
Early signs of what mass adoption could look like:
While we were looking at crypto prices, Reddit users quietly opened 2.5M crypto wallets after NFT marketplace launched.
One edge to have in DeFi right now is...
a) understanding how real yield fundamentally works
b) which opportunities for real yield can be sustainably higher and more attractive than what you get in tradfi (beat 3-4% risk free rates)
c) and how to bring them on-chain
Any actuaries wanna come into crypto and help us figure out how to underwrite insurance for DeFi risk?
I feel like this could be big if someone can figure it out
Alpha is when you look where no one else is looking, invest where no one else is investing, to pick the right player & get outsized returns.
Beta is when you FOMO into the trends and get at best the returns from being in the market & at worst losses from speculative groupthink.