After stepping down from my operational role at Kyber in 2022, I've spent three years exploring different paths and gaining new perspectives. This year, I’ve made a decision to be more active on the trenches: I'm officially back to building more products & protocols directly under Caliber, my venture studio i started last year. I want to share why.
Some background
In 2021, as Kyber grew significantly larger compared to when we started, I made the decision to step back. The organization had evolved beyond its startup phase, and I felt it was time to create space—both for the company to evolve and for myself to gain perspective on what I might be lacking as a leader and builder. Kyber Network continues to thrive under strong leadership. Victor Tran, my co-founder and now CEO, is steering the company with clear vision and strong execution. Under his guidance, the team has maintained its innovative spirit while growing more mature and capable.
Sometimes, stepping away helps you see things more clearly. This break wasn't about stopping—it was about preparing for what comes next.
Last year, I started Caliber, a venture builder that takes a uniquely hands-on approach to supporting founders. What makes Caliber different is our commitment to engaging with founders at the earliest possible stage—even before they've fully crystallized what they want to build. We believe in the power of supporting raw talent and ambitious minds from day zero, helping them navigate the crucial early decisions that shape a company's trajectory. After a year, we have successfully helped 3 founding teams to get off the ground and building ambitious startups
While helping others build is very rewarding in its own way, I found myself missing the adrenaline portion from building something inspiring & innovative myself, and missing the direct interaction with users and community members who use the products daily.
Why now?
We're seeing positive shifts in regulation and renewed attention from traditional finance. The crypto market has roared back to life, recently surpassing $3.5 trillion in total market capitalization. Yet this is just the beginning—to truly achieve mainstream adoption, we need to build a lot more new sustainable use cases and really show what users can do with blockchain powered products.
Just take DeFi for example, DeFi's growth has been equally impressive, but we're still in the early stages. Despite the innovation and progress we've seen, DeFi activity represents less than 10% of traditional & centralised finance (CeFi) volumes. This gap isn't just a challenge—it's an opportunity. It shows how much room we have to grow, to build bigger and better DeFi systems that can compete with and eventually supersede traditional financial infrastructure.
The problems we face today are more complex, more interesting, and more important than ever. They're calling for builders who combine experience with fresh perspective, technical knowledge with strategic insight. These conditions, combined with lessons learned from my time as an investor and venture builder, make this the perfect moment to return to the arena.
Personally, I've been deeply inspired by builders like Elon Musk, Vitalik Buterin and recently Meow from Jupiter who keep pushing boundaries despite having "made it". They could easily retire and live comfortable lives, but instead, they show up every day, maintain their energy and enthusiasm, and help their teams build the right things. Their dedication shows that true builders can't stay away from building—it's not about achievement or comfort, it's about impact and solving important problems.
What's Next?
The first project coming out off the shelf from Caliber is a DeFi project, which we will announcing soon. DeFi represents blockchain's strongest use case, solves real-world problems and my passion lies in making DeFi mainstream, establishing it as a cornerstone of our future financial system. This isn't just about creating new financial products; it's about reimagining the entire financial system to be more accessible, efficient, and equitable.
This doesn’t mean that we will stop supporting new founders at Caliber. In fact we are still actively for good ones to build even more products together, given that the demand for new crypto products will only grow stronger since the legitimacy is established. By being on the trenches, I am believing that we will be able to provide even more timely & closer-to-market feedback & support to founders.
To everyone who's been part of this journey—thank you. The next chapter starts now, and I'm excited to roll up my sleeves and build something that matters. Crypto’s mainstream moment is coming, and I want to be in the arena helping make it happen.