From behind the scenes to the front stage, turning from academic research to crypto entrepreneurship

In the cryptocurrency industry, founders with a technical background often stand out for their deep professional background and profound understanding of the industry.

Interview: Tong, PANews

Compiled by: Yuliya, PANews

In the cryptocurrency industry, founders with a technical background often stand out for their deep professional background and profound understanding of the industry. Just like Xu Mingxing, the founder of OKX, and Zhao Changpeng, the founder of Binance, Han Lin, the founder of Gate.io, is also a typical representative in this field. Turning from academic research to crypto entrepreneurship, Han Lin not only wrote the early core code of Gate.io, but also led the exchange from a niche platform to one of the world's leading cryptocurrency trading platforms. Recently, during the Hong Kong Consensus Conference, Han Lin accepted an exclusive interview with PANews, sharing his mental journey from behind the scenes to the front stage, as well as his deep insights into the future development of the industry.

Han Lin's entrepreneurial story began in 2013, when he started his own business after obtaining a postdoctoral degree in optoelectronics in Canada and accidentally came into contact with Bitcoin, an emerging asset. With his technical background, he quickly understood the potential of Bitcoin. In actual purchases, he found that there was a lack of safe and transparent trading platforms in the market, so he decided to start Gate.io. From the initial code writing to today's management and strategy formulation, Han Lin's role has undergone a transformation from technology development to industry leader. Although he admits that he is not good at external communication, in order to promote the development of the industry, he has frequently appeared in various activities and interviews in recent years to share his insights with people inside and outside the industry.

In the interview, Han Lin reviewed the development history of Gate.io and revealed the latest progress of the platform in terms of user growth, product innovation and global layout. He particularly mentioned that the number of Gate.io users increased from 13 million at the beginning of last year to more than 20 million at the end of the year, with a growth rate of more than 50%. Behind this achievement is Gate.io's keen sense of new projects and continuous optimization of user experience. Whether it is the early Litecoin and Dogecoin, or the recent Meme coin and AI projects, Gate.io has always been at the forefront of industry trends and provided diversified assets.

Han Lin also shared his views on the future trends of the industry. He believes that the blockchain industry has entered a relatively stable stage. Although it is difficult to see the extreme ups and downs of the past, the overall penetration rate of the industry continues to increase. He specifically mentioned that Bitcoin, as a deflationary asset, is an ideal asset reserve tool due to its security and scarcity. If more institutions and countries include Bitcoin in the reserve asset system, the market's growth potential will be further released. In addition, Han Lin also emphasized the long-term trend of on-chain transactions and revealed that Gate.io began to deploy on-chain wallets and decentralized trading platforms (DEX) as early as 2018 to cope with this trend.

When talking about industry competition, Han Lin said that Gate.io's core competitiveness lies in its deep understanding of user needs and continuous innovation. For example, with the "100% reserve proof", Gate.io always puts user fund security and asset value first. In addition, Gate.io also sponsors Inter Milan and F1 Red Bull Team to enhance brand awareness and further expand brand influence.

The following is the content of the interview:

From behind the scenes to the front stage, from academia to entrepreneurship

PANews: You rarely accepted interviews in the past. Why have you appeared frequently in various activities and interviews in recent years? What is the work that takes up the most energy at present?

Han Lin: Because I am mainly a technical person, I am not very good at external communication. In the past two years, the industry has developed very fast, and I also hope to communicate and share my ideas with everyone. Therefore, in the past two years, I have participated in more activities and discussed views with people inside and outside the industry.

PANews: I heard in the industry before that you are writing code at home when you are not in public. Is this a rumor or a fact?

Han Lin: I wrote a lot of Gate.io's code in the early days, including the website, API and other basic development work. However, that was a long time ago. Gate.io has been established for 12 years. As the team continues to grow and more and more technical personnel are employed, my focus has gradually shifted to management and strategy. At present, I am mainly responsible for daily management, formulating the direction of industry development, and ensuring the quality of product and technology execution.

PANews: What jobs did you do before founding Gate.io? Is this your first entrepreneurial venture?

Han Lin: This is my first time to start a business. Before that, I was