From Morgan Stanley to crypto world: in a conversation with Phemex founder

cointelegraph.com:

Founded in 2019 in Singapore, Phemex has been operating as a crypto derivatives exchange. The platform rose to the “top 10 global exchanges in less than two years, with a daily peak trading volume of more than $12 billion.” Cointelegraph talked to Jack Tao, founder and CEO of Phemex, about the difficulties and risks of running a crypto exchange and where he plans to take Phemex next.

Tell us about the story behind the exchange and what it was like to launch a trading platform during the crypto winter?

The story behind Phemex is one that seeks to provide solutions to the many issues I witnessed in traditional finance. When I initially discovered crypto, I was really excited because it seemed to be a way that would allow me to address the inefficiencies traditional finance has.

One technology solution, in particular, is blockchain. Because it offers many possibilities, my initial motivation was just to try it out and learn more. This led me to setting up a few modest mining operations and experimenting with various exchanges and trading platforms.

My first venture into cryptocurrency ended in significant losses. Despite the enormous promise that cryptos presented, I realized the sector still had a long way to go. The exchange I was using at the time had a lot of technical issues, which resulted in frequent outages and hacks. There were no standards in place, and there was little trust. To fix this, I sought to discover a solution by combining my financial and technological expertise gained on Wall Street.

The end result is Phemex, a powerful and efficient platform that, despite its partial Wall Street background, is dedicated to assisting everyone, not just a select few, in achieving financial independence. Phemex is great