How Gate.io is Bridging the Gap for 950M Telegram Users. Expanding Centralized and Decentralized Finance

by
Victoria d’Este

Published: October 28, 2024 at 1:16 pm Updated: October 28, 2024 at 1:16 pm

by Ana

Edited and fact-checked:
October 28, 2024 at 1:16 pm

To improve your local-language experience, sometimes we employ an auto-translation plugin. Please note auto-translation may not be accurate, so read original article for precise information.

Gate.io, one of the world’s longest-standing cryptocurrency exchanges with an 11-year legacy, continues to push the boundaries of digital finance innovation. From publishing comic-style blockchain education books to investing $10 million in the TON blockchain ecosystem and forging a strategic partnership with Inter, the platform has evolved far beyond its roots as a traditional cryptocurrency exchange. 

In this interview, Kevin Lee, Chief Business Officer of Gate.io, shares his insights into Gate.io’s ambitious vision, including its plans to bridge the gap for Telegram’s 950 million users through new mini-apps, its approach to combining regulatory compliance with innovation in Asia’s crypto landscape, and its strategy for expanding both centralized and decentralized financial services to meet the needs of an industry that continues to develop at breakneck speed.

Can you share your journey to Web3? 

Well, let’s talk about the journey to crypto, as we didn’t have Web3 back then. I bought my first Bitcoin in 2013 during what was the all-time high back then – $140. It dropped to $90, and I thought, “Wow, this thing is a scam,” so I laughed it off and forgot about it. Then, I waited until 2017, when Bitcoin first reached $20,000. I thought, “holy cow, I need to get back my Bitcoin!” Obviously, I had forgotten my password and changed my phone, so I didn’t have my 2FA. It took me a while to retrieve my coin, but I managed to sell it. It was the best investment in my life.

Two things caught my attention: First, I noticed this was going to be a revolutionary development, not only for Bitcoin as a cryptocurrency but also for the blockchain technology behind it. In 2017, I started to learn about its amazing potential with smart contracts and other features. Obviously, in 2017, I didn’t know about NFTs and other things we have today. The second thing is that cryptocurrency markets are surprisingly similar to traditional financial markets, where I have been working for more than 15 years.

When I first graduated from university, I was in a double degree curriculum in both business administration and software engineering. While in banking, I was doing algorithmic trading, which is a hybrid of tech and business. I realized that crypto is actually much better – it was meant for me without me realizing it when I was in university because it didn’t exist back then, more than 20 years ago. This industry fits me well, and it humbles me every day because there’s so much new stuff coming out that I have to learn and catch up with.

How did you decide to join Gate.io?

It had to do with Hong Kong having a window of opportunity two years ago when they wanted to enrich the regulatory landscape for virtual asset trading. Gate decided it was a good time to expand its footprint in town. By then, I had already been working in regulated trading platforms in Hong Kong for two years, so I had experience not only in traditional finance but also in crypto in Hong Kong. I grabbed the opportunity, and it’s been almost two years now. Time really flies.

Can you explain what resources or tools Gate provides to help users make informed decisions when it comes to trading or investing in cryptocurrency markets?

We have a strong emphasis on foundational learning in cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies. If we think about it, while everyone in the industry knows about crypto, the global crypto adoption rate is just around 13 to 17 percent, depending on the country. 

A significant portion of the population still lacks first-hand experience in the industry. To address this, we recently published an introductory book on blockchain history, featuring comics to make it more engaging for laypeople to learn about the industry, its history, and the basic fundamentals. Currently, the book is only available in Chinese. We’re monitoring the market reception to see if people like the idea of an exchange publishing a book in this introductory format, and hopefully, we’ll see a similar book in English in the future.

Talking about the recent investment of 10 million dollars into the TON blockchain, how will it specifically contribute to the growth of Telegram-based projects? 

We recently committed $10 million to the TON blockchain, with the main focus being to accelerate the growth of Telegram-based projects. The irony we see in the TON ecosystem is that Telegram has a massive user base of over 950 million users, with a considerable number of them being crypto players, but the TON ecosystem has one of the least active developer communities among major ecosystems. We want to accelerate that growth.

We aim to incentivize developers by actively participating in and supporting the TON Society’s Hackers Lead Hackathon, which will feature a $2 million prize pool for projects in areas such as DeFi, GameFi, SocialFi, on-chain analysis, and interoperability. These projects will help grow the TON ecosystem and hopefully attract talent from our industry to boost the whole ecosystem.

Does Gate.io have its own mini-app in Telegram, or do you plan to interact with Telegram in this sense to adopt more users via Telegram or TON?

Yes, we do. This is one thing we’re planning to do as well. We want to show an example to drive innovation in the TON blockchain’s ecosystem. We will have at least two apps in the roadmap. The first is a CEX differential Telegram mini-app, and the second is a Gate wallet. The mini-apps will allow Telegram users to more easily assess trading information and exchange information, while the wallet will enable secure storage and management of cryptocurrency if users prefer a non-custodial wallet. The wallet will obviously help them more easily transfer to and from the community as well.

How does Gate plan to address security concerns and potential risks associated with integrating cryptocurrency services directly into a messaging app like Telegram?

I’m going to be honest with you – the risk is almost inevitable, especially with almost 1 billion users on Telegram. However, there’s a subtle but important distinction here: TON as a blockchain network is most likely as secure as any other major ecosystem and layer ones. Telegram as a messaging app is more prone to attacks, for sure.

From experience, we know that the most common risks actually don’t come from security holes; they come from unaware users who fall for fake profiles and malicious links, click on links that direct them to scam sites, or have weak passwords without 2FA. This circles back to what we discussed about foundational education. To tackle this, we will put additional efforts into education to minimize these risks while making crypto services accessible within Telegram.

Given Gate’s recent strategic partnership with Inter, how do you envision the integration of cryptocurrency and blockchain in sports engagement?

Our recent strategic partnership with Inter is a really significant step in integrating cryptocurrency and blockchain into sports engagement. It’s one of our first major sponsorships. In sports, we’ve tried many things in the last few years as an industry – NFTs, fan tokens, on-chain tickets, the metaverse, and even governance voting. All these experiments have had different degrees of success and definitely show potential for blockchain technology integration into sports experiences and fan involvement in innovative ways.

However, our approach goes beyond simply capitalizing on these trends. When we try to bring cryptocurrency and blockchain technology into sports and other areas, we want to do it more naturally rather than forcing it. Our collaboration with Inter reflects a genuine appreciation of football, which is arguably the most popular sport in the world and probably the most intense sport globally. It also carries deep cultural and emotional significance. Inter has a long history of success that resonates with our values, such as resilience, passion, and commitment to excellence.

As a leading cryptocurrency platform, what can Gate bring to the Inter fans through this new partnership?

Our immediate focus is actually the other way around – we want to bring our community towards Inter for now. Like many football fans my age, I first started watching football in Italy’s Serie A back in the 1990s when they were the best. Obviously, they’re making a comeback. This has meaningful value to me.

In the last two months, we have been organizing events. We had a friendly football match among industry players, we gave out Inter jerseys, we set up autographs and photo sessions with Inter legends, and we even offered VIP tickets to Inter’s home stadium, San Siro, for a full football experience. Currently, our approach is about connecting the passionate excitement of football naturally to our community.

Italy currently has some question marks regarding regulations and is probably at the lower end of crypto adoption rates. We’re open to suggestions about how we can bring Inter football fans to have more interest in cryptocurrency. We’re happy to do it step-by-step and see how it goes.

What are Gate’s long-term goals for expanding its presence in decentralized finance, and how do you envision your platform evolving to meet future demands in the DeFi ecosystem?

Gate started 11 years ago as a CeFi platform, so our DeFi features have significant room to catch up with our CeFi services naturally. Our primary focus right now is to enhance user experience and make our DeFi service more accessible to a broader audience – both beginners and more advanced users. We aim to expand the features available on our Web3 wallet while adhering to any regulatory constraints.

We have been doing a lot more in-person networking and partnership events. There may also be potential to integrate our Gate wallets into this kind of in-person engagement and see if we can create more opportunities for users to experience our offerings firsthand. Whatever we do, we will continue to explore all these possibilities while ensuring they serve the best interests of our community.

How do you foresee the development of crypto in the next one to two years?

It’s really interesting. Obviously, the U.S. election is coming just around the corner. If we’re lucky, there will be a transformative change in the ecosystem. If the government takes a forward-looking approach towards supporting cryptocurrency and Web3 adoption – whether it’s the U.S. or other developed countries taking the lead – then we will see things differently from how we see the industry now, where everyone’s chasing prices and the limited amount of bitcoins. A lot of people would say that may be the last exponential bull run that we will see in our industry. We’ll see if that happens in the next 12 months.