Huobi Hires Former Banking Giant Executive to Lead New DeFi Fund

Crypto exchange operator Huobi Group is forming a new fund to invest tens of millions of dollars of its own capital in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space.

• Huobi Group said in an announcement Monday it has launched a new business unit called Huobi DeFi Labs to manage the new fund.
• DeFi Labs, which initially comprises of four staff, will focus on research, investment and incubation of DeFi-related projects.
• The exchange recently hired former banker Sharlyn Wu as its chief investment officer to lead the initiative.
• Previously, Wu spent three years leading the blockchain investment arm at China Merchant Bank International (CMBI), the overseas branch of one of the biggest banks in China.
• During Wu's term, the CMBI invested in several crypto and blockchain firms, including wallet startup Bitpie and public blockchain project Nervos.
• "It is exciting to see the power of the permissionless economy unleashed at global scale," Wu said. "However, there are still many problems to be solved at the theoretical and technical levels."
• The new fund comes at a time crypto VCs are upping their investments in DeFi-related protocols.
• Last week, Injective Protocol announced the raise of $2.6 million led by Pantera, while Polychain and Three Arrows backed another DeFi protocol, KeeperDao, in a seven-figure seed round.

Also read: Gate.io, Huobi Enter Booming Crypto Options Scene