Dr Julian Hosp has never made choices that mark his life as one of the ordinary. Before even founding Cake DeFi, the Singapore-based fintech platform that allows one to have easy access to crypto and digital assets or decentralised finance (DeFi) services, the serial entrepreneur was a budding basketball player, professional kite surfer, a medical professional.
That is to say that his experience in these vastly different fields is what has equipped him with a unique and advantageous perspective on how to work well in the typically exclusive fintech industry. In a candid conversation, Dr Hosp shares about where he finds the courage to take risks, what life as a Fintech CEO is like, and what he is looking out for in the ever-changing field of crypto.
Hi Dr Hosp! Can you describe what you do for a living in 10 or less words?
I make DeFi accessible to anyone and everyone.
I understand you started off making very unorthodox career choices since you were a teenager, each in a niche area of interest. What gave you the courage to pursue these interests despite the risks?
I believed from a young age that we should be able to take risks, and not be frightened by progress and change. That is how I ended up as an emergency room doctor, a professional kite surfer, and now a decentralized finance evangelist.
What then drew you to the world of tech? How did your journey with crypto begin?
Eleven years ago a patient came to me with a heel bone fracture and, during the course of treatment, told me all about Bitcoin. The cryptocurrency was trading at about a dollar at that time, and I rejected the entire concept as an idea without utility.
Three years later, after leaving the world of medicine, I began researching blockchains while exploring how they could be used to develop vaccine passports. I grew frustrated by how difficult it was for people to invest in the then-nascent world of cryptocurrency. This kickstarted my journey into building a solution for users.
If you could summarise the life lessons you have had from having been a professional kite-surfer, medical professional to a Fintech and crypto expert, what would they be? Feel free to give more than one.
I trained hard to become one of the top 10 in kitesurfing, but I would have never won my competitions if I did not have kitesurfing gear that was the best. When I became a recognized name in the sport, especially after writing the best-selling kitesurfing guidebook to date, I collaborated with water sports brands to design my own range of gear with the best features possible.
Despite all my marketing to recreational kitesurfers, the products did not sell. After multiple failed marketing attempts, I realized I was creating products for people like me – experienced kitesurfers – and not beginner or intermediate kitesurfers like my target audience. I took this failure and went back to the drawing board, adjusting the gear so that they are retail-friendly. That move made me my first million.
This lesson follows me everywhere, even in my current business. The crypto industry is filled with technical jargon and difficult-to-understand products. There are so many barriers to entry that prevent new adopters from using crypto assets as a store of value, investment, or payment method. My co-founder and I saw this opportunity to create a product that would address these barriers to entry, making it simple and easy for anyone – especially complete beginners – to join the crypto revolution.
Think of Cake DeFi as a kite surfboard with beginner features that you can use to begin your journey into crypto and DeFi.
Now back to crypto — with all the hype around crypto, what do you think is needed to help push the existing crypto crowd to be more #cryptofit?
It is my goal to explain and bring crypto to the masses and to make people all around the world #CRYPTOFIT.
I understand how crypto can be daunting to people who are new and unfamiliar with it. I believe that the onus is on us – those who are already in the industry – to proactively reach people who are interested to learn more, and gently introduce the key concepts needed to kick-start their journey into the world of blockchain and crypto.
Most importantly, we need to be able to break down the technical crypto concepts simply, such that even a 10-year-old could understand them. After all, it was Albert Einstein who once said “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
What has been the biggest misunderstanding about the crypto world that you think needs to be clarified?
Many people think that crypto is hugely complicated and inaccessible. This is certainly not the case. In fact, there are a plethora of CeDeFi services such as Cake DeFi that provide easy transparent access to decentralized financial services available today. Cake DeFi helps users generate cash flow from their cryptocurrencies, making DeFi accessible to anyone and everyone.
Further, in contrast to CeFi platforms, a CeDeFi platform such as Cake DeFi is not a black box where processes remain hidden, but rather a platform that establishes trust through transparency, where customers receive regular cash flow reports and full transparency regarding blockchain nodes, liquidity mining pools, and rewards.
What role does DeFi play then in the Metaverse?
Although still a relatively new concept, the use of DeFi applications in the metaverse could bring multiple aspects of Web3 together to construct a new way for global transactions and interactions. A convergence with DeFi would allow for trading on the blockchain, its exchanges, games, activities, and social platforms. Furthermore, combining metadata with DeFi means that every asset sold or traded in the metaverse is secured through blockchain technology.
How about your role as a Fintech CEO? Is there any insight you have discovered about the Fintech world that only you at this position can see?
The most important lesson I have learnt as CEO of Cake DeFi is to work on yourself. To be a leader of high professional standing, you must be a product of your own principles. Start by being honest about your own principles and values. Take a hard look at yourself in front of the mirror and ask: is this a person I would admire? If the answer is no, define your principles and practice self-discipline to adhere to them.
Since you are living in Singapore, what is the advantage for those who want to get into crypto world that only this environment offers?
Singapore is a great example of a global financial hub that is home to leading DeFi projects as well as CeDeFi platforms such as Cake DeFi. The city state boasts a strong crypto regulatory framework as well as a well-developed banking and financial infrastructure, which provides crypto firms with easier access to liquidity. The local government has also continuously stated that Singapore is seeking to cement itself as a key player for cryptocurrency-related businesses, with the goal of becoming a global “crypto hub”.
There are few countries in the world where financial service providers are as well-regulated and closely watched in the best interest of the customer as they are in Singapore.
For this reason, we recently launched our new global R&D hub, Birthday Research, in Singapore, in line with the Singapore Government’s direction on digital asset innovation. The hub will focus on developing best-in-class blockchain and digital asset technologies through open-source blockchain research and development. We have also committed to investing US$50M in R&D over the next four years to develop new products and innovations for fintech and financial institutions within the digital asset ecosystem.
At Cake DeFi, we are committed to building the B2B digital asset infrastructure and uplifting Singapore’s blockchain ecosystem to drive innovations in fintech, and we will continue working closely with relevant local organizations to ensure we stay on track.
Things are constantly changing and developing at the speed of light for the tech world, so what are you excited to see in the developing world of crypto for the coming year?
Many of the projects in the DeFi industry have been created with specific solutions around TradFi (Traditional Finance) challenges in mind. Currently, there is emerging activity around tokenized versions of traditional financial products and the option for lending. I see the option for traditional financial products entering the DeFi market, like tokenized versions of Amazon stocks for example. The DeFi industry would also seek to monetize (blockchain) gaming/Web3 and NFTs, in the same sense of being able to invest in or against these projects like commodities.
Another major evolution is cross-chain interoperability. By harnessing the power of a single liquidity layer similar to the SWIFT network, DeFi might be able to resolve scalability issues.
The future is exciting for Cake DeFi. The next stage of our growth will come from building access to DeFi and Web3 not just for consumers, but for businesses as well. It is our ambition to list Cake DeFi on a public stock exchange in the near future.
To end things off on a fun note, what was the most replayed song on your Spotify last year?
I have a two-year-old… so, it is “The wheels on the bus”.
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