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Bobby Ong is a key figure in the cryptocurrency community, known for co-founding CoinGecko, one of the world’s largest crypto data aggregators, which has been operating since early 2014.
Bobby Ong, born 1989, currently living in Kuala Lumpur.
University College London
BSc (Econ) Economics
2009 - 2012
- Recipient of Sime Darby Foundation Scholarship 2009-2012
- Founding member of SIFE UCL
Anderson Junior College, Singapore
Singapore-GCE A-Levels
2007 - 2008
Recipient of ASEAN A-Levels Scholarship 2007-2008
Ong is also a research fellow at Singapore University of Social Science and an author of several chapters in books on digital currency, such as Handbook of Blockchain, Digital Finance, and Inclusion.
Ong is also a self-taught programmer and Ruby on Rails web developer. He has worked on various freelance projects since graduating and is now actively involved in promoting the use of blockchain, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Co-Founder & COO
CoinGecko
March 2014 – present time
Singapore
Fellow
Singapore University of Social Sciences
Jan 2018 – present time
Singapore
Digital Marketing Manager
Sime Darby Property Berhad
June 2015 - Nov 2017
Selangor, Malaysia
Cryptocurrencies, economics, technology, web development, programming
Bobby first got involved in cryptocurrencies after the Cyprus financial crisis. He found it horrific that the Cyprus government would even contemplate seizing assets from small-time savers with deposits below €100,000 that are supposed to be covered under the deposit insurance scheme.
Bobby saw potential in Bitcoin as an alternative way for people to protect their wealth from being seized and also a good way to hedge against runwaway inflation in countries such as Zimbabwe and Argentina.
Bobby is the co-founder of CoinGecko, a cryptocurrency ranking website that provides a 360-degree overview of the various cryptocurrencies using metrics that look into the community, developer and liquidity aspects. He is also the curator of AltcoinWeekly, a weekly cryptocurrency newsletter.
Bobby Ong made 2 investments. His latest investment is Seed Round - Syndicate on Jun 30, 2021. Bobby Ong invested $800K in Syndicate.
The first one was Seed Round - Impossible Financeon Jun 3, 2021. Bobby Ong invested $7M in Impossible Finance.
CoinGecko’s biggest rival, CoinMarketCap, was acquired in April by the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, which triggered some big changes in CoinGecko’s business.
Shortly after the deal, Ong said that CoinGecko became the largest independent crypto data aggregator due to CoinMarketCap becoming less neutral and independent as a result of the acquisition. Ong also said that CoinGecko’s market share started growing after the acquisition.
Sources told Cointelegraph that Ong was close to selling CoinGecko to a media outlet for an undisclosed amount, rumored to be $5 million, before the CMC deal was finalized. But the suitor waited too long — and missed the opportunity.
Amid the rise of decentralized finance over the course of 2020, Ong was also active in the DeFi sector. He contributed more than 26,000 words to CoinGecko’s 212-page How to DeFi book that was released in March.
As CoinGecko continues to grow each day alongside global crypto adoption, Ong’s contribution to the crypto industry is likely to be even more meaningful in 2021. Cointelegraph expects CoinGecko to continue building a professional team as well as introduce more features such as auto-updating live price indexes in 2021.
According to Ong, there will be millions of different tokens in the future, and apparently, a big number of those will be listed on CoinGecko. Ong says that CoinGecko foresees a future where all assets that can be tokenized will be tokenized.
