Top Web3 Founders in Asia You Should Know

Asia has become the epicenter of Web3 innovation. From DeFi infrastructure to gaming guilds and L2 blockchains, the region’s founders are building products used by millions globally.

Here are 12 Web3 founders from Asia who are defining what the industry looks like today.

Read more: Crypto Literacy Surges in Indonesia as New Survey Reveals More Mature Investor Behavior

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Bobby Ong: CoinGecko (Malaysia)

Bobby Ong is the co-founder of CoinGecko, one of the world’s largest independent cryptocurrency data aggregators. Launched in 2014, CoinGecko tracks over 10,000 cryptocurrencies and serves millions of users globally without relying on exchange partnerships to drive its rankings. Ong has been a consistent voice for market transparency in the Web3 space.

Sandeep Nailwal: Polygon (India)

Sandeep Nailwal co-founded Polygon (formerly Matic Network), one of the most widely adopted Ethereum scaling solutions. Polygon has processed billions of transactions and onboarded major brands including Starbucks, Reddit, and Nike into Web3. Nailwal is also known for his philanthropic work during the COVID-19 crisis in India.

Loi Luu: Kyber Network (Vietnam)

Loi Luu is the co-founder of Kyber Network, a decentralized liquidity protocol that enables instant token swaps. Kyber was one of the first DeFi protocols to gain significant traction, laying the groundwork for what would later become the DeFi boom. Luu holds a PhD from the National University of Singapore and has been an active contributor to Ethereum research.

Nguyễn Thành Trung: Sky Mavis (Vietnam)

Nguyễn Thành Trung is the CEO and co-founder of Sky Mavis, the studio behind Axie Infinity, the play-to-earn game that introduced millions of players in Southeast Asia to blockchain-based economies. At its peak, Axie Infinity had over 2 million daily active users and became a case study in both the potential and challenges of Web3 gaming.

Sota Watanabe: Startale Group (Japan)

Sota Watanabe is the founder of Startale Group and a core contributor to the Astar Network, Japan’s leading smart contract platform on Polkadot. Watanabe has been instrumental in building Japan’s Web3 ecosystem, working alongside government bodies and enterprises to accelerate blockchain adoption in one of the world’s most regulated markets.

Tianwei Liu: Straitsx (Singapore)

Tianwei Liu is the CEO of Straitsx, a Singapore-based digital asset infrastructure company that issues regulated stablecoins including XSGD (Singapore Dollar) and XIDR (Indonesian Rupiah). Straitsx sits at the intersection of traditional finance and Web3, building compliant payment rails for institutional and retail use across Southeast Asia.

Loi Tan: Creo Engine (Indonesia)

Javier Tan is the co-founder of Creo Engine, an Indonesia-based Web3 gaming ecosystem. Creo Engine develops blockchain games and tools for game developers to integrate digital asset economies into their titles. As one of the few homegrown Indonesian Web3 gaming studios, Creo Engine represents the country’s growing presence in the global blockchain gaming market.

Gabby Dizon: Yield Guild Games (Philippines)

Gabby Dizon is the co-founder of Yield Guild Games (YGG), the largest play-to-earn gaming guild in the world. YGG pioneered the concept of renting out NFT assets to players in developing countries, enabling thousands of Filipinos to earn income through blockchain games during the pandemic. Dizon is widely recognized as a key architect of the GameFi economy.

Matthew Tan: Etherscan (Malaysia)

Matthew Tan is the founder of Etherscan, the most widely used Ethereum blockchain explorer. What began as a personal project has become essential infrastructure for the entire Ethereum ecosystem, used by developers, traders, auditors, and regulators to verify transactions and monitor on-chain activity. Etherscan processes hundreds of millions of page views monthly.

TN Lee: Pendle (Malaysia)

TN Lee is the co-founder of Pendle Finance, a DeFi protocol that enables the trading of tokenized yield. Pendle introduced yield trading to DeFi, allowing users to separate and trade the future yield of yield-bearing assets. The protocol has grown significantly in the liquid staking narrative and has become a key piece of DeFi’s more sophisticated financial infrastructure.

Jansen Tang: Virtuals Protocol (Malaysia)

Jansen Tang is a co-founder of Virtuals Protocol, a platform for creating and co-owning AI agents in Web3. Virtuals gained significant attention in 2024 as AI-agent narratives intersected with crypto, positioning the protocol at the frontier of two of tech’s biggest trends. The project is part of a new wave of AI x Web3 infrastructure being built out of Southeast Asia.

Tanawat Chiewhawan: Tokenomist AI (Thailand)

Tanawat Chiewhawan is the founder of Tokenomist AI (formerly Token Unlocks), a platform that tracks token vesting schedules and unlock events across the crypto market. As token unlocks became a major market signal, Tokenomist AI filled a critical data gap, giving traders and investors visibility into upcoming supply changes before they hit the market.

Sangmin Seo: Kaia (South Korea)

Sangmin Seo is a key figure behind Kaia, a Layer 1 blockchain built on the foundation of Klaytn and Finschia, the chains developed by Kakao and LINE respectively. Kaia is positioned as the blockchain for Asia’s messaging-native Web3 ecosystem, with direct integration potential for hundreds of millions of LINE and Kakao users across the region.

Read more: Indonesia Surpasses 20 Million Crypto Users as Market Momentum Continues

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Why This Matters

The list of Web3 founders across Asia highlights a clear signal, the region is no longer just participating in the global crypto economy, but actively shaping its direction. From infrastructure and DeFi to gaming, data, and AI-powered protocols, these founders reflect a market that is not only growing fast, but also increasingly diverse and product-driven.

What stands out is that Asia offers a unique combination of scale, technical talent, and real user adoption. This makes the region one of the most attractive entry points for global institutions, investors, and builders who are looking for meaningful expansion beyond saturated Western markets.

However, access alone is not enough. The real opportunity lies in connection and execution. This is where Coinfest Asia becomes important. As one of the largest Web3 gatherings in the region, it functions as a direct meeting point between founders, protocols, investors, and institutions. For attendees, it is not just an event, but a place where partnerships are formed and ideas turn into real market movement.

At the ecosystem level, Indonesia Crypto Network plays a different but equally critical role. Indonesia remains one of the most important crypto markets in Southeast Asia, and ICN acts as a bridge for global players who want to understand, enter, and navigate the local landscape in a more structured and informed way.

Taken together, Asia’s founder landscape, Coinfest Asia as a convergence hub, and ICN as a market bridge in Indonesia, form a clear entry framework for anyone looking to build or expand in this region. The opportunity is already here, what matters now is who can connect the dots early and effectively.

📌 Start a free strategy session with ICN and explore how to approach the Indonesia market with the right context and network. Explore and connect directly at Coinfest Asia to meet the founders and builders shaping the next wave of Web3 in Asia.

Read more: Coinfest Asia 2026 Takes Over Five Beach Club in Bali, The First Ever in Crypto Festival