Huobi Group, the operator of one of the leading global crypto exchanges, has onboarded Sharlyn Wu as its chief investment officer. She will steer its new initiative to invest in decentralized finance (DeFi) projects.
As reported by Coindesk on Monday, Wu will lead a team of four and be responsible for research, investment, and incubation of the DeFi projects.
Wu is a well-known banking executive with over a decade of experience in traditional finance, where she worked with major banks.
Prior to her recent crypto Exchange appointment, she spent three years at the China Merchant Bank International (CMBI) - the overseas branch of the similarly named Chinese banking giant. There, she led the bank’s Blockchain investment arm.
During her tenure, the bank invested in major banking projects, including Bitpie - a crypto wallet startup, Bibox - a well-known crypto exchange, and Nervos - a company building a public blockchain.
Wu initiated her banking career at Swiss investment bank UBS and spent a decade there before making a switch.
Commenting on her new role at Huobi, Wu said: “It is exciting to see the power of the permissionless economy unleashed at global scale. However, there are still many problems to be solved at the theoretical and technical levels.”
DeFi is the real financial institution disrupter
This appointment came with the formation of Huobi’s new DeFi focused invest arm, called DeFi Labs. The exchange operator is planning to transfer tens of millions of dollars into the fund from its own resources to back the projects.
Huobi, once the largest Chinese crypto exchange, is now expanding its reach beyond the exchange business into other crypto-related sectors. Earlier today, Finance Magnates reported that its asset management arm received two licenses from the Hong Kong regulator to legally operate its new business.
