Investment Banking Taught Him Regulation. Blockchain Taught Him Innovation. Now He's Using Both.
HONG KONG — When Henry Chen walked away from his executive director role at Goldman Sachs in 2018, colleagues thought he was taking a risk. The global financial crisis was a decade behind them, Asian capital markets were booming, and Henry had just helped raise billions of dollars for some of the region's most prominent technology companies in two largest capital markets in the world: HK and US
However, Henry recognized an opportunity others overlooked. The institutional frameworks he had mastered, the taste for successful business model he had developed, the regulatory relationships he had cultivated, and the credibility gained from closing hundreds of transactions across Greater China and Southeast Asia were not limited to one sector. Together, they formed a toolkit perfectly suited for an industry in urgent need of structure, trust, and experience.
"In the early days of the crypto ecosystem, when traditional finance participants and crypto natives felt like they were living in two different worlds, I was diligently opening doors and connecting dots for crypto players while bridging knowledge gaps for the other side," Henry said during a recent interview about his career. "As a crypto enthusiast coming from traditional finance and seeing myself allocating more resources and wealth into crypto, it was a good first-hand story to tell and share with people who initially sat on the sidelines with doubts about the new space."
That credibility gap between legacy finance and digital assets has shaped Henry Chen’s career for the past seven years. From his role as a co-founding partner at Summer Capital’s blockchain fund, to serving as head of capital markets at KuCoin, and now as he prepares to take on business role for a low-profile but industry respected venture investment firm while reactivating his Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission licenses, Henry has positioned himself as a rare translator between two industries that often struggle to understand each other.
Henry Chen's path into blockchain began with a fundamental belief that the technology's applications extended far beyond speculation. At Summer Capital, he led investments in dozens of companies, including early positions in Amina Bank (formerly known as SEBA Bank) and Hashkey Group, the latter just successfully completed an initial public offering in Hong Kong at the end of last year. These weren't bets on quick returns. They were long-term commitments to infrastructure.
Amina Bank became a case study in how to build legitimacy in a skeptical environment. As one of the bank's founding investors, Henry worked alongside management to expand from Switzerland into Hong Kong, Singapore and other international markets. The company became the first fully licensed crypto bank regulated by Switzerland's financial regulator, FINMA, but licensing was only the starting point.
"Working across places like Hong Kong and ASEAN has taught me to think in terms of long-term partnerships with regulators and incumbents, rather than quick wins," Henry explained. "I measure success not just by growth, but by how resilient and trusted a platform remains through different market cycles."
That philosophy required patience. Henry spent years in board-level discussions, structuring governance frameworks that would satisfy institutional counterparties. He connected banks, asset managers and blockchain foundations, designing products around tokenization and compliant digital asset infrastructure. The work was slow, deliberate and often invisible to outsiders tracking the industry's headline-grabbing price swings.
Henry's ecosystem-building approach extended to developing Hong Kong's broader Web3 infrastructure. In early 2024, while still at Summer Capital, he partnered with Zetrix, a layer-1 public blockchain platform, and Web3Labs Hong Kong to launch the Zetrix Global Accelerator Programme. The initiative aimed to incubate up to 10 promising Web3 startups, offering them access to the Zetrix platform and connections with government and enterprise stakeholders.
That work produced a network of relationships that gave Henry broad reach across Asia’s fragmented regulatory landscape. Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and other ASEAN markets and the UAE each operated under different rules, risk tolerances, and infrastructure constraints. Henry learned to navigate them all.
"Spending my entire career in Asia has made me very aware that there is no 'one size fits all' approach to fintech," he said. "Each market has its own regulatory tempo and cultural relationship with risk and money."
In September 2024, Henry joined KuCoin and later took on the role of head of capital markets and real-world asset business development. The role represented a shift in scale. While Summer Capital had allowed him to work closely with founders and shape strategy at portfolio companies, KuCoin gave him operational responsibility across multiple jurisdictions.
Over 16 months, Henry built business development and operations teams totaling 70 people, establishing franchises and exploring opportunities in Thailand and other markets. He oversaw a global pipeline of real-world assets spanning money-market funds, private equity and debt, commodities, intellectual property and yield-bearing stablecoins while taking on RWA responsibility in Hong Kong. The work involved structuring end-to-end solutions from origination through private placement and exchange listing.
The challenge wasn't just commercial. It was regulatory, operational and reputational. Henry had to balance the demands of a fast-moving exchange business with the deliberate, compliance-first approach he believed the industry needed to mature.
"You are constantly making decisions with incomplete information in a fast-evolving environment, so your objectives have to be very clear," Henry said. "There have been moments where walking away from a deal or slowing down a launch felt painful in the short term, but in hindsight protected the business sustainability, the brand and all stakeholders."
That discipline came directly from his years in investment banking, where reputational risk wasn't theoretical. At UBS and Goldman Sachs, Henry had worked on landmark deals for companies including China Cinda, Postal Savings Bank of China, Pinduoduo, Huya, Lexin Fintech, Fosun, Ascletis Pharma, and Sea Limited. He understood how quickly trust could erode and how hard it was to rebuild.
"I also place a lot of value on empathy and pragmatism," Henry added. "It takes adaptability and persistence to be successful, especially as crypto and fintech markets have experienced multiple cycles in terms of commercialization environment and regulatory framework."
Henry is now preparing to join a world-class venture investment and business incubation team while reactivating his SFC licenses for dealing, advisory and asset management activities. He previously held multiple Hong Kong regulatory certifications, including Types 1, 4, 6 and 9, credentials that give him formal authority to operate across capital markets, advising and fund management.
What comes next reflects lessons from his entire career. He wants to work with teams that prioritize integrity and long-term success over short-term profits. He's interested in projects that can integrate with existing financial infrastructure to deliver measurable improvements in efficiency, fairness and transparency. And he's particularly focused on Asia, where regulatory frameworks are becoming more sophisticated and real economic needs around trade, foreign exchange, wealth management and small business financing are driving adoption.
"What excites me is that we are finally moving into a phase where blockchain and digital asset is less about speculation or quick profits, and more about technology and efficiency," Henry said. "I see big opportunities in Asia's cross-border environment where real economic needs are more likely to be built on blockchain infrastructure thanks to increasingly sophisticated regulatory frameworks and market participants, and more and more successful business are being built by young-generation Asian founders"
He pointed to tokenized real-world assets, on-chain settlement, programmable money and more transparent market infrastructure as areas where genuine innovation is happening. These aren't concepts designed to disrupt traditional finance so much as augment it, creating efficiencies that incumbents can actually use.
"The ability to speak both languages is crucial," he said. "You need to understand how bankers, regulators and institutional investors think, and at the same time appreciate how developers, founders and crypto-native communities operate."
Henry's track record suggests he can do both. HashKey Group's successful IPO in late 2025, just three years after he became one of the exchange's first customers, stands as one milestone. Portfolio companies that benefited from introductions he facilitated represent another. The expanding network of regulatory relationships across Asia is perhaps the most valuable, if least visible, asset he's built.
His advice to professionals building careers in fintech reflects that long-term orientation. Treat credibility as your most valuable asset. Choose carefully which platforms and business models you attach your name to. Learn both technical fundamentals and industry landscape. Think in decades, not cycles.
"Be consistent, document your decisions, and keep high integrity for every decision you make," Henry said.
