Figment's CEO Lorien Gabel on the Success of His Staking Bet

Lorien Gabel, with decades of experience in building internet infrastructure companies, co-founded Figment in 2018, recognizing the potential of proof-of-stake networks. Today, Figment is one of the world's largest independent staking providers, managing $15 billion in assets and serving over 500 institutional clients. In this interview, Gabel shares his insights on the evolution of staking, Figment's expansion into Asia, and the company's approach to deciding which new crypto networks to support. Gabel will be a speaker at Consensus Hong Kong, an event that brings together the most influential people in Web3 and digital assets. Figment's journey began with the founders exploring blockchain in 2018, when staking was still in its early stages. They saw an alignment between their expertise in network security, cloud infrastructure, and scaling B2B solutions and the potential of proof-of-stake. The company started as a staking infrastructure provider and later launched a VC fund, Figment Capital. Gabel attributes Figment's success to taking a chance on proof-of-stake, which has proven to be a wise decision. With 130 employees and plans to reach 150 by the end of the year, Figment is expanding its presence in Asia, with a focus on Singapore, Japan, and Hong Kong. However, Gabel notes that Asia is not a single market, but rather a collection of diverse economies and regulatory landscapes. Compliance varies widely by country, and Western companies often struggle to understand local hiring, scaling strategies, and customer behavior. Education is also a challenge, as staking is not well-defined in many Asian markets and is sometimes misconstrued as DeFi lending. Gabel emphasizes the importance of explaining the benefits of staking to institutions and helping them understand the differences between staking and riskier yield-generating alternatives. When it comes to scaling the business, Gabel highlights the challenges of the 'zero to one' phase, where the company had to experiment with different ideas and find a strong product-market fit. Once they found success with staking, they focused on scaling that core offering. Crypto's volatility is another significant challenge, but Gabel takes a long-term view, focusing on execution rather than getting caught up in market fluctuations. Institutional interest in staking is growing in Asia, particularly from banks and telecoms. Figment has partnered with dominant exchanges and custodians in each market, and Gabel expects adoption to accelerate as more institutions enter the staking space. The company has a refined evaluation framework for deciding which tokens to support for staking, considering factors such as the project's legitimacy, team, and ecosystem. Customer demand also plays a role, and Figment has had to make tough decisions about which projects to support. With many Asian investors seeking high-yield opportunities, Figment prioritizes providing competitive returns while maintaining security and reliability. Gabel notes that staking is not the highest-yield activity in crypto, but it's the safest way to earn yield without counterparty risk. The company focuses on offering the highest risk-adjusted staking rewards, and their clients prioritize security and compliance. Finally, Gabel is excited about trends and innovations in staking, such as liquid staking and re-staking, and is closely monitoring new staking models emerging from Asia.