If you’re doing business in Asia, there’s one culture you cannot avoid: KTV. And no, I’m not talking about regular karaoke. I’m talking about private rooms where you and your clients drink, sing, and pay for girls (or guys) to keep you company. China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand… different versions of the same thing. And if you can’t play along, you might find yourself left out of some pretty important business meetings. 🤷🏻‍♀️ If you didn’t grow up here, your first experience can be a real culture shock. The mamasan walks in with a lineup, asks you to pick, and suddenly you’re sitting there with someone awkwardly, not knowing where to look or what to do. I got dragged into a few of these KTV nights in Singapore last week, and here’s my little survival hack that has never failed: Always pick the one who LOVES singing. Seriously. Find the girl or guy who’s genuinely obsessed with the microphone. They’ll happily sing all night. Duets with your business partners, solo performances, fighting for the mic… they’ll basically entertain themselves for hours. Meanwhile, you don’t have to make small talk, flirt, or keep drinking with someone you barely know. You fit right in, your business partner think you belong, your companion is having the time of their life, and you survive the entire night without a single awkward moment. Everybody wins. You’re welcome.

I don’t know if people who get high while working realize how obvious it is on a call, or how ridiculous they sound. You can tell immediately when someone’s fucked up even without video on. What’s crazy is, I’ve had this happen more than a few times, including with founders of some pretty big projects. Imagine needing drugs just to feel smarter and more productive at work. Kinda sad.

Every crypto founder eventually faces the same dilemma. Utility products like payments, RWA, and stablecoins may onboard the next billion users. Speculation products like perps, prediction markets, and memes still generate the most revenue, liquidity, and attention. The market says it wants utility, but capital still reward speculation. If you were building today, which one would you follow?

Today is my last day at @MEXC . This is not me leaving crypto. Many people have recently left the industry, but I’m not going anywhere. It’s true that the easy narratives are gone and many have stopped believing. Good, that just means the tourists have left. I believe some of the biggest opportunities are being created right now. The problems are still here, and blockchain is more relevant than ever if we want to solve real issues. Increasingly, I’ve felt that the best way for me to contribute is by building once again. As CSO of MEXC, I wore many hats across partnerships, investments, and strategic initiatives. Out of everything, the one thing I’m most proud of is pushing MEXC to become more transparent and more user-centric. I’m grateful to the team who supported me in making those achievements possible. That experience reminded me where I do my best work: close to the problem, close to the product, and most importantly, close to users. Time to go back to founder mode. More soon.

Woke up this morning to news of a helicopter crash near Mount Aso in Japan. Terrifying part: I was on that exact helicopter just over 10 days ago. You never know whether tomorrow or an accident comes first. Life is short. Enjoy it while you can. 🙏

This is indeed a problem in our industry, where there are too few women and too many events. But I rarely run into situations that feel like casual-sex vibes. Here are a few things I do that might help: > A firm handshake, a simple and direct self-introduction. I make sure people see right away that I’m not someone to mess with. I usually keep a serious expression, very much in “work mode,” so everyone understands I’m here for business, not anything else. I leave zero room for imagination. > And walk away quickly when needed. The only time I didn’t follow my usual approach and was too friendly, someone who didn’t know who I was started flirting. They claimed they were male models (obviously they were founders of some asset-management firm), then started saying sleazy things and asked if I was a model too. I told them I was a CEO, wished them good luck finding a model here, and immediately walked off without giving them a single extra second.