Jonathan Leong is a technology executive and venture investor, and the co-founder and former Chief Executive Officer of BTSE, a financial services technology company focused on digital asset trading infrastructure. He also runs a venture fund that invests in fintech and emerging technology companies. ^[5]

Career

Leong began coding at the age of 15 and has more than 20 years of experience developing high-performance, mission-critical systems. Early in his career, he built and led multiple technology ventures, combining software engineering expertise with business strategy and product development. In 2018, he co-founded BTSE and served as its Chief Executive Officer from its founding, overseeing the development of its multi-currency digital asset exchange and derivatives platform. Under his leadership, BTSE built trading infrastructure and related financial services designed to bridge traditional finance and digital asset markets, including institutional trading systems, retail products, and liquidity infrastructure. Alongside his work at BTSE, Leong has also managed a venture fund focused on investments in fintech and innovation-driven companies. ^{[1] [2]}

Interviews

Crypto Infrastructure

On the Untold Stories podcast in June 2020, Leong discussed the evolution and current state of crypto infrastructure, emphasizing the importance of building robust, scalable systems to support the industry’s growth. He highlighted that traditional financial mechanisms, such as high-frequency trading and legacy payment networks, have inherent inefficiencies, which crypto solutions aim to address through innovative platforms like BTSE. Leong underlined the significance of interoperability, decentralization, and user-friendly interfaces, stressing that the industry still requires further infrastructure development to enhance efficiency and adoption. He pointed out ongoing efforts to digitize assets such as gold, making them more accessible via blockchain, and stressed that competition among exchanges fosters innovation, ultimately benefiting the ecosystem. Leong also reflected on the importance of scaling solutions, layered architectures, and modular designs to accommodate explosive growth while maintaining security and reliability. Throughout, he emphasized that the industry is still in a formative stage, with much infrastructure yet to be built to meet future demand and support mainstream adoption. ^[3]

More Than an Exchange

In a March 2020 interview with BLOCKTV, Leong discussed BTSE’s positioning as more than a traditional cryptocurrency exchange, outlining its broader strategy to build a full suite of financial services around digital assets. He described BTSE’s product approach as combining multi-currency support, unified order books, OTC services, lending, and asset management features, along with plans for consumer-facing tools such as a debit card to enable everyday spending of digital assets. Leong also explained the company’s decision to conduct its token sale on the Liquid network, citing benefits such as faster transactions and enhanced confidentiality, and noted that its native token was designed to provide utility through fee reductions, rebates, and platform access. The conversation highlighted BTSE’s efforts to reduce liquidity fragmentation and improve trading efficiency through a single integrated market structure, while also addressing regulatory considerations that influenced the company’s jurisdictional decisions. Overall, Leong emphasized BTSE’s goal of bridging traditional financial services and crypto infrastructure to support broader adoption by retail and institutional investors. ^[4]