Jay Hao is the CEO of Crypto Hawk and the former CEO of OKX, a cryptocurrency exchange, and digital wallet platform.^[1] As a CEO, he was responsible for overseeing the company's strategy, operations, and growth. He is also the Chief Customer Service Officer at OKX, acting as a bridge between OKX and its users. ^[1]

Education & Early Life

Jay Hao is based in Seychelles, Africa with his family. He considers reading as an escape and his father is the biggest influence in his life. Outside crypto, he enjoys traveling and being exposed to new cultures. On Father's day in June 2020, Jay challenged himself by explaining blockchain & bitcoin to his daughter Sophia as simply as possible.

Jay Hao graduated from the University of Mississippi with a degree in Electrical Engineering in 1994 and then from Georgia Institute of Technology with an MSEE in Electrical Engineering in 1996.^[1][2]

Career

Jay Hao began his career in 2003 as the ASIC Director at Anyka SZ, managing multimedia chip projects and leading a team of 20 staff. He later served as Vice President Of Engineering at Amedia Networks, Inc., overseeing wireless connectivity chip design.

In 2006, Hao became CEO of Unichip Technology, managing multimedia codec SoC design. He then chaired Nurotech Inc. in 2011, advising chip design teams.

Joining Hormones Live Inc. in 2017 as Chairman, Hao led external communications and app development efforts. He later became CEO of OKX in November 2018, overseeing the cryptocurrency exchange's operations, but stepped down and left the company in January 2023.

Currently, he serves as the Managing Director at Mahant Capital since October 2023, overseeing operations in Las Vegas, Nevada, and as an Investor at GharMates since November 2023. Since February 2023, he is also the Chief Executive Officer of Crypto Hawk, focusing on digital strategy, marketing, and AI-powered quantitative trading analytics tools.

In April 2023, Hao joined Sensorium's advisory board, offering strategic advice for the company's Web3 strategy.^{[1][6][9][10]}

OKX

Jay Hao joined OKX in the early days when the blockchain space was full of hype, rumors, and myth. His goal was to provide users with the best trading experience and the richest trading products. He saw security, innovation, and reliability as the 3 pillars of OKX. ^[6]

About his experience building the business, Jay Hao mentioned how important it was for him to be on the front lines with the customers to really understand their needs and pain points. Hao also emphasises the importance of lifelong learning in the "fast-changing" blockchain space. ^[6][7]

2022

Under Jay Hao's leadership, OKX expanded its services to include various financial offerings for cryptocurrencies, such as spot and margin trading, futures, perpetual swaps, DeFi, lending, and mining services.

OKX Chain, the exchange's blockchain network, achieved over 100 million wallets, aligning it with renowned blockchains like Ethereum, Solana, and BNB Smart Chain.

Hao revitalized OKX's Bitcoin derivatives market share, increasing it from 8% to 25% by the end of 2022, marking a significant recovery for the exchange.

Despite external challenges, OKX maintained its security and transparency standards, with no history of security disruptions or potential hacks. Following industry incidents, OKX swiftly released a proof-of-reserves report, emphasizing its commitment to transparency, technology, and risk management.^[8]

Interviews

Addressing "Withdrawal Controversy"

After a six-week withdrawal suspension on OKEx, (former) CEO Jay Hao addressed concerns during a Telegram session, revealing the exchange's lack of contingency plans for a key holder's arrest. Despite the relief felt by users upon the resumption of services, questions remained.

 “The reason for the suspension of withdrawals was because one of our private key holders was temporarily unable to authorize transactions. We have a very robust backup mechanism in place for private key holders that makes sure the activation of the backup private key can still be triggered in the event of long-term incapacitation, such as death or memory loss. However, we failed to include other important scenarios, such as private key holders becoming unreachable due to unforeseen circumstances, in our contingency plan.”
- Jay Hao

Hao explained that the suspension occurred because a key holder couldn't authorize transactions temporarily. They lacked backup plans for key holders becoming unreachable due to unforeseen circumstances, such as detention. Reports suggest the key holder was OKEx founder Star Xu, indicating a management gap.

Hao emphasized the need to improve internal processes to prevent future incidents. OKEx pledged transparency by revealing its wallet addresses and reiterated its commitment to anti-money laundering measures, aiming to maintain trust.^[11]