June Ou is a financial technology executive and entrepreneur, best known as the co-founder of Figure Technologies, a company that develops blockchain-based applications for the financial services industry. She is also a director at the Provenance Blockchain Foundation and has been a vocal proponent of using blockchain technology and asset tokenization to address inefficiencies in traditional financial markets. ^[3]

Education

Ou earned a Master of Science degree in Applied Economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Following several years of entrepreneurial and executive experience, she attended the Stanford University Graduate School of Business as a Sloan Fellow from 2011 to 2012. Upon completion, she was awarded a Master of Science in Business Administration and Management in 2012. ^[5]

Career

Ou began her career in the mid-1990s as one of the initial employees at Sage, a technology consulting firm that was later acquired by Metamor. During her time at the company, she progressed from engineering roles into project management, eventually becoming the Director of Advanced Technology. In this leadership position, she was responsible for identifying and integrating new technologies and methodologies into the firm's offerings. In 2000, Ou co-founded Finaplex, a software company that provided wealth management solutions. For five years, she held a versatile role at the startup, contributing to its engineering, product management, and client services divisions until 2005.

After Finaplex, Ou founded CCO Solutions in 2007, where she served as Chief Executive Officer. The company specialized in providing operational and technology services tailored to the needs of hedge funds. CCO Solutions was acquired in 2009, and Ou remained with the company until 2011. Following her graduate studies at Stanford, she joined the financial technology company So-Fi in 2012, initially as a contractor. She was later appointed Vice President of Product Management and Engineering, a position she held until 2017.

In 2018, Ou co-founded Figure Technologies alongside Mike Cagney. The company was established to leverage blockchain technology to create new efficiencies in financial services, particularly in lending and payments. She initially served as the company's Chief Operating Officer from 2018 until 2022, when she was promoted to President. She held the role of President until early 2025. During this period, she also co-founded and served as president of a related entity, Figure Markets, from 2024 to early 2025. In 2025, her role shifted from executive management to governance, as she became a co-founder and director at Figure. Concurrently, she joined the board of the Provenance Blockchain Foundation as a director, where she helps guide the development and growth of the blockchain ecosystem that Figure utilizes. ^[6]

Interviews

Blockchain Finance

In a June 2025 interview with Peter Abilla of the Block By Block Show, Ou discussed her journey into the cryptocurrency space, highlighting her background in financial technology and her goal of utilizing blockchain to enhance efficiency in financial transactions. She highlighted the challenges in the traditional financial industry, particularly in securitization, where trust issues lead to high costs and lengthy processes. Ou described how Provenance was built to address these challenges by providing a blockchain-based platform for asset transactions, including mortgages and life insurance, aiming to streamline and democratize the lending ecosystem. She also touched on her efforts to educate traditional financial institutions about the benefits of blockchain, the evolution of their services, and the regulatory landscape, noting a more accepting stance toward blockchain technology in recent years. Her vision revolves around creating a user-friendly experience for onboarding assets and facilitating transactions on the Provenance platform, with a focus on transparency and efficiency. ^[1]

Provenance Blockchain

In an August 2021 interview with Emmanuel Daniel (The Asian Banker), Ou discussed the functioning of Provenance Blockchain, a decentralized finance platform designed to streamline financial transactions, particularly in the lending sector. Established in January 2018, the platform aimed to utilize blockchain technology to enhance efficiency in loan origination and securitization. Provenance operates as a sovereign blockchain, using the Tendermint consensus engine and Cosmos SDK, which enables financial institutions to transact with reduced costs and time. Initially, financial institutions were hesitant to embrace the concept, but after developing a lending business to demonstrate the effectiveness of the blockchain, Provenance gained traction. The platform features include a marketplace, payment systems, and a contract execution environment, ensuring security and efficiency in transactions. As it transitioned from a permissioned to a public model, Provenance sought to address the concerns of traditional institutions regarding security and transparency while expanding its validator network and aiming for interoperability with other blockchains. ^[2]

Panels

Tokenization in Finance

At the SALT iConnections New York event in May 2023, a panel consisting of industry leaders discussed the transformative potential of tokenization in finance. The panel featured Julia La Roche, Ou, Morgane McKenney, Jason New, and Christine Moy. Ou, co-founder of Figure Technologies, highlighted the company’s implementation of blockchain for AAA-rated securitizations. Moy, a partner at Apollo Global Management, discussed the tokenization of various assets and emphasized the importance of regulated digital money for efficiency. New, co-founder of Noblewolf, explained how his background in distressed assets led him to pursue blockchain solutions in financial services, while McKenney, CEO of Provenance Blockchain Foundation, stressed the need to educate regulators to encourage adoption. Together, the panelists envisioned a future in which a substantial portion of financial assets would be tokenized, improving transparency, efficiency, and accessibility to alternative investments within evolving regulatory and technological environments. ^[4]