Sean Li is a software engineer and entrepreneur, and the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Magic Labs, a company that provides wallet-as-a-service infrastructure and develops AI-integrated crypto tools and also develops the Newton Protocol. ^{[5] [7]}

Education

Li attended the University of Waterloo, where he earned a Bachelor of Software Engineering degree. ^[1]​

Career

Li began his professional career in 2014 as a fellow at Lightspeed Venture Partners, where he developed the initial groundwork for what would become Kitematic. Later that year, he co-founded Kitematic and became Chief Product Officer. In this capacity, he was responsible for setting the product's direction, shaping its market strategy, and designing the overall user experience. The company’s early journey included a rejection from the accelerator Y Combinator, an experience Li has cited as a key learning opportunity that helped shape the team's reliance on mentorship and user feedback. In 2014, Docker Inc. acquired Kitematic, and Li transitioned to a product lead role at Docker. During his tenure until 2016, he contributed to the early versions of Docker’s desktop and enterprise products and was a co-creator of Docker Desktop. He also played an instrumental role in establishing the company’s design function.

In 2018, observing the complex and fragmented onboarding experience within the Ethereum ecosystem, Li co-founded Magic Labs (originally Magic) with Jaemin Jin and became its CEO. He has since led the company's efforts to build authentication and non-custodial wallet infrastructure for developers. Since 2020, Li has also been an active angel investor, backing early-stage technology companies such as Copy.ai, Ollama, and Syndicate Labs. ^{[1] [4]}

Interviews

Magic Labs Documentary

In a documentary interview with EO Studios in September 2025, Li and Jaemin Jin discussed the experiences that shaped their work and the development of Magic Labs. They described Li’s early focus on detail and craftsmanship, influenced by time at Apple, and outlined both founders’ backgrounds in software, jazz, early-stage startups, and Ethereum. They reflected on building Kitematic, navigating setbacks such as a Y Combinator rejection, and learning through mentorship and user feedback. These experiences informed their view of the fragmented onboarding experience in Ethereum, which became a central reason for founding Magic Labs.

During the interview, they also traced Magic Labs’ growth, including its work in onboarding tens of millions of wallets, developing a non-custodial key management system to meet market demand, and collaborating with a range of enterprises. They described their product development approach as balancing rapid iteration with attention to detail. They noted that their focus on core infrastructure problems helped them maintain direction through market cycles, thereby helping them secure investment and partnerships. They concluded by outlining their vision for technology that feels invisible to users, with AI agents handling tasks seamlessly in the background. ^[3]

The Future of Applications and Identity

In an interview with EigenCloud in July 2025, held alongside Nima Vaziri of EigenLabs and Sreeram Kannan of EigenLayer, Li discussed his background in software and crypto, describing how the complexity of onboarding led him toward building more accessible tools. He outlined a broader view of crypto as part of an ongoing upgrade to society’s coordination systems, shaped by developments such as stablecoins and decentralized finance. The conversation also addressed how these experiences informed the creation of Magic, emphasizing the need for simpler entry points as the ecosystem expands.

The interview explored the growing role of AI, focusing on trust, verifiability, and the shifting responsibilities of intelligent systems. Li and the other speakers described different classes of agents and highlighted the need for transparent mechanisms that ensure reliable behavior as agents act on a user’s behalf. They also pointed to the importance of designing tools that enable AI agents to interact with crypto seamlessly. The discussion concluded with reflections on building products with long-term purpose, noting that while hype can accelerate interest, durable progress requires staying focused on core principles amid evolving trends. ^[6]

AI's Trust Problem

In a May 2025 interview on The Rollup podcast, Li discussed the growing reliance on AI and the hesitancy users still feel around financial applications, emphasizing the need for clear storytelling to help people understand end-to-end AI experiences. He outlined his path from music to software engineering, touching on his work on Kitematic and his time at Docker, and stressed that a strong focus on user experience has guided his approach across roles. Li explained how the embedded wallet concept emerged as a response to challenges in crypto onboarding, and described how AI and open APIs can simplify transactions while introducing new trust and security considerations. He noted that agentic user experiences may reduce the need for traditional interfaces if agents operate within verifiable boundaries, and closed by reflecting on ethical questions in AI development, underscoring the importance of transparency and security as both centralized and open-source approaches evolve. ^[9]

Portfolio Autopilot and Newton

In an April 2025 interview on The Edge Podcast with DeFi Dad, Li discussed how Newton aimed to address long-standing usability issues in crypto by introducing AI-powered agents designed to make automation more secure and reliable. He described the platform as a co-pilot that could help users manage investing and savings while maintaining transparency, and traced his own entry into the crypto space back to 2018, noting how the ecosystem had shifted from basic applications to more user-friendly infrastructure. The conversation explored the transition from traditional wallet management to automated agents, the role of streamlined onboarding tools such as social logins, and the expectation that wallet interfaces may evolve toward more command-driven interactions. Li also outlined the idea of an agent marketplace that would enable developers to build and share task-specific agents, and he described a future in which Newton could be integrated into everyday routines, supporting automated financial actions while preserving user oversight. ^[8]