Exclusive Interview: Flowdesk CEO Valued at Over $250 Million - Targeting the Asia-Pacific Crypto Market, May Establish Office in Hong Kong in the Future

Author: Mia, ChainCatcher

With the booming development of the global crypto financial market, the potential and opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region are becoming increasingly prominent. Represented by the crypto hubs of Hong Kong and Singapore, the entire Asia-Pacific area not only has a large user base but also shows a vigorous development trend in the popularization and application of blockchain technology.

In this vibrant and opportunity-filled market, the French crypto market maker Flowdesk has quickly emerged with its unique advantages and forward-looking strategic layout.

Founded in 2020, Flowdesk is a regulated, full-service digital asset trading and technology company specializing in market-making services, over-the-counter trading, and treasury management services. With offices in Paris, Singapore, and Toronto, Flowdesk has completed a $30 million Series A financing and a $50 million financing led by Cathay Innovation in January of this year. Its investors include Coinbase, the French public investment bank, and others, spanning both Web3 and traditional finance, with a current valuation exceeding $250 million.

Flowdesk CEO Guilhem Chaumont responded to ChainCatcher's exclusive interview regarding Flowdesk's growth strategy in the Asia-Pacific region, core services, and how to address market challenges and opportunities.

Guilhem Chaumont graduated from France's most prestigious business school, HEC Paris, majoring in international finance. He previously worked in HSBC's global financial resource management team before diving into the blockchain industry and embarking on his entrepreneurial journey. He co-founded and served as CEO of the French Web3 privacy technology company X-Network in 2018 and joined Flowdesk in 2022 as co-founder and CEO, continuing his Web3 entrepreneurial journey.

Guilhem Chaumont elaborated on Flowdesk's strategic layout in the Asia-Pacific region, stating that the market potential in this area is enormous and is a key focus for Flowdesk's business expansion. By closely connecting with local financial institutions and cryptocurrency practitioners, Flowdesk hopes to explore more collaborative opportunities together and promote healthy market development.

He also specifically mentioned the user base in the gaming and entertainment sectors in the Asia-Pacific region, indicating that Flowdesk will closely monitor innovations and developments in these areas to better seize market opportunities.

Additionally, when discussing Hong Kong as a potential crypto financial center, Guilhem Chaumont stated that Hong Kong's unique geographical location and mature financial market provide favorable conditions for Flowdesk's business expansion in the Asia-Pacific region. The company is actively considering establishing an office in Hong Kong or expanding its business scale to better serve clients in the region and seize market opportunities.

Flowdesk Completes $50 Million Series B Financing, Focusing on Market-Making Services and OTC Trading

ChainCatcher: Could you briefly introduce Flowdesk's background and business focus?

Guilhem Chaumont: As a regulated full-service digital asset trading and technology company, we focus on providing excellent market-making services, over-the-counter (OTC) services, and treasury management solutions to the market. Our client base is broad, including token issuers, exchanges, and various institutional clients.

Flowdesk's ability to stand out in the digital asset trading field is primarily due to our strong emphasis on technology and infrastructure. We invest significant resources in developing a proprietary low-latency trading infrastructure that can seamlessly integrate with over 120 exchanges, covering both centralized and decentralized exchanges. This technological breakthrough not only enhances trading efficiency but also significantly improves the security and stability of transactions.

Our business focus has always been on increasing trust in the digital asset market. We understand that in a market full of changes and opportunities, trust is the core element that maintains customer relationships and drives business development. Therefore, we are committed to providing safe, reliable, and efficient digital asset trading services by combining advanced technology with a firm commitment to regulatory compliance.

ChainCatcher: Flowdesk recently successfully completed a $50 million Series B financing. Can you share the main uses of these funds and their impact on future development?

Guilhem Chaumont: The primary use of these funds is to consolidate our leadership position in the market-making field and further expand our OTC trading services. We plan to use this funding to enhance our technological capabilities to optimize trading processes and improve trading efficiency to meet the growing demands of our clients.

Additionally, we will expand our team and increase our investment in talent recruitment and development, particularly by hiring more excellent engineers to strengthen and innovate our trading infrastructure. We will also recruit more experienced traders to enhance our trading capabilities and service levels.

Of course, we also plan to expand our regulatory coverage by obtaining new licenses. This will help us conduct business in more regions and provide broader services to our clients.

Market Making and OTC Trading: Dual Engines Driving Growth

ChainCatcher: What is Flowdesk's growth strategy in the Asia-Pacific region for 2024? What specific plans or goals do you have?

Guilhem Chaumont: We will continue to deepen our growth strategy in the Asia-Pacific region, aiming to expand our market share and improve our service quality and customer satisfaction. Since opening our office in Singapore in September 2022, we have achieved strategic expansion in the region and significant revenue growth.

This year, our revenue has quadrupled from 2022 to 2023, thanks to the establishment of the new office, which fully demonstrates our potential and strength in the Asia-Pacific market.

Looking ahead to 2024, our goal is to continue expanding our business scale in the Asia-Pacific region while gaining a deeper understanding of and adapting to the regulatory environments of different countries. We recognize that each country, including China, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan, has unique regulatory nuances, characteristics, and distinctions, so we will ensure that our business activities comply with local laws and regulations.

ChainCatcher: Can you elaborate on Flowdesk's core services? How do these services meet the changing market and customer needs?

Guilhem Chaumont: Flowdesk's core business revolves around two pillars: "market making" and "OTC trading," aimed at flexibly responding to market changes and accurately matching customer needs.

Our market-making services, which we are committed to developing, not only have a solid foundation in traditional market-making but also pioneered the "market making as a service" model.

The so-called "as a service" model allows token issuers or exchanges to access our technology platform and trading team by paying a fixed fee, using their own native tokens and quote currency inventory.

The uniqueness of this model lies in the complete control it gives project parties over the circulating supply, providing them with a more flexible and autonomous liquidity management solution. Compared to traditional loan or option models, our "as a service" model is more efficient and convenient, especially suitable for projects with relatively small market capitalizations and flexible liquidity needs.

In addition, our OTC trading services, as a regulated counterparty, are dedicated to providing clients with a safe, efficient, and transparent trading experience. We support trading in various assets, including spot, and plan to gradually expand into the derivatives field in the future.

With advanced technological means, we can aggregate rich liquidity resources from centralized exchanges (CEX) and decentralized exchanges (DEX), ensuring competitive quotes for our clients. At the same time, we focus on minimizing market impact to ensure smooth trading, even for assets with relatively low liquidity, achieving efficient and low-cost transactions.

These two core services complement each other and form the foundation of Flowdesk's business.

ChainCatcher: What new partnerships or project plans does Flowdesk have in 2024? How will these collaborations drive industry development?

Guilhem Chaumont: This year, we became a liquidity provider for Bitcoin ETFs. This achievement not only demonstrates our institutional level of liquidity but also affirms our commitment to regulatory and strict compliance policies. By providing liquidity support for Bitcoin ETFs, we offer investors a more convenient and secure trading environment, promoting the healthy development of the cryptocurrency market.

We look forward to developing similar projects and ultimately participating in other cryptocurrency ETFs.

Opportunities and Challenges in the Asia-Pacific Market: Compliance First, Strategy Wins

ChainCatcher: In your view, what unique opportunities does the Asia-Pacific crypto asset market present? How will Flowdesk seize these opportunities?

Guilhem Chaumont: The Asia-Pacific crypto asset market is undoubtedly a vibrant and potential-filled field, providing numerous unique opportunities for market participants like Flowdesk. This region stands out because it concentrates a large amount of capital and has active venture capital funds, providing rich financing sources for crypto asset projects. Additionally, the large user base in this region shows strong interest and high acceptance of Web 3 applications and blockchain-related products, laying a solid foundation for us to promote and popularize crypto asset services.

Moreover, the Asia-Pacific region plays a crucial role in the gaming and entertainment industry. The gaming industry, as an important application scenario for blockchain technology, has a large number of early adopters and an active user base, which will also be a major driving force for the popularization of blockchain technology, providing a broad market space for market participants like Flowdesk.

These characteristics of the region create an ideal environment for the growth of Web3 projects, and Flowdesk aims to assist these projects in achieving growth and entering the cryptocurrency market.

ChainCatcher: What specific strategic significance does Hong Kong hold for Flowdesk as a potential crypto financial center?

Guilhem Chaumont: As is well known, Hong Kong has a well-established financial infrastructure and a mature regulatory system, providing a solid foundation for the sound development of the cryptocurrency industry. As a company committed to compliant development, Flowdesk finds Hong Kong to be an ideal platform that allows us to better integrate into the international financial market and provide high-quality crypto asset services to more institutions and investors.

Currently, Flowdesk is actively considering expanding its business to Hong Kong and is committed to adhering to compliance and regulated development principles. To this end, Flowdesk is engaging in in-depth discussions with local financial institutions and cryptocurrency practitioners to explore collaborative opportunities together. We will stay close to regulatory agencies to ensure we obtain the necessary licenses for institutional cooperation. In the long term, we may establish an office in Hong Kong to further expand our business and strengthen our connection with the local market.

We are dedicated to providing high-quality crypto asset services to Hong Kong and the broader Asia-Pacific market under the premise of compliance.

ChainCatcher: In the face of challenges in the Asia-Pacific market, such as intensified market competition and changes in regulatory policies, what strategies does Flowdesk have to respond?

Guilhem Chaumont: We will adopt a prudent and rapid development strategy, actively cooperating with regulatory agencies to ensure business compliance and seeking necessary market licenses to maintain a leading position in the competition.