Article Author: Ada, MetaEra

Peter Drucker said, "The shift of the times aligns perfectly with the qualities of women."

As Drucker's prophecy comes to life, we find that from technology to finance, from art to business, the presence of women is increasingly seen at the forefront of various fields. They are writing their own legendary stories with unique perspectives and resilient determination.

Today's protagonist is Annabelle, CEO of Altius. Her journey is not only a legend of personal growth but also a vivid reflection of the rise of female power in the tide of the times.

From Wall Street to Crypto Finance

In 2011, Annabelle entered Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), ranked 20th in the world, to study mathematics and finance.

The reason she chose a STEM field, Annabelle says, is largely influenced by her family. Her father worked in finance, while her mother studied physics and structural engineering in construction. This exposure fostered Annabelle's strong interest in STEM. She also admits that her experience at CMU laid the groundwork for several career transitions later on.

After graduation, Annabelle entered Wall Street, working at Deutsche Bank and Nomura Securities due to her outstanding academic performance.

"My experience on Wall Street quickly broadened my horizons and accumulated industry experience and insights. However, for me, it was a path where I could clearly see the endgame." With increasing financial regulations, Annabelle felt that there was limited room for innovation in traditional financial institutional products. "At that time, I was thinking about whether I could try some new fields," she said.

Heaven may always favor those with dreams, and soon, the opportunity came.

The ICO wave in 2017 brought "crypto finance" into the spotlight for many. At that time, several of Annabelle's university alumni founded the decentralized exchange AirSwap, where they introduced her to blockchain and the Ethereum ecosystem, extending an olive branch to her.

Without much hesitation, Annabelle gladly accepted the invitation.

In 2018, Annabelle officially joined AirSwap as the head of Asia, responsible for expanding the Asian market. This transition marked her formal entry into the crypto finance field.

At AirSwap, Annabelle gained an in-depth understanding of the operational mechanisms and technical challenges of decentralized finance (DeFi), especially the potential and limitations of blockchain technology in terms of trading efficiency and security. She realized the lag in traditional finance during the clearing and trading processes and was determined to leverage blockchain technology to expand the application scenarios of traditional finance. This vision also laid the groundwork for her later joining Amber Group.

Enjoying the Journey from 0 to 1, Innovation Sparks Passion

As the interview deepened, it became increasingly evident that Annabelle was not just working but was constantly thinking and creating, enjoying the process from 0 to 1.

By the end of 2018, the industry was generally facing a lack of on-chain liquidity, with no market makers willing to invest in on-chain trading. After evaluation, Annabelle wanted to leverage her background and experience in investment banking to build a liquidity provider to supply liquidity to decentralized trading platforms, prompting her to seek another transition.

Fortunately, she encountered the Amber Group team during her work at AirSwap. Through multiple communications, Annabelle found that Amber Group aligned with her philosophy, and the founding team shared similar backgrounds: graduates from prestigious American universities, working in Wall Street investment banks, and later transitioning to the crypto finance field. "Most importantly, we share a common vision and development direction for the future, and we are all committed to bridging traditional finance and crypto finance," Annabelle said. "So I decided to join forces with the founding team of Amber Group to create a globally leading financial service provider in the blockchain industry."

During her six years at Amber Group, Annabelle led the team in developing new products from 0 to 1, expanding new businesses, and creating new brands. In her words, "Amber has basically tried all the businesses that can be done in this field, from initially making hedge fund products to later making liquidity-related secondary market trading products, and even primary market investments and incubation. I believe it has become a mature and stable platform."

At this point, she also began to consider stepping back. "I personally prefer building from 0 to 1, including trying out new businesses, new products, and new technologies."

Thus, Annabelle gradually stepped back from Amber Group and founded Altius Labs in 2024.

In traditional blockchain systems, the monolithic execution layer architecture and interoperability design have significant limitations, leading to issues such as network congestion, high transaction costs, and insufficient scalability. Annabelle founded Altius Labs with the hope of fundamentally solving these problems by developing a modular execution stack that is independent of virtual machines (VM).

"Sustainability" is More Important

As a female leader who enjoys challenging herself, Annabelle candidly admits that while the crypto finance industry has helped her achieve her dreams, it has also placed high demands on her.

In the face of significant industry changes and market volatility, maintaining rationality and calmly thinking through and addressing issues is not easy, which tests her emotional control abilities.

"In the early days of entrepreneurship, I felt like I was sprinting a hundred meters every day. At that time, I was quite impatient and always hoped to see results in the short term," Annabelle said. "However, after experiencing several industry cycles, I now consider 'sustainability' more and seek a long-term effective way of working and living."

Although she still prioritizes "work," she no longer focuses solely on "execution" and "quick results" as she did in the early days; instead, she engages in more "thinking" and "evaluation."

Not only for herself, but she also conveys this philosophy to her team: "When encountering issues, rather than responding and executing immediately, it is more important to accurately assess the severity and importance of the situation, including prioritization. I believe this is crucial; it is better to spend more time evaluating."

Despite the high demands placed on female leaders in the crypto industry, Annabelle states that she can maintain a positive mindset when facing challenges and difficulties, which she considers a valuable quality that allows her to continue progressing on her difficult entrepreneurial journey. Besides enjoying challenges, she is also someone who likes to identify and solve problems. "This might be related to my INTJ personality traits," she said with a smile.

The Best Way to Learn: Try

Annabelle expresses her strong optimism about the future of the Web3 industry and is willing to work with her team to delve deeper and try more in this field.

Encouragingly, she has seen more and more young women entering this industry, with opportunities to become independent female leaders.

"From my observations, including the female leaders around me and the women in my team, they seem to adapt better to this volatile market. They do not show particularly excited emotions during the industry's boom, nor do they feel down during the industry's trough. In contrast, their emotions remain relatively stable," Annabelle said. "I think this is an advantage of women in this field, and they can also more keenly capture changes in others' emotions and have better empathy."

Annabelle also encourages more young women to enter this industry. From her own experience, she summarizes: "The best way to learn is to try, whether it's joining a mature company to accumulate industry experience, joining a startup team to ride the wave of the times, or starting your own business. Don't miss any opportunity. Regardless of success or failure, it is all part of growth."

Of course, in this process, one is bound to encounter difficulties and challenges, even failures. At this time, one must "maintain a good mindset, accumulate experience, and continue to prepare for the next battle."

Finally, Annabelle offers some advice for young women on selecting companies. She believes that the quality of the team in early-stage companies should be prioritized, and integrity, honesty, and positive motivation are standards that must not be compromised. These are even more important than the overall business direction.

About Annabelle:

Annabelle Huang is the co-founder and CEO of Altius, a blockchain infrastructure company dedicated to enhancing performance at the execution layer for blockchain. Previously, Annabelle led Amber Group, a cryptocurrency liquidity provider with billions of dollars in assets. Before joining Amber, Annabelle served as the head of Asia for AirSwap, one of the earliest decentralized exchanges on Ethereum. Prior to entering the digital asset field, she worked at Deutsche Bank as a structured products specialist in foreign exchange, providing structured solutions and risk management advice to private equity funds, U.S. corporations, and hedge funds.