GRVT Hits $5 Billion: Former Goldman Exec Pioneers Hybrid Exchange After FTX Crisis

GRVT co-founder Hong Yea left his rising executive career at Goldman Sachs to launch a hybrid crypto exchange during market collapse.

Four months after mainnet launch, the platform processed over $5 billion in trading volume. Yea shared with BeInCrypto how the Wall Street platform helped him build a robust decentralized exchange.

A Leap of Trust in a Burning Market

When Hong Yea left his decade-long career at Goldman Sachs, where he had advanced to an executive director position, the crypto market was in free fall. was the end of 2022, and a had just collapsed.<<>

"FTX clarified our argument. Centralized partners are the the single point system failure. We saw that and built GRVT to be the opposite," yBe>eInCrypto in an interview.

That trust would be tested. While his former colleagues moved to to management positions and received larger bonuses, Yea built a new generation exchange from scratch. An exchange combining organizational-level speed and compliance with Web3's decentralized spirit.

Today, just four public mainnet launch,rvt has processedprocesshas processed over $5 billion in trading volume.

This is the firstentralDElicensed under Berm's M framework and one of few platforms connecting Wall Street's rigor with blockchain's permissionless infrastructure.

"We are not a niche. We are a bridge. Small retail investors want safety, institutions want access. We provide a platform where both can trade on the same level," Yea added.

While most DEXs try to avoid regulation, GRVT has stepped up. It became the first DEX in the world licensed under Bermuda's digital asset framework.

"We consider compliance as code. Our chain enforces KYC and monitors transactions at the protocol level. It's not just policy—it cannot be broken," Yea emphasized.

According to the report, GRVT is currently actively discussing with regulators across Asia, Europe, and North America, aiming for multi-regional licensing to implement global compliance. Yea believes that accepting this regulation is not a limitation but an important factor.

"Rules are not the enemy—they are the gateway to institutional trust," he said.

Meanwhile, GRVT's vision does not stop at cryptocurrency trading. Yea sees a future where real-world assets (RWAs), including stocks, funds, and organizational strategies, can be combined with peer-to-peer (P2P) trading on a decentralized platform.

Wall Street is Watching

While some in traditional finance (TradFi) remain skeptical about cryptocurrency, the institutional wave is changing. Opportunities are opening up with MiCA (Markets in Crypto Assets) in Europe, Hong Kong's digital asset push, and a softer regulatory tone in the US.

"Wall Street is warming up. However, this time, they will come not to dominate, but to integrate," Yea concluded.

Building long-term trust on blockchain might seem like a leap for a trader who once calculated risk in millionths of a second. However, for Hong Yea, it is a calculated trade—and so far, it is paying off.