We don't have the mindset of wanting to do big things from day one; we want to create something that users really need and can fill a gap for them.

Interview: Nathan, Co-founder of 7UpDAO

Guest: Haze, Co-founder of GMGN

Nathan: What kind of experience did you have before founding GMGN?

Haze:

I didn't attend college. Before entering the crypto space, I worked in a very small place, and to be honest, I didn't have any dreams at that time; I just wanted to make money. At the end of 2017, I accidentally came across news about Bitcoin. At that time, I didn't know exactly what it was useful for, but I thought I could buy a little. Then in 2018, I joined a quantitative trading company that focused on grid trading and started to explore and learn on my own. The first tutorial on grid trading in this industry was written by me at that time. There was a note-taking product called "Jianshu," where I published some tutorials, but unfortunately, they can no longer be found as they have all been taken down.

Nathan: There are rumors in the market that GMGN is backed by Pionex. Is this a project incubated by Pionex?

Haze:

Not at all. GMGN is an independent project. It may have caused some misunderstandings in the industry because some early employees of GMGN, including myself, have worked at Pionex. I worked at Pionex for about three years, focusing on user growth, operations, and customer service. I feel like I've done everything except write code.

Nathan: How did the idea and project of GMGN start?

Haze:

In June 2023, we started working on GMGN. The name GMGN means "Good Morning, Good Night." But when we were looking for direction at the beginning, we discussed other things as well. At that time, the inscriptions in the Bitcoin ecosystem were very popular, and some friends asked us if we should work on BRC-20 related things.

There were already some teams in the market working on BRC-20 wallets and similar tools, but my first feeling was that we shouldn't do it. First of all, inscriptions don't solve anything; they have no cultural appeal or spiritual connotation, just engraving something in the Bitcoin block. Secondly, the trading experience is too poor and slow, with low trading efficiency and asset issuance efficiency, leading to significant liquidity issues. If efficiency doesn't improve, your bubble won't grow. This is similar to the last cycle's NFTs, which will eventually fade away.

But the core posture of the crypto space still revolves around asset issuance and trading. After excluding the direction of inscriptions, I discussed with our product lead that we should work on products related to Meme coins in the Ethereum ecosystem. So, in June 2023, the first chain GMGN connected to was Eth, focusing on the entry point of "smart money tracking." But as everyone knows, Ethereum has never really thrived, so we started to shift to Solana in March 2024.

Why shift to Solana? Do you remember the "Shiba Inu" coin in January 2024, the DePin-related Mobile in February, and Bome in March? I participated (bought) in all these coins. I had experience voting with money, and I concluded that the capital and trend of Meme coins would ultimately happen on Solana. So I communicated and discussed with the team, and they had done a lot of research as well; our internal understanding was aligned.

Nathan: When switching from Eth to Solana, did you consider what potential risks you might encounter in the decision-making process? Were there any risks you were worried about that you hadn't thought of?

Haze:

Internally, we were also conflicted, mainly about the cost of time. Everyone was worried that if we spent another two months developing on Solana and it also cooled down, what would we do? That would be very demoralizing. But what ultimately convinced us was that after doing Ethereum Meme for so long, we saw that all the "hunters" on-chain were not as strong as the momentum in the Solana ecosystem, so we made up our minds to go for it.

Nathan: From your perspective, what were the significant natural growth and explosive moments GMGN experienced from 0 to now that made you strongly feel that you made the right bet?

Haze:

First, after switching from Ethereum to the Solana ecosystem, we have been steadily growing overall, which is the first successful step in decision-making; secondly, we launched the "Mouse Warehouse" feature in July and August 2024, which gave us a clear sense of natural growth and explosion. At the same time, Pump.fun also started to gain popularity; then in November 2024, Binance launched ACT and Pnut, which also helped educate the on-chain market.

Nathan: I feel that your product iteration logic is "bottom-up," starting from how product tools can meet user pain points to find the priorities for iteration. If a big company were to make similar products, it might become "top-down" product planning, emphasizing how to make transactions smoother and how to modularize the product to make it look more structured and scalable, rather than addressing user pain points for small iterative improvements.

Haze:

Yes, this is also related to our team's DNA. We don't have the mindset of wanting to do big things from day one. We think about what we want to create that users really need, something they can use and that can fill a gap for them. Another point is that we naturally don't have many resources and don't have the ability to support doing something huge from day one.

Nathan: How many people were on your team at the beginning? How many are there now?

Haze:

Initially, there were about 9 or 10 people; now there are more than 30, mostly in product and technology. Internally, I am a co-founder, and our product lead is the CEO and founder. He manages the product, I manage sales and branding, and we don't handle anything else as we don't have the energy to do so.

Nathan: What proactive operations and growth strategies have you implemented?

Haze:

We precisely identified the "dog-fighting" KOLs and "dog-fighting" communities and recommended GMGN to them. This resource is something I have accumulated over time; I have been on the front line of "dog-fighting," and I know which KOLs truly have strength. Some of them I met during the NFT era. But we didn't reach out to push "commissions." Because they all have strong earning capabilities, they don't need to rely on commissions; they care more about whether using your tool can help them earn more money. So our focus in collaboration is whether we can help them with timely iterations based on their needs.

Nathan: Have you thought about what the ultimate form of GMGN is? At what stage is GMGN currently in the process of moving towards that ultimate form?

Haze:

We don't really think about the "ultimate form" because changes on-chain happen too quickly. We only think about what features to iterate on next week. Our team focuses on whether this feature can be implemented, whether this thing can be done. If I think it can be done, but the product team thinks it can't, we will debate it and ultimately see whether it should be done.

Nathan: What do you think about the revenue structure? Will you issue tokens?

Haze:

Currently, our only source of revenue is transaction fees. If we face more intense competition in the future, we will consider whether we need to engage in a price war. But at the moment, this is not a priority for us to change.

As for issuing tokens, to be honest, we are still discussing it internally and haven't formed a final opinion. If we issue tokens, one of our concerns is whether users will pay more attention to the token price and neglect using our product. If product stickiness becomes insignificant due to token issuance, we believe that would be counterproductive.

Nathan: What have you learned from the past battles of NFT trading platforms, even though NFTs are now in decline?

Haze:

Whether it's OpenSea, Blur, or other competing platforms back then, I think the core issue is not about issuing tokens but about the self-indulgence in facing user needs. You can choose not to issue tokens, but you must improve the product and pay close attention to user needs. In fact, once users get used to a platform, it's challenging to pull them away. How far do you have to fall to force users to leave? Another example is BitMEX, the earliest derivatives exchange in the crypto space. When I was trading coins back then, it was the interface I used. I remember there were suggestions in the community to change the interface or create an app, but they ignored it, and now they have fallen from being a leader in derivatives trading to a very low position. We see that every innovator or leader in a trend falls because they no longer pay attention to user needs.

Nathan: How do you think you can maintain your and your team's hunger? Besides GMGN, what other product and opportunity tracks are you currently paying attention to?

Haze:

I think you need to keep an eye on new things and not have biases. Just try out whatever is new; if you happen to find something that solves user pain points, then you should try to create it.

Besides GMGN, I am particularly interested in the Payfi field. I believe that cross-border payments with cryptocurrencies can solve significant problems, but I haven't figured out the most correct form of implementation or the best entry point yet. It seems challenging at the moment, and I need to think more about it. But even if you don't do it yourself, if you can clarify this problem and come up with an answer, that would be a cool thing.

Nathan: When do you think on-chain transactions will surpass CEX transaction volumes? What are your major judgments about the industry in the coming years?

Haze:

I believe the next four years will be the golden years for the crypto market. Trump issuing a coin as the President of the United States is also a way of acknowledging the legitimacy of crypto; it is no longer a gray area. Additionally, Elon Musk, as a crypto-friendly figure, interacts very frequently with Trump, which is unprecedented in the history of the crypto space. Therefore, the four years of Trump's administration will be a golden period and also the best period for liquidity.

Currently, the trading scale of on-chain assets is $130 billion; by November 2024, this number was only $40 billion. In just two months, it surged from $40 billion to $130 billion. In the next year, the trading scale of on-chain assets is very likely to exceed $1 trillion, which means that when it surpasses CEX trading volumes, there will be more wealth effects emerging.

Nathan: By the way, what year were you born, and what is your zodiac sign? What do you usually do outside of work?

Haze:

I was born in August 1987, Leo. I have been in Singapore for four years now. When I took the MBTI test two years ago, I was an "I" type. In my spare time, I enjoy soaking up the sun, sweating, and playing tennis with a coach.

免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。