Julian Koh is the co-founder and CEO of Aevo, a decentralized derivatives change that has processed greater than $100 billion in buying and selling quantity. His journey started when he left Cornell to pursue cryptocurrency analysis earlier than constructing his profession at a machine studying agency, a crypto hedge fund, and Coinbase. That call ultimately led him to co-found Ribbon Finance in 2020, which was later rebuilt as Aevo
Who Is Julian Koh?
Julian Koh spent his childhood in each Malaysia and Singapore earlier than shifting to the USA for faculty. He studied pc science at Cornell, then left after two years to give attention to cryptocurrency analysis. Throughout a niche yr, he labored part-time at Numerai, a San Francisco agency utilizing crowdsourced machine studying to commerce markets, for about seven months, an early publicity to the intersection of quantitative modeling and monetary markets that may form his later work.
From Numerai, Koh joined Metastable Capital, a crypto hedge fund, as a advisor monitoring market developments. He then labored as a software program engineer at Coinbase on crypto integrations, custody, and staking, giving him firsthand perception into how a significant change manages infrastructure at scale.
Constructing aspect tasks with a roommate there gave him the arrogance to depart in November 2020 and co-found Ribbon Finance with Ken Chan, a fellow former Coinbase engineer who had additionally labored at Zilliqa.
Koh spent most of his twenties constructing and investing in crypto relatively than pursuing a traditional finance profession, backing greater than 40 early-stage startups and a handful of enterprise funds alongside his work at Ribbon Finance and Aevo. His path from engineer to founder is widespread among the many builders coated in our crypto personalities hub.
Julian Koh’s Profession and Contributions
Koh has constructed one firm that modified form twice: from a DeFi yield protocol right into a full derivatives change.
Ribbon Finance and the DOV Mannequin
Ribbon Finance launched in November 2020 round decentralized choices vaults, or DOVs, letting customers generate yield by promoting name or put choices towards their crypto holdings. Its flagship product, Ribbon Earn, paired choices promoting with fixed-income methods to clean out returns. Koh served as co-founder and CEO, with Ken Chan as co-founder and CTO.
The protocol grew shortly in 2021, holding greater than $300 million in whole worth locked at its peak, and closed a $75 million Collection B led by Paradigm in March 2022, after an $8.75 million Collection A the prior yr.
The Aevo Rebrand
In July 2023, Ribbon’s group voted to merge the protocol into Aevo, a Layer 2 order-book change for choices and perpetual futures constructed on the OP Stack, aimed toward competing extra instantly with centralized platforms. Holders of the previous RBN token acquired an equal quantity of the brand new AEVO token, and Aevo has since reported cumulative buying and selling quantity above $100 billion.
Latest Developments
Aevo saved including buying and selling incentives into 2026, together with a rewards program that gave out 1 million AEVO to merchants in April. The platform additionally labored by means of the fallout from a 2025 exploit of Ribbon’s legacy vaults, which shut them down and providing a restoration plan to affected customers. Koh stays listed as co-founder and CEO all through, per his LinkedIn profile.
Julian Koh’s Views and Positions
Koh has spoken typically about self-custody and DeFi transparency for the reason that 2022 crypto lending collapses. In an October 2022 interview with Jason Choi on The Blockcrunch Podcast, Koh pointed to that yr’s failed centralized lenders as proof that individuals ought to maintain their very own keys as a substitute of trusting platforms that promise yield. He additionally pointed to the shortage of oversight at these corporations as a key purpose funds have been mismanaged, arguing that DeFi’s clear, on-chain design made such hidden dangers tougher to hide.
Koh additionally argued that the DOV market was troublesome to face out in, since most protocols competed for a similar small group of market makers. In that 2022 interview, he predicted charges would maintain falling as competitors elevated, one purpose he gave for Ribbon’s transfer towards constructing its personal change relatively than remaining a yield product.
By early 2024, Koh’s framing had transitioned towards choices buying and selling as the subsequent development space for decentralized exchanges. In a January 2024 episode of 0xResearch, he mentioned pre-launch futures markets have been an efficient option to purchase customers forward of a token launch, and described plans to make Aevo a cross-chain change relatively than a single-chain product, arguing that liquidity fragmented throughout chains was one of many greater unsolved issues for derivatives buying and selling in DeFi.
Julian Koh within the Information
Aevo hasn’t had a clean trip since 2025. A $2.7 million exploit hit legacy Ribbon vaults that yr, after an oracle improve left a niche that permit somebody manipulate pricing on newly added property, in line with CoinMarketCap.
Aevo’s response didn’t go over effectively with everybody. The platform proposed a restoration plan that lower roughly 19% from what affected depositors might declare again, and customers pushed again exhausting on social media over the haircut. The excellent news for energetic merchants is that Aevo’s core Layer 2 change was by no means touched by the exploit. The legacy vaults themselves have been shut down afterward and are not dwell.
Often Requested Questions
Nonetheless curious concerning the individual behind Ribbon Finance and Aevo? These are the questions readers ask most frequently.
The place is Julian Koh from?
Koh grew up between Malaysia and Singapore earlier than shifting to the USA to attend Cornell College, the place he studied pc science earlier than leaving after two years.
Who co-founded Ribbon Finance with Julian Koh?
Ken Chan co-founded Ribbon Finance alongside Koh in November 2020. Chan, who additionally beforehand labored as an engineer at Coinbase and at Zilliqa, has served as Aevo’s co-founder and CTO for the reason that 2023 rebrand.
What’s the distinction between Ribbon Finance and Aevo?
Ribbon Finance was Koh’s authentic DeFi protocol, centered on decentralized choices vaults that generated yield for customers. In July 2023, the Ribbon group voted to merge the venture into Aevo, a Layer 2 change for choices and perpetual futures.
What’s Julian Koh engaged on now?
Koh continues to steer Aevo as co-founder and CEO, overseeing the change’s choices and perpetual futures merchandise in addition to its ongoing buying and selling incentive packages.
What occurred to Ribbon Finance’s legacy vaults?
In 2025, Ribbon’s legacy decentralized choices vaults have been exploited for about $2.7 million after an oracle improve allowed value manipulation on newly added property. Aevo’s essential change was unaffected, and the vaults have been decommissioned afterward.