Hong Yea's GRVT Processes $5 Billion in Trading Volume Four Months After Launch

Hong Yea, a former executive director at Goldman Sachs, left his decade-long career to launch a hybrid crypto exchange, GRVT, amidst the market collapse in late 2022. This move was driven by the implosion of FTX, which crystallized the need for a decentralized trading platform that could avoid the systemic failures of centralized counterparties. Yea's conviction was tested as he built GRVT from scratch, aiming to fuse institutional-grade speed and compliance with the decentralization ethos of Web3.

Just four months after its public mainnet launch, GRVT has processed over $5 billion in trading volume. It is the first licensed decentralized exchange (DEX) under Bermuda’s Class M framework, bridging the rigor of Wall Street with the permissionless infrastructure of blockchain. Yea's pivot to blockchain was not sudden; he had spent years at Goldman Sachs observing the limitations of walled gardens and the potential of decentralized finance (DeFi) to scale with proper risk controls and compliance.

GRVT is designed as a hybrid platform, separating matching and risk logic off-chain from settlement and custody on-chain. This allows users to experience the speed of centralized venues without ceding control of their assets. Every trade is executed with sub-millisecond latency but settled on-chain via smart contracts that never touch user funds. Users sign trades cryptographically using SecureKey technology, which combines multi-party computation (MPC) with biometrics for maximum safety, while onboarding feels like traditional Web2—email, password, and two-factor authentication (2FA).

Behind the scenes, GRVT’s zero-knowledge chain ensures privacy while keeping settlements transparent. The platform allows users to instantly rehypothecate margin across markets, an edge even legacy prime brokerages rarely offer. GRVT’s “CeDeFi” architecture combines off-chain order matching and risk management with on-chain self-custodial settlement using a private zk-powered Validium chain. This design eliminates intermediaries, avoids on-chain custody fees, and enables users to maintain sole control of their assets.

GRVT’s explosive growth was engineered through raw performance, ecosystem incentives, and early partnerships. Its matching engine operates with latency under 10 milliseconds, outpacing Ethereum-based DEXs, Solana, and even newer Layer 2 solutions. The platform rewards market makers, community contributors, and liquidity providers, creating a balanced, multi-stakeholder system. More than 40 institutions, including top prime brokers, now trade on GRVT, injecting deep liquidity from day one.

In a post-FTX playing field, the timing for GRVT is opportune. Retail users demand transparency; institutions demand compliance. GRVT meets both demands without compromise. While most DEXs attempt to dodge regulation, GRVT leaned in, becoming the world’s first licensed DEX under Bermuda’s Digital Asset framework. The platform treats compliance as code, enforcing KYC and trade surveillance at the protocol level. GRVT is now in active discussions with regulators across Asia, Europe, and North America, working toward multi-jurisdictional licensing for a globally compliant rollout.

Yea sees a future where tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), including equities, funds, and institutional strategies, trade peer-to-peer (P2P) on a decentralized, composable platform. While some in traditional finance remain skeptical of crypto, the institutional tide is turning. The window is reopening with regulatory frameworks in Europe, Asia, and a softening tone in North America. Wall Street is warming up, but this time, institutions will come to integrate, not dominate. Building long-term trust on a blockchain may seem like a leap for a trader who once priced risk in microseconds, but for Hong Yea, it was a calculated trade—and so far, it is paying off.