Bobby Ong, the co-founder and COO at CoinGecko, is one of the most important figures in the crypto world at the moment, particularly due to CoinGecko’s success. He is also a research fellow and a renowned author on digital finance. This profile will look into Ong’s successes, why he developed CoinGecko, and a few controversies that surround it. 

Early Life and Education 

Bobby Ong was born in 1989 in Singapore. He completed both his O/A Levels at the Anderson Junior College, Singapore, in 2008. After taking a gap year to discover himself, Ong decided to pursue a degree in Economics and opted for the UK’s prestigious University College London after he won the Sime Darby Foundation Scholarship. 

Discovering Crypto and Seeing a Need

Upon completing his bachelor’s in 2012, Bobby started to closely monitor the Cyprus financial crisis, which became worse in the year 2013, particularly because the Cypriot government failed to implement timely restructuring of the economy. In order to overcome the worsening economic conditions, the government seized assets even from small time savers. 

After seeing what happened in Cyprus, turned out to be an awakening for Bobby because the country’s government also seized assets from those protected under the deposit insurance scheme. This is when Bobby saw the opportunity in Bitcoin and found it to be a better alternative for the people. 

He understood that there was a strong need for people to protect their wealth from being seized, and also it should serve as a good way to hedge against runaway inflation that was happening in countries like Zimbabwe and Argentina. 

The idea for a crypto aggregator 

While Bobby saw potential in Bitcoin he found that there’s a greater need for a platform that can democratize access to crypto data, which can empower users to make actionable insights and decisions. To serve this purpose, there’s no better way to build a crypto aggregator that will provide a 360 overview of the crypto market. 

Creating and Growing Coingecko 

To accomplish his goals, Bobby formed a partnership with TM Lee and founded CoinGecko in April 2014. As CoinGecko provided real-time data on cryptocurrencies, it slowly became popular as it helped to increase the level of understanding of the crypto market within its participants in an easy-to-read manner. 

The reason for CoinGecko’s success is that the platform provides current and historical data on exchange rates & market capitalization. It also places an asset above another based on its overall rating by market cap and volume. Information about the total number of coins in circulation is also provided, along with the latest news about the assets from multiple sources. 

Coingecko’s utility for crypto users 

As CoinGecko provides real-time information without any fee, this data is extremely useful for both traders and investors. It also provides quarterly reports in 5 different languages, which gives an in-depth knowledge of the crypto market and an analysis of what to expect in the next quarter. This has proven to be extremely useful and vital for young investors. 

Additionally, CoinGecko also offers a daily newsletter that provides curated crypto news directly to the inbox. It also has a free public API, a podcast, a DeFi education program, and a portfolio that gives users direct information about their entire crypto portfolio in one place. In June 2023, CoinGecko launched its NFT floor price tracker as well. 

The Future of Crypto Data Aggregation 

The future of crypto data aggregation seems bright, particularly because of a surge in the use of cryptocurrencies. As more people invest in cryptocurrencies and NFTs, they will turn towards crypto aggregators to help themselves navigate around the complex world of cryptocurrencies and the Web 3 market. 

By making inside data out to the public for free, crypto data aggregation also ensures that the entire crypto space remains decentralized as everyone has a fair opportunity to invest or trade them. 

Criticism, Perspectives on Crypto Adoption and Trends

CoinGecko came under suspicion as users reported it deliberately changed the coin’s market cap volume for it to rank above its competitors. Bobby immediately rejected such claims and launched a “Trust score rating” for not just cryptocurrencies but also crypto exchanges the platform ranks. CoinGecko’s trust score is based on liquidity and openness of information.

This is why, in 2020, when CoinMarketCap was acquired by Binance, which is CoinGecko’s biggest rival, many thought this would have a serious implication on CoinGecko’s business. However, the opposite happened, and users turned towards CoinGecko. As per Bobby, this happened because CoinGecko has always remained neutral & independent when giving numbers. 

On the other hand, Bobby has always advocated for the adoption of not just cryptocurrencies but also NFTs, Metaverse, and Decentralized Finance. In his interview with Coindesk, Bobby said both Metaverse and NFTs will become extremely popular in the coming years due to their increase in demand.  

Contact and Social Media

Bobby Ong is currently based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He is currently on his Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn accounts.