Bobby Ong is the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CoinGecko, a major cryptocurrency data aggregator. He previously served as the company's Chief Operating Officer (COO) for over a decade before assuming the CEO role in August 2025. ^{[1] [2]}

Early Life

Bobby Ong was born in Singapore in 1989 and is a Malaysian national. His interest in decentralized finance and cryptocurrencies was significantly influenced by the 2013 Cyprus financial crisis. Observing the government's seizure of citizen assets during the bailout served as a pivotal moment, highlighting the potential of systems like Bitcoin to protect individual wealth from centralized control and serve as a hedge against inflation. This event reportedly catalyzed his entry into the cryptocurrency space. ^{[3] [4]}

Education

Ong attended Anderson Junior College in Singapore, completing his O/A Levels in 2008. He subsequently won the Sime Darby Foundation Scholarship, which supported his higher education. From 2009 to 2012, he studied at University College London (UCL), where he earned a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Economics. In addition to his formal education, Ong later became a Research Fellow at the Singapore University of Social Sciences, contributing to academic research in the fields of blockchain and digital finance. ^{[3] [5] [6] [14]}

Career

After graduating from University College London in 2012, Bobby Ong began exploring the nascent cryptocurrency industry. In April 2014, he co-founded CoinGecko with TM Lee, initially as a side project, and took on the role of Chief Operating Officer (COO). In this capacity, Ong was responsible for shaping the company's business strategy, scaling its operations, and expanding its global presence. While building CoinGecko in its early years, he also worked as a Digital Marketing Manager at Sime Darby Property Berhad from 2015 to 2017. Over the next decade, Ong's leadership as COO was instrumental in growing CoinGecko from a small project into a platform used by millions of people daily. He also oversaw the expansion of its crypto data API, which became a critical piece of infrastructure for numerous exchanges, wallets, and financial institutions.

On August 18, 2025, CoinGecko announced a strategic leadership transition. Ong was appointed Chief Executive Officer, succeeding TM Lee, who moved into the role of President to focus on long-term product vision and research. According to Lee, Ong's "strategic foresight, operational excellence, and deep understanding of the crypto ecosystem" made him the ideal leader for the company's next phase of growth. In his new role, Ong is tasked with leading CoinGecko's expansion, with a particular focus on its enterprise and developer-focused services. ^{[1] [2] [7] [5] [14]}

Founding of CoinGecko

Ong and TM Lee launched CoinGecko in early 2014 to address what they perceived as a lack of reliable and transparent data in the cryptocurrency market. The platform was created to provide a comprehensive, 360-degree overview of digital assets, tracking not only price, volume, and market capitalization but also metrics like community growth, open-source code development, major events, and on-chain data. The company was bootstrapped and has maintained its independence, a factor Ong believes contributed to its significant user growth, particularly after its main competitor, CoinMarketCap, was acquired by the cryptocurrency exchange Binance in 2020.

Under Ong's operational leadership, CoinGecko introduced several features to enhance market transparency. One notable innovation was the "Trust Score," a rating algorithm launched in response to concerns about fake trading volumes reported by exchanges. The Trust Score provides a more holistic ranking of exchanges by evaluating liquidity, trading activity, cybersecurity measures, and other factors, rather than relying solely on self-reported volume. ^{[9] [3] [8]}

Views and Philosophy

Having been active in the industry since 2013, Ong has experienced multiple market cycles and often shares a long-term perspective. He is a proponent of the "BUIDL" mentality, which emphasizes continuous development and building products regardless of market conditions. He has stated that he views bear markets as an opportunity to "BUIDL in peace" with a more focused community and fewer distractions. ^[7]

Ong frequently educates his followers on security, describing the crypto space as "a very dangerous and adversarial place" and advising on best practices to avoid theft. He also maintains a user-centric approach to product development, publicly soliciting feedback from the community to guide new features on CoinGecko. In an interview, he expressed his belief that the Metaverse and NFTs would become increasingly popular due to rising demand. ^[3]

In a statement regarding his appointment as CEO, Ong reiterated the company's core values:

"TM and I started CoinGecko with a shared vision to empower the decentralized future. It’s been a privilege to build alongside him from day one, cultivating a user-first culture rooted in transparency and integrity. These values will continue to guide us forward." ^[2]

Controversy

CoinGecko faced accusations from some users that it deliberately altered a coin's market capitalization data to rank it above its competitors. Ong rejected these claims. In response to such concerns about data integrity across the industry, the company developed and launched its "Trust Score" system as a more transparent method for evaluating exchanges and assets, focusing on verifiable liquidity and data openness rather than just reported volume. ^[3]

Publications and Academic Work

In addition to his role at CoinGecko, Ong is an author and researcher. He is a contributing author to academic books on digital finance, having written chapters for two publications by Elsevier and ScienceDirect. ^[6]

His published works include:

• Chapter 5 of the Handbook of Digital Currency, 1st Edition.
• Chapters 8 and 9 of the Handbook of Blockchain, Digital Finance, and Inclusion, 1st Edition.

Ong is also a prolific writer on the CoinGecko platform, where he authors articles and market analysis. His content has evolved from educational tutorials and product reviews in the platform's early years to in-depth market commentary. He regularly publishes a monthly analysis series titled "Bobby’s Crypto Aggregate," which covers macroeconomic trends, political events affecting crypto, and specific protocol analyses. ^[8]

Awards and Recognition

In 2019, Bobby Ong was recognized for his contributions to the technology and finance sectors by being named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list. He is also a frequent speaker at industry conferences, having presented on topics such as the state of crypto markets in Asia at events like the Invest: Asia conference. ^[10]

Interviews

Tokenizing the World with CoinGecko #01

On April 6, 2023, Bobby Ong participated in an interview on The Rollup YouTube channel, where he outlined the development of CoinGecko and presented his views on the broader process of tokenization. He described how CoinGecko, founded in 2014, evolved from a modest data aggregator into a platform that monitors a wide range of cryptocurrencies and exchanges.

During the conversation, Ong noted the growing complexity of digital asset markets, particularly with the expansion of decentralized finance (DeFi) and trading across multiple blockchains. He explained that these changes led to the introduction of GeckoTerminal, a tool created to deliver real-time information and analytics on over a million tokens across numerous decentralized exchanges and blockchain networks. Ong stated that GeckoTerminal was developed to support greater data accessibility and to provide features intended to help users identify risks in a rapidly expanding market.

He also remarked that “everything that can be tokenized, will,” pointing to a scenario in which billions of tokens may eventually represent diverse forms of ownership and value. Ong connected his interest in crypto to perceived vulnerabilities in traditional finance, mentioning issues such as bank runs, government intervention, and inflationary policies. In his view, decentralized systems like Bitcoin offer an alternative framework through fixed supply and distributed governance. The interview concluded with Ong’s expectation that tokenization could reshape economic structures and models of governance. ^[15]

Behind the Crypto Curtains #02

On June 5, 2024, Bobby Ong participated in an interview on the YouTube channel The Defiant. As CoinGecko’s co-founder and COO, he described how the platform’s decision to focus on data aggregation was shaped by regulatory uncertainty surrounding the classification of digital assets. He explained that this environment made services such as exchanges or wallets more complex from a compliance standpoint, leading CoinGecko to concentrate on providing market data.

During the discussion, Ong addressed the Solana blockchain, noting its low-cost and fast transactions, which he considered useful for retail users in developing regions. He remarked that Solana maintained activity after the collapse of FTX, supported by its community and foundation, and identified its mobile user experience as a factor that distinguishes it from Ethereum and its Layer 2 networks. Ong contrasted Solana’s integrated design with Ethereum’s more fragmented model, where users often interact with multiple scaling solutions.

He also commented on the broader blockchain landscape, observing the existence of multiple chains with limited activity, which he referred to as “zombie chains.” In his view, long-term sustainability requires ongoing engagement from both developers and users. Ong further noted the trend of tokenizing physical assets and anticipated broader adoption toward the end of 2024. He concluded by mentioning CoinGecko’s development of Gecko Terminal, a tool intended to track decentralized exchange activity across a wide range of tokens and blockchains. ^[16]