Ep.69E Charles d'Haussy: Trust, Tech and Trading with dYdX

A deep dive conversation with Charles, CEO of the dYdX Foundation, exploring his journey from early Bitcoin adoption to leading one of DeFi's most prominent protocols. Charles shares insights on Hong Kong's crypto ecosystem, dYdX's evolution, and the future of decentralized derivatives trading.

Key Topics & Timestamps:

00:39 - Personal Background & Early Crypto Journey

- Charles' 18-year experience in Hong Kong

- First Bitcoin purchase on Taobao in 2011

- Early exposure to peer-to-peer computing

02:53 - Professional Evolution

- Entry into Ethereum ecosystem in 2015

- Role as Head of Fintech for Hong Kong government

- Experience at Consensus, leading Asian operations

- Work on CBDCs with various central banks

06:05 - dYdX Foundation Leadership

- Current role as CEO of dYdX Foundation

- Foundation structure and team composition (20 people)

- Focus areas: governance, BD, solutions, marketing

26:49 - dYdX Foundation Operations

- Governance team managing 200+ votes in past 12 months

- Business development for institutional and retail partnerships

- Solutions team for technical integrations

- Marketing and brand management

39:21 - dYdX Unlimited Features

- Launch after 12 months of blockchain development

- Instant market listing capability (180 trading pairs)

- Introduction of Mega Vault for liquidity provision

- Focus on sustainable APR (20-30%)

48:56 - Competition & Market Analysis

- Discussion of Hyperliquid and market competition

- Comparison of centralized vs. decentralized exchanges

- Analysis of perps market (97% CEX, 3% DeFi)

- Impact of regulatory licenses on market dynamics

59:46 - AI Integration & Future Outlook

- Welcoming AI agents to dYdX ecosystem

- Discussion of DeepSeek and AI in trading

- Potential for AI training on DeFi data

- Open-source nature of blockchain data

Notable Quotes:

"Crypto is finance and finance is a trust business... The trust cannot be in the air. The trust needs to anchor somewhere." - Charles on trust in DeFi

Key Insights:

1. The perps trading market is 10x larger than spot trading

2. Only 2-3% of perps trading is currently on-chain

3. Regulatory licenses are pushing more traders toward DeFi platforms

4. dYdX's focus on risk management and sustainable growth

Background Reading:

- "Block Kong" - Charles' book about Hong Kong's crypto ecosystem (2021)

Follow-up Links:

- charlesdhaussy.com

- Charles' Twitter

- Charles's LinkedIn

- dYdX Twitter