KuCoin Founder and Exchange: The Rise and Fall of a Tech Geek to the 'People's Exchange' and High-Risk Offshore Giant

1. Overview of Individuals and Exchange Structure

(1) KuCoin is a centralized cryptocurrency exchange that started in China, moved to Singapore, and later registered primarily in Seychelles. KuCoin officially launched in 2017, branding itself as the "People’s Exchange," focusing on long-tail assets and high-frequency listings.

(2) In publicly available English materials, the core founders and co-founders primarily revolve around three individuals: Chun "Michael" Gan, Ke "Eric" Tang, and Johnny Lyu, who later became the actual leader.

Early official materials and media reports have differing accounts regarding the list of founders, leading to inconsistencies.

(3) In terms of power and narrative structure, Michael was mainly responsible for early technology and overall strategy, Eric and Ke Tang leaned more towards backend compliance and system architecture, while Johnny gradually rose from the business and operations side to become the main representative of the exchange during a period of increased regulatory pressure.

2. Founding Structure and the Question of "Who Counts as a Founder"

(1) Some official and third-party materials state that KuCoin was "founded by Chun Gan, Ke Tang, Johnny Lyu, and others," while others mention "founded by Michael Gan and Eric Don, also known as Ke Tang, with others as core team members."

Some materials also list early executives like Top Lan, Kent Li, John Lee, Jack Zhu, and Linda Lin, indicating a clear inconsistency in the founding team list.

(2) From a technical and code origin perspective, multiple English sources indicate that Gan and Tang began writing the underlying architecture and matching engine for the future exchange as early as 2013, with KuCoin officially launching in 2017.

This narrative is consistent across different sources, indicating that the two were among the earliest technical and institutional founders of KuCoin.

(3) Johnny Lyu is described by several sources as a "co-founder and CEO."

Relevant materials emphasize that he has been involved in product, listing, and business development since 2017, and became KuCoin Global CEO after 2020.

In terms of actual role, he resembles a hybrid figure of a "second-tier founding partner" and a "professional manager."

3. Michael Gan: Early Years, Education, and Technical Path

(1) Regarding his family and upbringing, authoritative English and Chinese sources have disclosed little about his parents' professions, family class, and economic conditions, with limited public information available.

Currently, it can only be confirmed that he has stated he was a tech enthusiast from a young age and began engaging with the internet and programming early on.

(2) Multiple English biographies mention that he started learning programming at age 8, attempted his first startup at 16, and became one of the first users of NetEase's personal homepage service in 1998.

These experiences show he was long influenced by China's early internet culture and technological environment.

(3) Regarding his educational background, a consistent statement is that he attended Chengdu University of Technology.

The specific major and degree obtained have not been disclosed, indicating limited public information, but it can be generally inferred that he has an engineering or technical educational background rather than a traditional finance background.

(4) In his early career, he served as the lead developer and co-founder at Missyi Inc., primarily developing image-sharing and editing applications.

These products were part of the mainstream UGC and social networking sector at the time, allowing him to accumulate experience in high-concurrency internet systems and user product development.

(5) He later joined the Alibaba group, working as a technical expert in Ant Financial's artificial intelligence department.

Multiple official press releases mention that during this phase, he observed the application of artificial intelligence and financial technology across different industries, which became an important technical background for his later construction of the exchange, self-developed risk control systems, and trading engines.

(6) Around 2012, Gan began participating in Bitcoin mining.

Many biographies view this experience as the true starting point of his entry into the cryptocurrency field.

Thus, he is a typical "engineer + early miner" type entrepreneur, rather than a traditional finance professional entering the crypto industry after the market matured.

This also explains KuCoin's early emphasis on technical architecture, matching performance, and product details.

4. Michael Gan's Role Evolution and Key Decisions at KuCoin

(1) According to multiple platforms, Gan officially launched KuCoin in 2017 as founder and CEO, responsible for the overall technical architecture, product direction, and the branding of "People’s Exchange."

His goal was to create a trading platform that placed greater emphasis on long-tail assets and was relatively friendly to ordinary retail investors.

(2) In 2018, KuCoin completed a $20 million Series A financing round, with investors including IDG Capital, Matrix Partners, and Neo Global Capital.

This round of financing not only endorsed its early growth but also provided Gan with capital to expand the product line and promote globalization.

This marked the first significant turning point for KuCoin as it transitioned from a small long-tail asset exchange to a mainstream platform.

(3) In March 2020, the company established KuGroup, dividing its business into three main segments:

KuCoin Global, responsible for centralized exchange operations.

KuCloud, responsible for exchange white-label and infrastructure services.

KuChain & KCS Business Group, responsible for public chain and KCS ecosystem.

Gan was promoted from KuCoin CEO to KuGroup Chairman, beginning to focus more on group strategy, public chain KuChain, and KCS ecosystem layout.

Daily operations of the exchange were gradually handed over to Johnny Lyu.

This structural adjustment clearly served the needs of group expansion and reducing risks associated with a single business and regulatory entity.

(4) In terms of product and business model, Gan led the design of KuCoin Shares, later renamed KuCoin Token, or KCS.

KCS initially adopted a "platform token + fee distribution" model, distributing about 50% of daily trading fee revenue to KCS holders based on their holdings.

This was one of the core mechanisms for KuCoin to build user loyalty and enhance platform valuation, and it was widely imitated by many centralized exchanges at the time.

(5) As the platform developed, KCS gradually transformed from a purely revenue-sharing token to a comprehensive platform asset with fee discounts, node and voting rights, ecosystem governance, and payment functions.

The initial total supply of KCS was 200 million, with plans to reduce the final total supply to 100 million through buybacks and burns.

The amount of KCS bought back and burned was linked to KuCoin's overall revenue, tightly binding the platform's profitability to the token's value.

This was also an important design by Gan at the financial engineering level.

(6) In September 2020, KuCoin's hot wallet private keys were leaked, resulting in the theft of approximately $280 million worth of crypto assets.

This was one of the largest hacking incidents in the crypto industry that year, posing a significant challenge to Gan's technical credibility and KuCoin's survival.

(7) After the hacking incident, Gan and newly appointed CEO Johnny Lyu tracked the stolen funds on-chain, requested project parties to redeploy contracts, and collaborated with other exchanges to freeze addresses, ultimately recovering about 84% of the stolen funds, valued at approximately $239 million.

The remaining loss of about $45.55 million was borne by platform funds and insurance funds.

KuCoin repeatedly emphasized that users did not suffer permanent losses.

This handling plan somewhat restored user trust.

(8) From a corporate governance perspective, this hacking incident exposed KuCoin's early shortcomings in hot wallet management, multi-signature mechanisms, internal risk prevention, and basic security processes.

The incident also accelerated Gan's transition from personally managing technology and exchange operations as CEO to becoming the group chairman and ecosystem planner.

For the company, this incident became an important turning point for upgrading security and compliance systems.

5. Ke "Eric" Tang, Eric Don: The Low-Key Partners

(1) Regarding Ke Tang, also written as Eric Tang or Eric Don, his family background, birthplace, and educational experience are not disclosed in most authoritative English materials, with limited public information available.

His overall image is very low-key, leaning more towards a backend partner.

(2) Some media and commentators mention that he and Gan began systematically engaging with Bitcoin and blockchain during their time at Ant Financial.

Some sources claim that it was Tang who introduced Bitcoin to Gan.

The two began writing the core code and system architecture for future KuCoin in 2013, indicating that Tang was a core figure in technical solutions and system design.

(3) Earlier English evaluation materials positioned Eric Don as a COO or CTO type figure, describing him as a senior internet researcher and system architect who had served as CTO and senior partner in several IT companies.

However, the specific information and resumes of these companies are difficult to verify, and some company domains are no longer accessible, indicating inconsistencies that need to be viewed cautiously.

(4) After KuCoin officially launched, Tang and Don appeared more in the founding team list, company registration materials, and legal documents rather than in external media interviews.

This contrasts sharply with the high exposure of Gan and Johnny, indicating that their roles leaned more towards institutional design, equity arrangements, and company backend governance rather than personal brand-type founders.

(5) Around 2020, he briefly appeared on the board of directors of the Singapore entity PhoenixFin Pte. Ltd.

Later, during the transfer of domain and trademark, he resigned as a director, and the company registration gradually shifted to Seychelles entities like Mek Global and FortuneIcon.

His personal role in public company registration gradually faded, synchronizing with KuCoin's more thorough offshore structure.

6. Johnny Lyu: From Business Partner to Core Leader

(1) Regarding Johnny Lyu's educational background, some materials indicate that he studied e-commerce at Chengdu Neusoft University from 2004 to 2008.

Other sources claim he attended Shanghai Maritime University, majoring in logistics management.

The records from different sources are inconsistent, indicating discrepancies.

However, the general consensus is that he received applied business, e-commerce, or logistics management education rather than pure computer science or financial engineering training.

(2) Before entering the crypto industry, he accumulated extensive business experience in e-commerce, automotive, and luxury goods sectors.

He served as CEO of IMOOLO Jewelry and was a technical or business leader at Hongkong Milanoo.

This indicates he has long-term practical experience in supply chain, e-commerce operations, and frontend products, rather than a singular engineering background.

(3) Multiple authoritative directories and KuCoin's official blog list him as a co-founder.

After 2017, he was responsible for KuCoin's listings, business development, and strategic investment teams.

He was also one of the main promoters of products like Spotlight, Pool-X, and KuCloud.

Spotlight is KuCoin's IEO launch platform.

Pool-X is a staking and liquidity mining platform.

KuCloud is a white-label exchange SaaS service for institutions.

Thus, he is a crucial execution hub for KuCoin's multi-product matrix strategy.

(4) During the group restructuring in March 2020, he was appointed as KuCoin Global CEO, taking over the daily operations of KuCoin, KuMEX, Pool-X, and the expansion of the KCS ecosystem.

KuMEX was later renamed KuCoin Futures.

At the same time, Gan was promoted to KuGroup Chairman, and Lyu became the frontline operations leader.

This marked a new phase for KuCoin, transitioning from founder-led management to professional management teams taking the forefront.

(5) In the 2020 hacking incident, Johnny Lyu continuously spoke out, promising that the platform would fully cover user losses and pushed to restore deposits and withdrawals for most cryptocurrencies within two months.

This crisis management process gradually made him the main representative of KuCoin in the eyes of users and media.

Subsequent interviews viewed this crisis response as a significant achievement in his personal record.

(6) Between 2021 and 2022, Johnny Lyu frequently published articles or gave interviews discussing long-tail assets, dual-track strategies for globalization and compliance, and the brand positioning of "People’s Exchange."

He also led significant financing and global expansion, gradually evolving from operations leader to the core figure in the exchange's external strategic narrative.

(7) Currently, most materials still list him as KuCoin CEO and co-founder, responsible for the platform's daily operations, product matrix, and global compliance advancement.

After Gan and Tang exited U.S. governance and operations, Johnny Lyu remains the most practically controlling and representative manager of KuCoin in most markets.

7. KuCoin's Corporate Structure and Capital Network

(1) Registration and Entity Structure

KuCoin was launched in 2017 based on a Chinese team.

After regulatory crackdowns on cryptocurrency exchanges in China, KuCoin moved its operations out of China, establishing related entities in Singapore and Seychelles.

The mainstream view is that KuCoin is an exchange "registered in Seychelles and operating globally."

(2) Core entities include:

PhoenixFin Pte. Ltd. in Singapore, which once held the KuCoin domain and trademark.

Operating entities in Seychelles such as Mek Global and Peken Global.

The brand, domain, and trademark have been transferred among multiple offshore entities, and the board has undergone several changes.

This makes it difficult for outsiders to clearly identify KuCoin's ultimate equity structure and control chain.

(3) Reports indicate that the Singapore High Court issued a temporary injunction against the KuCoin.com domain and related assets.

Around the same time, KuCoin announced a restructuring and entity adjustment, shifting from PhoenixFin to Seychelles entities for brand and operations.

Some observers view this as a typical operation to utilize corporate structural adjustments to address litigation and regulatory risks across multiple jurisdictions.

(4) On the capital front, KuCoin secured $20 million in Series A financing in 2018, with participation from institutions like IDG Capital, Matrix Partners, and Neo Global Capital.

In 2022, KuCoin completed a $150 million Pre-Series B financing led by Jump Crypto, with Circle Ventures, IDG, and Matrix participating, achieving a valuation of approximately $10 billion.

Subsequently, KuCoin also received about $10 million in strategic investment from SIG.

The total disclosed financing amount is approximately $180 million.

(5) Investment institutions like Jump Crypto, Circle, and SIG not only provide funding to KuCoin but also support it in institutional resources, derivatives liquidity, and Web3 investment networks.

These collaborations allowed KuCoin to rapidly enter the top ten platforms by global trading volume during the 2021-2022 bull market.

(6) Internally, Gan and the team divided KuGroup into three main segments:

KuCoin Global: centralized exchange operations, including spot, leverage, and contract trading.

KuCloud: providing white-label exchanges and infrastructure services to other institutions or projects.

KuChain & KCS Business Group: responsible for self-developed public chains and platform token ecosystems.

This structure separates infrastructure, proprietary trading operations, public chains, and token ecosystems, corresponding to different business models and regulatory risks.

(7) KuCoin Labs and KuCoin Ventures undertake research incubation and investment functions, making early investments in DeFi, GameFi, and blockchain infrastructure projects.

KuCoin Ventures positions itself as the exchange-led Web3 investment department and participates in project investments alongside crypto investment institutions like HashKey and TRGC.

This forms a multi-faceted binding relationship of "exchange traffic + capital + listing resources."

8. Platform Token, Foundation, and Influence Assets

(1) KCS is KuCoin's native platform token, with an initial total supply of 200 million.

KuCoin plans to reduce the total supply to 100 million in the long term through a buyback and burn mechanism driven by platform revenue.

Currently, KCS is officially positioned as a value participation layer connecting trading, rewards, payments, and ecosystem rights.

(2) The early core selling point of KCS was fee revenue distribution.

The platform once distributed about 50% of daily trading fee revenue to KCS holders, allowing users to earn corresponding rewards just by holding KCS.

This model strengthened the interest binding between users and the platform and helped KuCoin attract a large number of retail users seeking passive income during the 2017-2018 exchange competition.

(3) With increasing regulatory pressure, the revenue-sharing platform token has ambiguous boundaries regarding securities classification.

Therefore, KCS later emphasized fee discounts, Launchpad and IEO quotas, staking, and ecosystem governance rights.

Revenue distribution appeared more in the form of bonuses or rewards.

Meanwhile, the KCS Foundation was established as a governance entity, involving KuCoin's core team, KCC GoDAO, institutional investors, and community representatives in decision-making.

Its goal is to package KCS as a relatively decentralized ecological asset rather than a shadow equity of a single company.

(4) From the perspective of influence assets, KCS, KuChain, public chain ecology, KuCoin Labs, and KuCoin Ventures' investment portfolio collectively constitute KuCoin's brand and resource network in the Web3 field.

Most of these assets are not directly liquidatable equity assets in the traditional sense but represent a composite influence resource formed by discourse power, user traffic, project resources, and ecological entry points.

9. Business Model: From Matching Fees to Ecological Closed Loop

(1) KuCoin's basic business model is similar to other centralized exchanges, generating revenue through transaction matching fees.

Early income primarily came from spot and leverage trading.

Later, the revenue focus gradually shifted towards perpetual contracts, futures, leverage, and high-yield products, such as KuCoin Earn and staking mining services, to enhance individual user income and retention rates.

(2) Through the platform token KCS, KuCoin offers fee discounts, rebates, and additional rewards.

Users holding a certain amount of KCS can enjoy lower rates in spot and contract trading and participate in new coin issuance or staking activities like Launchpad and BurningDrop.

This allows KuCoin to combine fee discounts with platform token price expectations, forming a comprehensive incentive mechanism.

(3) KuCoin Earn, Pool-X, and other businesses retain user assets on the platform through lending, staking, and liquidity mining, generating income from interest spreads, management fees, or protocol rewards.

These products package complex DeFi yield sources into simpler operational interfaces, essentially repackaging DeFi risks into financial products that are easier for centralized exchange users to understand.

(4) KuCloud provides white-label exchanges, liquidity, and risk control solutions, representing a SaaS and infrastructure charging model aimed at institutions.

This allows KuCoin to not only be a proprietary trading platform but also become an industry infrastructure service provider.

Related businesses can help KuCoin connect with more project parties and partner institutions, providing listing resources and liquidity back to KuCoin Global.

(5) KuCoin Labs and KuCoin Ventures obtain early shares in projects through equity or token investments.

When related projects launch on KuCoin or gradually grow, the platform can earn trading fees, enhance the ecological value of the platform token, and achieve project investment exit gains.

This forms a business closed loop of "investment—launch—trading fees—market value appreciation."

(6) This model inevitably faces criticisms of conflicts of interest.

Exchanges may simultaneously act as project investors, underwriters, market makers, and listing reviewers, possessing information and traffic advantages.

During bull markets, this structure can create significant leverage.

However, in bear markets or during regulatory interventions, it can also become a focal point for regulatory scrutiny.

KuCoin has been examined in this context in various enforcement cases across multiple countries.

10. Key Timeline and Turning Points

(1) 2011-2013

Gan and Tang began researching blockchain technology and completed the prototype of KuCoin's technical architecture in 2013.

This period was characterized by pure technical drive, without large-scale capital support, representing a phase of primitive accumulation.

(2) 2017

KuCoin officially launched based on a Chinese team.

Subsequently, due to regulatory pressure in China, it relocated and began offering spot trading to the global market, issuing the platform token KCS.

Gan proposed the brand positioning of "People’s Exchange" as CEO, emphasizing service to long-tail assets and ordinary retail investors.

(3) 2018

KuCoin completed a $20 million Series A financing round, gaining endorsement from institutions like IDG, Matrix, and NGC.

The platform transitioned from a small exchange to a regional mainstream platform with well-known institutional shareholders.

The founding team also shifted from purely technical entrepreneurs to a company management layer constrained by venture capital institutions, needing to balance growth, compliance, and investment exit expectations.

(4) March 2020

KuGroup was officially established.

Michael Gan was promoted to Group Chairman, and Johnny Lyu became KuCoin Global CEO.

This marked a structural turning point for KuCoin, transitioning from founder-led management to group and professional management operations.

In the same year, the Singapore court issued a temporary injunction against PhoenixFin and KuCoin, restricting the domain and some assets, exposing the complexity and opacity of its corporate structure.

(5) September 2020

KuCoin experienced a hacking incident resulting in approximately $280 million in losses.

This incident became a significant node in the careers of Gan and Johnny.

The platform's technical security shortcomings were exposed, but by recovering most of the assets and fully compensating users, KuCoin's crisis management was viewed by some industry insiders as a reference case for large centralized exchanges dealing with security incidents.

This incident amplified both positive and negative aspects of their reputations.

(6) 2021-2022

During the crypto bull market, KuCoin reported a trading volume of approximately $20 trillion over six months, adding millions of users.

In 2022, KuCoin completed a $150 million Pre-Series B financing round at a valuation of about $10 billion.

The founding team transitioned from regional exchange operators to controllers of a global leading platform.

However, the high valuation and global expansion also placed KuCoin under the close scrutiny of regulatory agencies in multiple countries.

(7) March 2023

The New York Attorney General sued KuCoin, accusing it of providing cryptocurrency trading and yield products to local users without registering in New York.

This lawsuit also explicitly classified ETH as a security for the first time in related filings.

In December 2023, KuCoin agreed to pay approximately $22 million, of which about $16.77 million was for refunding New York users' funds, and about $5.3 million was a fine, while exiting the New York market.

This event caused KuCoin to lose an important market at the state regulatory level in the U.S. and further pushed its business focus towards offshore and non-U.S. regions.

(8) March 2024

The U.S. Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed criminal and civil charges against KuCoin and its two founders, Gan and Tang.

Regulatory agencies accused KuCoin of deliberately failing to register and establish a compliance system in accordance with the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering requirements since 2017.

Related documents stated that over $5 billion in funds flowed into KuCoin, involving risks from dark web markets, malware, and fraud.

This represents the most severe legal blow to the founders personally and marks a structural turning point in their professional roles.

(9) January 2025

KuCoin pleaded guilty to charges of operating an unlicensed money transfer business in the U.S., agreeing to pay nearly $300 million in fines and forfeitures, and committing to exit the U.S. market for at least two years.

Gan and Tang signed two-year deferred prosecution agreements, paying about $2.7 million and withdrawing from KuCoin's governance and operations.

This means the two core founders officially retreated from the forefront of legal and corporate governance.

(10) Early 2025

Michael Gan released an open letter stating that the U.S. Department of Justice agreed to withdraw charges against him and the co-founders upon completion of specific conditions.

He also stated that he had resigned from all positions in the group and affiliated companies.

From legal documents and media reports, this appears to be a typical arrangement of guilty pleas, deferred prosecution, and compliance rectification.

In personal narratives, it is described as charges that will ultimately be withdrawn, but in reality, it is a costly legal settlement.

(11) 2026

KuCoin continues to operate primarily from Seychelles, claiming to have over 40 million cumulative users and supporting trading of over 1,500 tokens.

The platform continues to promote KCS from a single platform token to an ecological participation layer and has obtained security and privacy certifications such as SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, and ISO 27701.

KuCoin attempts to reshape its brand image with compliance and security, rather than solely emphasizing fast listing speeds, a wide range of long-tail assets, and leveraged trading.

11. Regulatory Disputes, Lawsuits, and External Criticism

(1) Canadian Regulatory Incident

The Ontario Securities Commission in Canada accused KuCoin in 2021 of providing cryptocurrency trading services to local investors without registration.

In 2022, the regulatory agency obtained related injunctions and administrative penalties, permanently banning KuCoin from participating in Ontario's capital markets.

(2) Dutch Regulatory Incident

The Dutch Central Bank announced in 2022 that KuCoin had not registered according to local anti-money laundering regulations and classified it as an illegally operating cryptocurrency service provider.

(3) UK Regulatory Warning

In 2023, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority included KuCoin on its warning list of unauthorized digital asset service providers, emphasizing that the platform lacked necessary licenses in the UK.

The accumulation of regulatory actions across multiple jurisdictions has placed KuCoin on a high-risk subject list in mainstream compliance markets in Europe and the U.S., limiting its formal development space.

(4) KuCoin Earn Controversy

The lawsuit by the New York Attorney General specifically classified KuCoin Earn and other yield products as unregistered securities, pointing out that KuCoin provided insufficient disclosure regarding users' jurisdictions and product nature.

Regulatory agencies categorized it alongside other shadow crypto financial platforms.

This poses a substantial challenge to KuCoin's business model, which relies on yield products and platform tokens.

(5) U.S. Federal Anti-Money Laundering Case

U.S. federal prosecutions and CFTC civil lawsuits further characterize KuCoin as a platform that has long neglected KYC and AML obligations.

Regulatory documents indicate that KuCoin only officially launched what is called a compliant anti-money laundering program in July 2023, while previously allowing some U.S. users to bypass restrictions for login and trading.

Thus, the platform has been criticized for long-term superficial compliance.

(6) Lack of Transparency in Corporate Structure

The temporary injunction from the Singapore High Court, along with reports of trademark and asset transfers among multiple entities like PhoenixFin, Mek Global, and FortuneIcon, has raised questions about whether KuCoin intentionally complicated its corporate structure to evade enforcement in different jurisdictions.

Some media have also questioned the discrepancies between KuCoin's claims of obtaining investment from Matrix Partners and the actual disclosures from the investment institution.

These situations further deepen the impression of its lack of transparency.

(7) Core Criticisms

Overall, external criticisms of KuCoin focus on the following aspects:

Late awareness of compliance.

Highly offshore and opaque corporate structure.

Insufficient early security governance and wallet management capabilities.

Overly binding company interests and high-risk speculative behaviors through yield products and platform token design.

Regulatory agencies generally view it as a typical offshore high-risk centralized exchange, similar to platforms like BitMEX and early Binance in regulatory narratives.

12. Positive Outcomes and Successes

(1) Scale Growth

From a scale and business perspective, KuCoin has grown from a relatively unknown exchange to one of the top platforms by global trading volume within a few years.

KuCoin supports thousands of tokens and serves tens of millions of users, with multiple official and media sources listing it as one of the major spot trading platforms globally.

From an entrepreneurial path perspective, this is a success story of low starting points, relying on long-tail asset positioning, and capitalizing on the bull markets of 2017 and 2020-2021.

(2) Product Innovation

The KCS revenue distribution model, support for long-tail assets, and products like Pool-X and KuCloud have kept KuCoin at the forefront of platform token financial design and ecological layout among second-tier exchanges.

These products have also influenced the platform token designs, yield products, and white-label service models of many subsequent centralized exchanges.

(3) Handling of Hacking Incidents

After the 2020 hacking incident, KuCoin quickly recovered most of the assets and used insurance funds and platform resources to cover the remaining losses.

As a result, KuCoin became one of the few centralized exchanges that could fully compensate users after experiencing a large-scale security incident.

Although this incident exposed serious security issues, it also heightened industry awareness of insurance funds, on-chain tracking, and cross-project collaboration mechanisms for asset recovery.

(4) Web3 Investment Influence

KuCoin Labs and KuCoin Ventures participate in early Web3 project incubation and liquidity building by investing in DeFi, GameFi, and infrastructure projects.

Combined with KuCoin's own listing capabilities and user traffic, the platform has played an important role in the development of multiple projects.

These influence assets, while difficult to quantify precisely in traditional financial statements, hold significant actual discourse power in the crypto ecosystem.

13. Current Position of Founders and the Platform

(1) Michael Gan and Ke Tang

Michael Gan and Ke Tang have withdrawn from KuCoin's governance and operational positions following the settlement of U.S. criminal and civil cases.

Gan emphasized in an open letter that he has no intention of evading the law and did not participate in money laundering or fraud.

He stated that he will enter a new phase of personal development.

In practical terms, this settlement temporarily sealed personal and corporate criminal risks, allowing space for the platform to continue operating.

(2) External Image of the Founders

Gan and Tang have transitioned from technical founders to crypto entrepreneurs leaving the stage after completing a startup cycle, accompanied by compliance controversies.

Compared to high-profile figures like Zhao Changpeng, their personal brands have lower visibility in global social media and regulatory narratives.

The public remembers them more through KuCoin's legal and compliance risks.

(3) Johnny Lyu

Johnny Lyu remains active as KuCoin CEO.

He continues to express views on the crypto market, global compliance trends, and emerging markets like India and Southeast Asia in interviews and columns.

At the same time, he is responsible for promoting KuCoin's development in security certifications, compliance registration, and product expansion, including registration as a virtual asset service provider in India and tokenized stock products.

His personal image aligns more with an operational manager and a professional manager of exchanges in the compliance era.

(4) KuCoin Platform

KuCoin faces multiple restrictions in mainstream compliance markets in Europe and the U.S., but maintains a certain market share in regions like Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

The platform packages itself as a global digital asset ecological platform rather than a single centralized exchange by expanding Web3 investments, payment, and tokenized asset businesses.

This is both a response to regulatory pressure and reflects the founding team's and current management's strategy to extend the company's lifecycle and valuation narrative.

(5) Position in the Real World

On a personal level, Michael Gan and Ke Tang have largely exited frontline management power and the public opinion arena.

They leave with significant compliance controversies but have completed a notably growth-oriented entrepreneurial cycle.

From a management perspective, Johnny Lyu and his team, as professional managers and second-tier founders, have taken over the front line amid regulatory pressures and lawsuits across multiple jurisdictions, tasked with continuing operations and rebuilding the brand.

From an organizational perspective, KuCoin remains an important infrastructure in the global long-tail crypto asset and high-risk derivatives market.

Regulatory agencies view it as a typical offshore high-risk centralized exchange, but the platform has also left a strong industry presence in security governance, platform token financial design, and handling of major hacking incidents.

These overlapping identities, successes, and controversies collectively form the real position of KuCoin and its founders in today's world.