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<video class="wp-video-shortcode" id="video-56443-1" width="640" height="360" autoplay="1" preload="metadata" controls="controls"><source type="video/mp4" src="https://www.igafencu.com/video/2103/2103_GMHK_Interview_JehanChu.mp4?_=1" /><a href="https://www.igafencu.com/video/2103/2103_GMHK_Interview_JehanChu.mp4">https://www.igafencu.com/video/2103/2103_GMHK_Interview_JehanChu.mp4</a></video></div>
Long a supporter of blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies, Jehan Chu now helms Kenetic, a venture&nbsp; capital firm helping others looking to break into the industry.
Kenetic is an interesting business. As its founder&nbsp;and managing partner, how exactly do you define it? 
Essentially, it’s a venture capital firm, one that&nbsp;supports start-up companies at a very early stage.&nbsp;In particular, we help to fund entrepreneurs in the&nbsp;blockchain sector, while also providing them with&nbsp;advice and guidance, allowing them to realise their visions of the technology’s future. I firmly believe that&nbsp;blockchain represents the next stage in the evolution&nbsp;of the internet – a new technology that will underpin developments&nbsp;over the next 50 years. With that in mind,&nbsp;Kenetic is a bespoke vehicle designed to help facilitate&nbsp;that evolution.
<a href="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic-4.jpg"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-56469" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic-4.jpg" alt="gafencu people interview Jehan Chu, founder of blockchain venture capital firm Kenetic (4)" width="466" height="700" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic-4.jpg 466w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic-4-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic-4-186x280.jpg 186w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic-4-120x180.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic-4-400x601.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px" /></a>
At what point did you decide the time was right to&nbsp;launch Kenetic? 
We opened Kenetic in 2016 when it became apparent&nbsp;that no Asian venture capital business was really&nbsp;focusing on blockchain technology. At the time,&nbsp;those of us who had first ventured into the bitcoin&nbsp;and blockchain space knew something special was 
taking place. We also believed that, without support,&nbsp;it wouldn’t necessarily fulfil its potential. That’s where&nbsp;Kenetic comes in – we support those people crazy&nbsp;enough to try and make their dreams come true.&nbsp;
What was it about blockchain / cryptocurrency that&nbsp;first drew you in? 
Well, while I was studying International Relations at&nbsp;Johns Hopkins University, I taught myself how to code&nbsp;html. After that, I went to work in New York coding as&nbsp;a front-end developer during the first dot.com boom.&nbsp;In 2013, I first came across Bitcoin. Once I started&nbsp;researching it, I immediately fell down that particular rabbit hole.&nbsp;One of the things that drew me to Bitcoin was&nbsp;my love of decentralisation and the idea of returning&nbsp;power to the people. I soon started a number of related communities, including a local Ethereum group, one&nbsp;of the earliest such associations in Hong Kong, as a&nbsp;means of helping to provide investment advice for&nbsp;those interested in the sector. In 2016, I went fulltime,&nbsp;leaving my job as an art dealer to focus&nbsp;solely on providing blockchain and cryptocurrency&nbsp;investment advice.
<a href="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic-2.jpg"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-56467" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic-2.jpg" alt="gafencu people interview Jehan Chu, founder of blockchain venture capital firm Kenetic (2)" width="466" height="700" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic-2.jpg 466w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic-2-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic-2-186x280.jpg 186w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic-2-120x180.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic-2-400x601.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px" /></a>
Why do you think cryptocurrency has become&nbsp;such an attractive investment option? 
When I started out in cryptocurrency, nobody&nbsp;wanted to hear about it. It was, at best, a joke&nbsp;and, at worst, seen as somehow improper.&nbsp;Now, though, it seems as though everyone&nbsp;realises how important cryptocurrency is,&nbsp;especially with regard to decentralisation.&nbsp;If you look at what’s happening in the world&nbsp;right now, centralised systems are failing,&nbsp;making decentralisation seem an increasingly&nbsp;appealing prospect. Even companies like&nbsp;UBS, JP Morgan, Visa and PayPal are turning&nbsp;their attention to Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.&nbsp;It took a little time but it&#8217;s happening.&nbsp;
<blockquote>
“ Kenetic aims to support people&nbsp;crazy enough to try and make&nbsp;their dreams come true”
</blockquote>
Aside from Bitcoin, which other cryptocurrencies do you&nbsp;see as significant? 
While Bitcoin is really a payment token or a store-in value&nbsp;token, Ethereum is an application-based blockchain with&nbsp;easily the largest community of developers and applications.&nbsp;Bitcoin is akin to gold, where Ethereum is more like oil – it&nbsp;is used to power things, whether an engine, a machine or&nbsp;a factory. The other interesting one is Polkadot, which is&nbsp;similar to Ethereum but has a very different approach in&nbsp;that it’s really trying to create a network of blockchains.&nbsp;
What are the some of the most common cryptocurrency&nbsp;misconceptions that you encounter? 
A lot of people think that as cryptocurrency is not&nbsp;“backed” by anything, it doesn’t have any intrinsic value.&nbsp;This is inherently untrue. The value of Bitcoin and other&nbsp;types of cryptocurrency stems from the subscription and&nbsp;investment of the community, both in terms of dollars&nbsp;and effort. This infuses cryptocurrency and blockchain&nbsp;with value, be it in terms of its use in applications or in&nbsp;having a multi-million-dollar market cap. Basically, they&nbsp;are backed by millions of people who say there is value and&nbsp;are willing to put their money and commitment into them.
<a href="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic-3.jpg"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-56468" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic-3.jpg" alt="gafencu people interview Jehan Chu, founder of blockchain venture capital firm Kenetic (3)" width="466" height="700" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic-3.jpg 466w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic-3-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic-3-186x280.jpg 186w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic-3-120x180.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic-3-400x601.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px" /></a>
You co-founded Social Alpha Foundation, a blockchain /&nbsp;social impact non-profit. What can you tell us about its&nbsp;aims and ambitions? 
I was raised by my parents to be very generous and try to&nbsp;support communities. As a result, I have always thought it&nbsp;was important never to take anything for granted and to use my resources to help others. In line with this, the idea behind&nbsp;Social Alpha Foundation is to support blockchain projects&nbsp;that are looking to create social impact.&nbsp;The first grant we made was to a small start-up in South&nbsp;Africa, which was providing official identity documents to&nbsp;children who were either too poor to apply for them or were&nbsp;refugees. What they would do is use blockchain technology&nbsp;to track these kids and verify an identity for them. Right now,&nbsp;though, we’re focused on environmental issues and have&nbsp;recently given a US$250,000 grant to Open Earth,&nbsp;a Yale University initiative aiming to use blockchain to&nbsp;help combat climate change.&nbsp;
In terms of cryptocurrency-friendliness, how do you see Hong Kong ranking on the global scale? 
Hong Kong is easily one of the most significant&nbsp;centres in the world when it comes to blockchain and&nbsp;cryptocurrency and is probably the most important&nbsp;such destination in Asia. This is partly because the&nbsp;regulation is very engaged here and the regulators 
are very knowledgeable. The entrepreneurial spirit&nbsp;is also very strong and there are a lot of start-ups,&nbsp;especially in the financial sector. There are also many&nbsp;people in institutional and more traditional companies&nbsp;across a variety of different sectors that have become&nbsp;engaged with blockchain and cryptocurrency. All in all,&nbsp;I think that I’m very fortunate to be in Hong Kong as&nbsp;there’s just so much going on here in terms of both&nbsp;cryptocurrency and blockchain.&nbsp;
<a href="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic.jpg"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-56470" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic.jpg" alt="gafencu people interview Jehan Chu, founder of blockchain venture capital firm Kenetic" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/gafencu-people-interview-Jehan-Chu-founder-of-blockchain-venture-capital-firm-Kenetic-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" /></a>
You also invest in alternative proteins, notably&nbsp;Impossible Foods… 
That’s largely because I have been going mostly vegan.&nbsp;I do what is called a 95-percent diet – depending on&nbsp;which week it is, I have only one or two animal protein&nbsp;meals in a seven-day period, staying vegan for the rest&nbsp;of the time. The fact that this has boosted my own health made me want to invest in initiatives such as Impossible Foods, as well as other alternative protein&nbsp;sources. My cholesterol has gone way down; my sleep, 
skin and digestion are all better and it’s good for the&nbsp;planet too.
You are also big on meditation… 
I actually practice Vipassana, an ancient breathing&nbsp;practice favoured by Buddha as the root of&nbsp;mindfulness and all other forms of meditation. When&nbsp;I was first introduced to it, it was quite a challenge&nbsp;– I had to undergo 10 days of silent retreat without&nbsp; 
reading, using a phone or having any human contact.&nbsp;During that time, though, I learned how to quieten&nbsp;my mind, focus and use breathing to achieve a&nbsp;state of centeredness and hyperawareness. While&nbsp;it’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my&nbsp;life, it also transformed it in a very positive way.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Thank you.
&nbsp;
Interview by: Roberliza Eugenio 
Photos: Jack Law 
Video: Andy Wan 
Art Direction &amp; Styling: Jhoshwa Ledesma
&nbsp;

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Block Trooper: Jehan Chu, founder of blockchain venture capital firm Kenetic