Built in Malaysia, used by the world: our hidden crypto giants

In Malaysia, homegrown crypto giants have played a major role in shaping the global digital asset landscape, according to a recent report. Crypto research firm Tiger Research found that several major platforms, including Etherscan, Jupiter, Virtuals Protocol, and CoinGecko, all began in Malaysia and now have a global reach. CoinGecko, founded by Bobby Ong and TM Lee, began as a simple price tracking site for 20 coins and now covers over 21,000 crypto assets across more than 1,000 exchanges, with more than 10 million users a month.

Etherscan, a search engine for the Ethereum blockchain, was launched in 2015 by Matthew Tan with a team of 15 and has since grown to rank among the world's top 1,000 websites. Jupiter, an aggregator for Solana trades, has routed over RM5 trillion in trades and handled almost RM60 billion in the past 30 days. Virtuals Protocol, which lets users launch and co-own AI agents, has a market cap of nearly RM20 billion and has deployed over 18,000 AI agents. These Malaysian-built technologies are essential tools used by millions of crypto users worldwide.