Loong Wang

Loong Wang is a computer scientist and entrepreneur. He co-founded Ren Protocol and served as its Chief Technology Officer (CTO) until January 2021, alongside Taiyang Zhang as CEO.^[1][5] He later co-founded biotechnology ventures including Talo Labs, QDX, and Automera, and is the co-founder and CEO of Metal, which rebranded as Alta in November 2026.^[1][12][13]

학력

Loong Wang attended the Australian National University (ANU) where he graduated in 2016 with a Computer Science degree in Advanced Research and Development (Honours).^[1]

경력

Wang began as an academic tutor at the Australian National University (ANU) in 2014 and later served as a researcher there from 2015 to 2016. He also worked as a software developer at Neucode, a software development agency, from 2015 to 2017.^[1]​

Metal (now Alta)

Wang introduced Metal on June 25, 2026, with co-founders Catherine Porter and Jack Zhang. The company is developing blockchain-based financial infrastructure for regulated institutions and tokenized finance, with planned privacy, programmable compliance, identity, and authorization features, including support for agent transactions. Airwallex became its design partner, connecting local payment networks across 200 countries and 90 currencies.^[14]​^[13]​

On November 10, 2026, the company announced that it had rebranded as Alta and raised a $47.5 million Series A led by Index Ventures, bringing disclosed seed and Series A funding to $80 million. Wang is Alta’s co-founder and CEO. Alta described a planned liquidity-management product and infrastructure for institutional blockchain finance; Airwallex chose to build on the system.^[13]​

Ren Protocol

In 2017, he co-founded Ren (formerly known as Republic Protocol) alongside Taiyang Zhang and worked there as a CTO. Wang’s profile lists his Ren CTO tenure as ending in January 2021; his role was later described as advisory. Ren is an open protocol that facilitates the permissionless and private transfer of value between any blockchain.^[5] Ren's core product, RenVM, brings interoperability to DeFi through a decentralized custody solution that allows the movement of assets between blockchains.^[6]​^[1]​^[10]​

Wang was introduced into the blockchain space when he was asked by Zhang to work together on Ren.^[7]​

"I did a lot of research at Australia National University around decentralized systems. I collaborated with Cray, a supercomputing company, and helped them with their supercomputing language Chapel and then I went on to do my honors thesis in the same area and built my own language which specialized in systems. I'd worked together with Tai. for several years and so when he came to me with the idea of working in blockchain and decentralized space there was no way I was gonna turn that down" - Wang recalls his journey into blockchain & Ren in an interview^[7]

The Wrapped Tokens whitepaper, dated January 24, 2019, names Republic Protocol alongside Kyber Network and BitGo and proposes a framework for WBTC, a bitcoin-backed ERC-20 token. The paper names Kyber and Republic Protocol as initial WBTC merchants.^[22] On January 31, 2019, Wang wrote that RenEx would serve as a WBTC merchant and offer direct BTC-to-WBTC swaps through SwapperD.^[23]​

“Using Ren, smart contracts on any blockchain can control tokens on other blockchains, allowing DEXs, DeFi, and dApps to leverage the liquidity available anywhere and everywhere.”^[24]

In February 2021, the Ren development team joined Alameda Research. ^[9]​

"Together, with our collective experience, expertise, and communities, our two teams will be able to contribute more value to the blockchain space than alone"

"As part of joining Alameda, the Ren development team will be prioritising support for Solana in our Multichain libraries, and in RenVM itself. This support is currently under audit, and we anticipate that we will be able to begin bridging assets to/from Solana in Q2. Doing so will have a profound impact on Serum, but also on the wider Solana ecosystem." - the press release stated.^[9]

With the announcement, Loong Wang and Taiyang Zhang moved to advisory roles to guide the next phase of the Ren Protocol.^[10]​

After Alameda and FTX’s November 2022 bankruptcy proceedings cut off Ren development funding, the Ren team announced on November 18, 2022 that Ren 1.0 would be sunset. The plan initially disabled minting while keeping burns available during the transition. The team planned Ren 2.0, which required additional funding and development.^[15]​

A community-established Ren Foundation was incorporated on April 13, 2023 to support protocol research, development, and the ecosystem. Its immediate focus was Ren v2.^[16]​

Talo Labs

In 2021, Wang co-founded and served as the CEO of Talo Labs, which was initially known as Talo Systems, it underwent subsequent name changes to Lasker and eventually transitioned to Talo Labs.^[2] Talo Labs researches and builds therapeutics companies, platforms, and in-silico technologies. It supports talented students, from computer science backgrounds, to solve biomedical problems.^[3]​

Automera raised $16 million in a Series A round in September 2023, co-led by Accelerator Life Science Partners and ClavystBio. Wang’s profile lists him as Automera’s founder and a board member.^[4]​^[1]​

QDX

Wang co-founded QDX in 2023. His profile lists him as CEO and founder from January 2023 through May 2026. QDX is a computational drug discovery platform powered by quantum mechanics. The platform provides predictions and receptor-ligand insights for drug discovery.^[17]​^[1]​^[11]​

"From structural biology to the design of new chemical matter, our quantum-first drug discovery platform brings the cutting edge of computational chemistry to your team." - QDX website expands^[11]

QDX’s Rush is an AI-operated virtual drug-design platform that turns research tasks into computational studies by coordinating simulation and machine-learning workflows. Walter is its conversational AI copilot for planning and launching runs and assembling reports.^[25] Chemspace’s virtual compound library was integrated into Rush in June 2025 and became available in the platform’s computational drug-design workflow.^[20]​

QDX’s quantum simulations mapped structural differences between mutant and wild-type JAK2 proteins and contributed structural insights to Prelude Therapeutics’ mutant-selective JAK2 V617F inhibitor program. On November 4, 2025, Prelude announced an exclusive option agreement with Incyte for that program. Prelude was to receive $35 million upfront and a $25 million equity investment, with a $100 million option exercise payment, up to $775 million in additional clinical and regulatory milestones, and royalties. Prelude retained and advanced the program during the option period.^[18]​^[19]​

QDX opened academic access to its EXESS GPU-accelerated quantum-chemistry engine in February 2026, following its exascale computing work. QDX reports that EXESS powered the first double-precision exascale calculation for a scientific application and the calculation that earned the Gordon Bell Prize.^[21]​^[17]​

Automera

In 2022, he also co-founded and served as the CTO at Automera, a biotechnology research company focusing on the development of Autophagy-Targeting Chimera small molecules (AUTACs).^[4]​^[1] Wang’s current profile lists him as Automera’s founder and a board member.^[1]​

인터뷰

Loong Wang on DeFi Interoperability #01

On June 17, 2020, the Thinking Crypto YouTube channel published an interview with Loong Wang, CTO and Co-Founder of Ren. The discussion covered decentralized finance (DeFi), cross-chain interoperability, RenVM, and the challenges of connecting different blockchain networks.

Wang explained that DeFi enables financial activities such as lending, borrowing, and asset trading without relying on centralized intermediaries. He attributed Ethereum's position in the DeFi ecosystem to its early adoption, developer community, and application composability. However, he identified the concentration of applications and liquidity on a single network as a limitation for projects operating on other blockchains.

He described RenVM (Ren Virtual Machine) as a protocol designed to enable decentralized custody and cross-chain interoperability. One of its initial applications involved bringing Bitcoin liquidity into Ethereum, allowing BTC representations to be used in DeFi applications such as lending platforms and automated market makers. Wang distinguished RenVM's custody model from solutions such as WBTC, which relies on a centralized custodian to hold the underlying Bitcoin.

Wang also explained the concept of generic interoperability, which refers to enabling different blockchains to support multiple types of applications beyond simple asset transfers, including lending, trading, and automated market making. According to him, RenVM was designed to coordinate interactions across multiple networks while allowing users to initiate operations through a single transaction.

The interview addressed DeFi vulnerabilities, particularly the March 12–13, 2020 market crash known as Black Thursday. Wang discussed how Ethereum congestion and increased transaction fees affected liquidation mechanisms in protocols such as MakerDAO and Compound. He also commented on the dForce hack, highlighting the tension between emergency interventions, such as freezing token transfers, and the principles of decentralization.

Regarding the blockchain ecosystem, Wang discussed Ethereum 2.0 and its expected scalability improvements. He also mentioned Polkadot as a network attracting developer interest. On regulation, he suggested that restrictions in the United States could encourage projects to operate in other jurisdictions, while also increasing attention to the actual degree of decentralization within protocols.

Wang stated that Ren had initially raised approximately $35 million to develop a decentralized dark pool but later redirected its resources toward cross-chain liquidity and interoperability. At the time of the interview, the company expected RenVM to launch by the end of June 2020, with plans to support additional blockchains and assets.

Wang considered interoperability a factor in the future adoption of DeFi, arguing that connections between previously isolated blockchain networks could expand access to digital assets and decentralized applications. He also discussed the possibility of transferring assets between ecosystems such as Ethereum and Polkadot without routing them back through their original networks. ^[25]

RenVM Interoperability with Avalanche #02

On November 20, 2020, Loong Wang, Chief Technology Officer of Ren Project, delivered a presentation on the Avalanche YouTube channel addressing the proposed integration of RenVM with the Avalanche network.

During the presentation, Wang described RenVM as a protocol designed to facilitate asset transfers between separate blockchain networks without depending on centralized intermediaries. The system uses multi-party computation (MPC) to distribute cryptographic operations and private key management among network participants. Through this mechanism, assets deposited on a supported blockchain can be represented by tokens on another network and subsequently redeemed for the original assets.

Wang discussed the limitations of existing interoperability methods, including price oracles and atomic swaps. He explained that oracles primarily provide access to external data, while atomic swaps are generally suited to direct exchanges between parties with predetermined transaction conditions. According to his assessment, these mechanisms do not cover all the requirements of more complex decentralized applications, such as lending platforms and automated market makers.

The proposed integration with Avalanche was presented as a means of making assets from other networks, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Binance Smart Chain, available to applications operating on Avalanche. These assets could be used in different DeFi applications, including as collateral or sources of liquidity. Wang also described the interoperability model as bidirectional, allowing assets issued on Avalanche to be transferred to other supported networks.

Another subject addressed was the relationship between interoperability and blockchain consensus mechanisms. Wang stated that access to external assets and users could allow developers to select networks according to their technical requirements and security models, without depending exclusively on the liquidity available within a particular ecosystem. He also discussed Avalanche's consensus architecture, which he described as technically distinct from Nakamoto and PBFT consensus models.

Regarding RenVM's security model, Wang explained that private key operations are distributed among multiple participants and require network agreement for authorization. He also outlined the use of economic incentives and collateral requirements intended to discourage malicious behavior among node operators.

The presentation concluded with a discussion of the planned expansion of RenVM to additional blockchain networks and the availability of their supported assets within Avalanche. Wang identified the development of decentralized applications using assets from multiple networks as one of the possible applications of this integration. ^[26]