Arthur Cheong is a Singaporean investor and venture capitalist known as the founder, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of DeFiance Capital. The firm is a crypto-native investment fund with a focus on Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and crypto gaming. ^{[1] [2]}

Early Life & Education

Cheong attended Nanyang Technological University in Singapore from 2012 to 2014. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with honors in Economics and also completed a minor in Entrepreneurship.

During his university years, Cheong gained public recognition as a notable young investor and was featured on ChannelNews Asia. At Nanyang Technological University, he was actively involved in extracurricular activities related to finance, serving as the Vice President of the university's investment club. ^[1]

Career

Arthur Cheong is the Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Investment Officer of DeFiance Capital, established in August 2020. Under his leadership, the firm has managed funds across liquid tokens and venture investments in the digital asset sector.

From July 2021 to February 2025, Cheong served as the Founding Council President of the dYdX Foundation, where he contributed to the project’s transition toward decentralized governance. Prior to founding DeFiance, he worked at Zilliqa as Vice President of Growth & Strategy (September 2019 – February 2020) and briefly as a Strategy Consultant (July – August 2019). Earlier in 2019, he was a DeFi Research and Trading Analyst at JST Capital (March – September 2019).

Cheong began his career in the energy sector at BP, where he participated in the Trader Development Programme (August 2015 – April 2018), rotating through trading, shipping, and analytics. Within this program, he held roles as a Crude Oil Analyst (2015–2016), Associate Charterer (2016–2017), and Fuel Oil Trading Analyst (2017–2018). Before that, he worked at BP Origination in 2014 and at Cargill in its Metals Market Risk division in 2013. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

When Shift Happens Podcast

In 2025, Arthur Cheong appeared on the When Shift Happens podcast hosted by Kevin Follonier. In the episode, he discussed cryptocurrency market cycles, investment approaches, and developments in decentralized finance (DeFi). Topics included the four-year Bitcoin cycle, the role of Solana relative to Ethereum, applications of artificial intelligence in crypto, strategies for navigating volatility, and perspectives on emerging opportunities such as Layer 1 ecosystems and the Hyperliquid trading model.