Dohyun Pak
Dohyun Pak is a financial and technology executive with a background spanning quantitative trading, equity derivatives, securities, blockchain, and academia. He is CEO of BIFROST Technology and PiLab Technology and serves as an Associate Professor at Gachon University. [7]
Education
Park attended Yonsei University and Iowa State University, where he earned his Bachelor’s in Mathematics and his Master’s in Operations Research. In 2005, he received his PhD in Financial Engineering from the University of Michigan. [3]
Career
Pak began his career at Korea Investment & Securities in 2006 as Deputy Director and Head of Quant, a role he held until 2008. He then joined Hana Financial as Associate Director and Head of Quant and Equity Derivative Trading, serving from September 2008 to May 2011. From June 2011 to February 2012, he served as Executive Director and Head of Equity Trading and Sales at IBK Securities, then as Director and Head of Derivative Trading and Quant at Mirae Asset Securities from April 2012 to December 2013. In January 2014, Pak became an Associate Professor at Gachon University, where he is affiliated with the Gachon Business School. He joined PiLab Technology as CEO in March 2016, where the company conducts blockchain research and projects, including developing BIFROST as infrastructure for decentralized applications. In September 2017, he became CEO of BIFROST Technology, a role he still holds. [4]
Interviews
Bitcoin-Native Dollar
In an August 2025 interview with Max Lopatnikov at the Synopsis Web3 Summit, Pak discussed his transition from traditional finance to Web3 and his interest in blockchain as a way to build more transparent and resilient financial infrastructure. He described BIFROST's evolution into a multichain platform designed to simplify cross-chain development, followed by its expansion into BTCfi, which focuses on using Bitcoin in decentralized financial applications, including decentralized Bitcoin banking and the BTC USD stablecoin. Pak explained that BTC USD is backed by native Bitcoin and uses a conservative collateral ratio, with an emphasis on transparency and multichain interoperability, distinguishing it from fiat-backed stablecoins and aligning with regulatory considerations in markets such as Japan. He also discussed BIFROST's plans to expand BTCfi adoption, strengthen integrations across networks, and develop additional products while focusing on usability and trust for users transitioning from traditional finance. Pak concluded by emphasizing curiosity, long-term thinking, practical experience, and a focus on solving real problems when navigating Web3's volatility. [5]
BiFrost
In an April 2021 interview on the Crypto Coin Show, Pak discussed Bifi Finance and Bifrost's approach to interoperability in decentralized finance. He explained that Bifi Finance was built on Bifrost to connect fragmented blockchain financial markets and automate asset flows across networks, addressing interoperability and scalability limitations. Pak described the platform's existing lending, pooling, and staking services and outlined plans for additional features including multichain lending, wallets, insurance funds, and decentralized exchanges. He identified Bifrost's multichain technology as a key aspect of the platform, describing direct connections between networks such as Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Polkadot, and Bitcoin without relying on wrapped assets, while noting that Bifi initially integrated with Binance Smart Chain because of its lower transaction costs and faster transaction speeds. Pak also discussed the ecosystem's two-token model, developer and user growth strategies, and plans to support multichain transactions and expand the platform's developer base as it progressed toward mainnet. He concluded by emphasizing the importance of connecting blockchains in a scalable, flexible way and continuing protocol research and development to support the broader blockchain ecosystem. [6]