Fisher Yu

Fisher Yu is a technologist based in Sydney, Australia, and is Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Babylon Labs, the company responsible for developing the Babylon Bitcoin staking protocol. He holds a PhD in Telecommunications from the Australian National University, where he researched network information theory and wireless communication systems. ^[6]

Early Life & Education

Fisher Yu, originally named Mingchao Yu, earned his PhD from the Australian National University between 2012 and 2016, focusing on network information theory and coding, predominantly in wireless communication. ^[3]

Career Prior to Babylon

From 2015 to 2017, Yu served as a Lecturer at the Australian National University while also working as a Senior System Engineer at InterfereX Communications. At InterfereX, he developed patented algorithms that reportedly contributed to the company's acquisition by a NASDAQ-listed multinational. He worked on network-coding-based distributed and concurrent data delivery algorithms. ^[4]

In 2017–2018, Yu was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Southern California. He later worked at Dolby Laboratories as a Senior Staff Research Engineer from 2018 until 2022. He became Managing Director at Hash Laboratories, providing blockchain security consulting and research and development services to blockchain projects, including the XDC Network and IOHK. ^[1]

Co-Founding of Babylon

In 2022, Fisher Yu co-founded Babylon Labs alongside David Tse. Babylon Labs develops a Bitcoin staking protocol intended to enable Bitcoin holders to use their assets in programmable and trustless ways. He served as CTO and led technical development for Babylon's technology and strategic direction. The company completed an $8.8 million seed round, led by IDG and Breyer Capital in 2023. Babylon Labs is headquartered in North Sydney, New South Wales. ^[3]

Babylon's work focuses on integrating Bitcoin into decentralized finance ecosystems without traditional bridges or custodianship; one example is the trustless BTCVault protocol, which enables Bitcoin to act as a collateral asset for on-chain finance. ^[4]

Public Presence & Media

Fisher Yu has participated in public discussions about blockchain and Bitcoin staking. He has appeared on platforms including the Smart Economy Podcast and the Bitcoin Renaissance Podcast, where he discussed technical and strategic aspects of Babylon’s protocols. ^[5]

Yu has spoken at conferences such as the Staking Summit, where he delivered keynote remarks about Babylon's technology and its approach to Bitcoin staking. ^[4]

Foundations & Future Directions

Fisher Yu has described his vision for Babylon as creating a scalable and interoperable environment where Bitcoin's security can be extended to other proof-of-stake systems. He has spoken about using Bitcoin's security features to support the broader blockchain ecosystem, and has described Bitcoin staking as a potential third primary use case for Bitcoin, alongside payments and savings. ^[2]