Joanna Zeng is the founder of Solana Optimistic Network (SOON), where she serves as CEO. She is also the founder of CryptoNYC, a New York-based developer community, and has held senior business development roles at several prominent cryptocurrency firms, including Aleo, Optimism, and Coinbase. ^{[1] [2]}

Education

Zeng attended Carnegie Mellon University from 2005 to 2008, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and Statistics. She later pursued graduate studies at Columbia Business School, graduating in 2013 with a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) with a focus on International Affairs. ^{[1] [3] [10]}

Career

Traditional Finance

Zeng began her career in traditional finance (TradFi) following her undergraduate studies. She worked as a Corporate Finance Analyst in the Investment Banking Division at Lehman Brothers from 2008 to 2009. Following this, she joined Piper Jaffray as a Senior Analyst in the tech sector investment banking division until 2011. After completing her M.B.A., Zeng joined Citigroup in 2013, initially as an Associate in FX Prime Brokerage before being promoted to Vice President of FX Corporate Sales, a role she held until early 2020. Her final position in TradFi was at BNP Paribas, where she served as Vice President of Corporate Derivatives Trading, managing coverage for large North American enterprise clients throughout 2020, which served as a basis for working in the blockchain sector. ^{[4] [1] [10] [11] [12]}

Transition to Cryptocurrency

Zeng first became involved in the cryptocurrency industry in 2017, describing it initially as a "career hedge." During this period, she attended a coding camp to learn Solidity, the primary programming language for the Ethereum blockchain. In 2017, she founded CryptoNYC, a community organization for crypto developers in New York City aimed at promoting and funding blockchain technology ventures. She transitioned to a full-time career in the industry in 2019.

Her first major role in the sector was at Coinbase, which she joined in late 2020 as a Senior Account Manager for Institutional Clients. She was later promoted to Senior Manager and Lead for NFT Marketplace Partner Success. During her tenure, which ended in August 2022, she contributed to the launch of two key products: the Coinbase Institutional Prime Broker and the Coinbase NFT Marketplace. Following her time at Coinbase, Zeng joined OP Labs, the development team behind the Optimism network, as the Business Development Lead for the OP Stack, NFTs, and Gaming from August 2022 to April 2023. She then served as the Vice President and Head of Business Development at Aleo, a privacy-focused Layer 1 blockchain, from April 2023 to June 2024, where she was responsible for building its ecosystem from an early stage. ^{[4] [1] [2] [5]}

Ventures and Affiliations

SOON (Solana Optimistic Network)

In 2024, Zeng co-founded the Solana Optimistic Network (SOON) and assumed the role of CEO. SOON is an Ethereum Layer 2 rollup designed to enhance transaction speed and performance by utilizing the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) as its execution environment. The project's architecture is described as a "decoupled SVM stack" that separates the execution and settlement layers to combine high performance with robust security.

The project launched its mainnet in early 2025 after raising $22 million through an NFT mint titled "COMMing SOON," which saw participation from firms such as Hack VC, ABCDE, Hypersphere, and SNZ Capital. In a Medium post on May 19, 2025, Zeng revealed that the development process involved significant internal debate over the project's technical direction. The team chose a more complex "Decoupled SVM" architecture over a simpler "Fork SVM" to achieve a better balance of security and performance, despite a three-month launch delay.

On June 11, 2025, SOON announced a subsequent $5 million strategic investment round led by Jump Crypto and Amber Group. Zeng stated the funding would be used to accelerate the development of high-performance chains, scale its copy-trading product, and expand into Real-World Assets (RWAs), including on-chain U.S. equities solutions. ^{[7] [6]}

CryptoNYC

Zeng founded CryptoNYC in 2017 and serves as a Founding Board Member. The organization is a community for cryptocurrency developers and enthusiasts based in New York City. Its mission is to foster collaboration, promote blockchain technology, and support new ventures in the space. ^{[3] [1]}

Advisory and Other Roles

In addition to her primary roles, Zeng is an active angel investor and holds several advisory positions. She serves as a Strategic Advisor for AlwaysGeeky Games, a blockchain gaming studio, and for Right Click Save Ventures, a Web3 venture studio. She has also been involved in philanthropic activities, including serving as a Fundraising Manager for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and on the Mentorship Committee for the Women's Bond Club. Zeng is also the host of the "Professionally Curious" podcast, where she interviews founders. ^{[1] [8]}

Public Appearances

Zeng is a frequent speaker at major international blockchain and technology conferences. Her speaking engagements have included events such as ETHDenver, Consensus, Token2049, Korea Blockchain Week, Breakpoint, zkSummit, DevConnect, and Science of Blockchain Week. She has also appeared as a guest on financial media platforms like Real Vision to discuss topics related to cryptocurrency, Web3, and decentralized finance. ^{[2] [1]}

Controversies

SOON Token Price Fluctuation

In July 2025, the SOON token experienced a significant and sudden price decline. In a public statement on July 9, 2025, Zeng addressed the market volatility, stating her belief that the event was an "organized market manipulation attempt" intended to create panic among investors. She denied any involvement from her team in the event. In her statement, Zeng said, “The SOON team did not sell any SOON tokens and did not gain any profit from this price fluctuation. This is not the end of SOON. We will continue to develop as always.” She affirmed that development at SOON Labs would continue despite the incident and shared self-reported metrics for the project's platforms, including a $200 million transaction volume for its InterSOON product. ^[9]

Interviews

Cryptonews Spotlight #01

On April 4, 2025, Joanna Zeng participated in an interview on Cryptonews Spotlight titled “Joanna Zeng, CEO of SOON Network, on Being an Ethereum Layer 2 Using SVM, Community Centric Building and more.”

In the interview, Zeng outlined her career trajectory, noting her experience as a currency trader on Wall Street and subsequent roles at Aleo, Optimism, and Coinbase. She also referred to her position as a founding board member of CryptoNYC and her activity as an angel investor.

Zeng discussed SOON Network, which she co-founded, describing it as an Ethereum Layer 2 that integrates the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) with Optimistic Rollups. According to her, this design separates execution from consensus, allowing higher transaction throughput and reduced latency compared to EVM-based approaches. She also mentioned that the SVM framework provides advantages for developers, particularly those working with Rust.

The interview further addressed SOON Network’s funding model. Zeng explained that in 2024 the project conducted a “co-builder” round without venture capital participation, aiming to involve community members directly in the project’s development. She presented this as part of a broader approach to encourage stakeholder engagement and participation.

Zeng also commented on Ethereum Layer 2 fragmentation, describing SOON as a hybrid framework intended to balance scalability with interoperability across ecosystems including Ethereum, Solana, and BNB Chain. She stated that the emergence of high-performance Layer 2 solutions could contribute to the development of future blockchain applications. ^[13]

The Index Podcast #02

On June 16, 2025, Joanna Zeng participated in The Index Podcast in an episode titled “SOON Stack | Build on Solana, Deploy Everywhere with CEO Joanna Zeng.” In the discussion with host Alex Kehaya, she presented her perspective on the development and direction of SOON.

Zeng explained that the project is working on a decoupled Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) architecture, which separates the execution layer from the consensus layer. This structure is intended to extend Solana’s performance characteristics to other blockchains, including Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Base. She stated that this approach allows developers to create applications that can be deployed across multiple ecosystems while maintaining similar execution speed.

She also described SOON’s expansion from infrastructure development to application building. As part of this shift, she mentioned Simp for Fun, a platform that integrates AI-based copy trading with livestreaming. The platform is presented as a tool to facilitate broader access to Web3 trading environments.

During the interview, Zeng referred to specific project milestones: three SVM rollups in production, more than 40 applications launched on mainnet (with around half developed through SOON’s incubation), and a token distribution in which 51% is allocated to the community. She also addressed adoption in emerging markets, community participation, and the potential overlap between blockchain technology and artificial intelligence. ^[14]