Jocy Lin is the Founding Partner of IOSG Ventures, a research and thesis-driven venture capital firm focused on Web3. Since founding the firm in 2017, she has become an influential figure in the cryptocurrency investment landscape, particularly in Asia. Lin is recognized for her early-stage investments in foundational blockchain infrastructure, with a focus on areas including Zero-Knowledge (ZK) proofs, modular blockchains, Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN), and the convergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and crypto. ^{[1] [2]}​

Education

Jocy Lin earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics with a specialization in Finance from Nankai University. ^[17]

Career

Early Career and Transition to Crypto

Before entering the Web3 industry, Jocy Lin accumulated over a decade of experience in traditional finance, specializing in investment banking, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), private equity, and corporate finance. ^[6] Her roles included serving as an Investment Banking Analyst and later Vice President at Somerley Capital in Hong Kong between 2012 and 2016. ^[7] Other roles cited include Chief Analyst at Shenwan-Hongyuan Securities, where she was involved in financial research and market analysis. ^[1] She also reportedly co-founded and served as COO of a mobile internet startup before dedicating her focus to blockchain technology. ^[2]​

IOSG Ventures

In January 2017, Lin founded IOSG Ventures, a crypto-native venture fund that she has led as Founding Partner ever since. ^[9] The firm, which stands for International Open Source Group, was established with a research-driven and thesis-led BUIDLer-friendly approach. ^[10] Under her leadership, IOSG Ventures has become one of the most active crypto funds in Asia, specializing in early-stage (seed to Series A) investments. ^[4] The firm's assets under management have been reported by some sources to exceed $1 billion. ^[4]​

As Founding Partner, Lin guides the firm's investment strategy, which is centered on identifying foundational technologies and visionary entrepreneurs in the Web3 space. ^[1] IOSG's portfolio includes a wide range of prominent protocols and companies across different sectors, such as Layer 1 and Layer 2 solutions (StarkWare, zkSync, Arbitrum, Scroll, Celestia, NEAR Protocol, Monad), DeFi (1inch, MakerDAO, Liquity, Synthetix), and infrastructure (EigenLayer, Flashbots, ConsenSys). ^[9] Lin is also a mentor for the IOSG Kickstarter Program, an initiative offering up to $100,000 in funding and strategic support to early-stage Web3 founders. ^[9]​

Other Roles and Affiliations

In addition to her role at IOSG, Jocy Lin is deeply involved in a number of projects that align with her investment theses.

• DePIN.surf: She is a co-founder and advisor for DePIN.surf, a data platform and accelerator for the Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks ecosystem. ^[11]
• ChainML: Following IOSG's lead in the company's $4 million seed funding round in September 2022, Lin joined ChainML's board of directors. ^[8]
• Angel Investor: Lin also participates as an individual angel investor in the Web3 space. In January 2022, she joined the $3 million seed round for the decentralized RPC service BlockPI. ^[6]

Public Commentary and Investment Philosophy

Jocy Lin is a prolific commentator on the crypto industry, using platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and industry publications to share her research-driven perspectives, analyses, and critiques. Her investment philosophy is rooted in "value investing" and "long-termism," with a focus on backing strong teams building foundational infrastructure. ^[2]​

Investment Thesis

Lin's investment thesis centers on the core infrastructure layers that enable new Web3 use cases and a more decentralized internet. Her primary areas of focus include:

• Zero-Knowledge (ZK) Proofs: Lin is a vocal proponent of ZK technology, which she views as critical for blockchain scalability and privacy. This is reflected in IOSG's early and significant investments in ZK-focused projects like StarkWare, Matter Labs (zkSync), and Aztec Protocol. ^{[12] [4]}
• Modular Infrastructure: She is a known advocate for the modular blockchain thesis, backing projects like Celestia that separate core blockchain functions to improve scalability and flexibility. ^[9]
• DePIN: Lin considers DePIN a major narrative for the crypto market, believing it can solve real-world problems by using token incentives to bootstrap global, permissionless markets for physical infrastructure and services. ^[13]
• AI and Web3 Convergence: She actively invests in protocols at the intersection of AI and Web3, such as the decentralized machine learning protocol ChainML. Lin believes the combination of these two fields will drive the next major market cycle. ^[14]

Industry Critiques and Market Analysis

Lin often provides candid analysis of the crypto industry's challenges and structural shifts.

In a notable commentary from March 2025, she raised concerns about a "brain drain" from Web3 to the AI sector. Lin observed that core developers from some portfolio companies were leaving to start AI ventures, attributing the trend to the crypto industry's excessive focus on "short-term meme effects" and speculation over fundamental innovation. She argued that the industry was at risk of becoming a "big casino" if it did not encourage pragmatic, long-term building. ^{[15] [10]}​

In a separate analysis, she criticized what she termed the "2BN business model," a model where projects focus solely on gaining a listing on a major exchange like Binance to enable founders to cash out, ultimately damaging community trust and draining industry liquidity. ^[4] She has also called for a re-evaluation of tokenomics and user acquisition strategies, pointing out that long lock-up periods are unsustainable without real token utility and that airdrop campaigns often fail to retain genuine users. ^[4]​

In her 2025 market summary, Lin identified a fundamental paradigm shift from a retail-driven speculative market to an "institutional era." She described 2025 as both the "darkest year" for the crypto market and the "dawn" of this new institutional structure. ^[16]​

Community Building and Public Appearances

Community building is a core component of Lin's strategy. She is the founder and host of the IOSG Old Friends Reunion (OFR), a recurring, high-profile event series that brings together founders, developers, and investors. ^[7] These events, held in cities like Shanghai and Singapore since at least 2018, serve as key networking and knowledge-sharing platforms, cementing Lin’s role as a central convener in the Asian Web3 ecosystem. ^[12]​

Lin is also a regular speaker at major industry conferences. She is scheduled to speak at Consensus Hong Kong in February 2026 on a panel titled "Asia OG's, Investing in Crypto and the Search for Yield." ^[1]​

Notable Quotes

• On the investment in ChainML (September 2022): "We're seeing more Web3 use cases are showing strong demand not only for verifiable computation but also for more sophisticated off-chain data processing. We believe that a decentralized, permission-less, and secure machine learning protocol will unlock the next wave of innovation for Web3." ^[13]
• On talent migration to AI (March 2025): "A core developer from a portfolio company left the industry to start an AI application venture... If the goal of the big players in the crypto world is to get more good people to leave, and finally make web3 a big casino, then they have succeeded." ^[15]
• On DePIN's potential (December 2022): "We firmly believe DePIN has the potential to become a trillion-dollar market in the next decade, and we hope to promote DePIN to become the core narrative of the next bull market through our Kickstarter Program." ^[13]
• On the market shift in 2025 (December 2025): "2025: the darkest year for the crypto market, and also the dawn of the institutional era. This is a fundamental shift in market structure, while most people are still looking at the new era with the logic of the old cycle." ^[16]

Interviews

Scaling and Metaverse in the Early Web3 Era #01

An interview published on the YouTube channel IOSG Ventures on December 22, 2021 features Jocy Lin, Founding Partner at IOSG Ventures, discussing topics related to blockchain scalability and the development of Web3 within the context of the event Scaling Summit | Scaling & Metaverse: The Beginning of Web 3.0 Era. The discussion addresses structural characteristics of emerging decentralized systems and their associated technical constraints.

During the interview, Lin describes Web3 as a stage in the evolution of the internet characterized by decentralized network architectures and token-based coordination mechanisms. He outlines the progression from Web1 to Web2 and subsequently to Web3, focusing on differences in data ownership, governance models, and the role of platforms. In this framework, tokens are presented as functional components used to coordinate participants and manage economic activity within decentralized networks.

The interview also covers scalability limitations observed in Layer 1 blockchains and the development of Layer 2 solutions intended to address transaction throughput and cost efficiency. Lin references technical approaches such as optimistic rollups and zero-knowledge rollups, as well as modular blockchain designs that separate execution, security, and data availability. These approaches are discussed in relation to their capacity to support increased network activity and application deployment.

In addition, Lin outlines areas of activity and research interest associated with IOSG Ventures, including decentralized finance, non-fungible tokens, blockchain-based gaming, social finance models, decentralized autonomous organizations, blockchain data analytics, and cross-chain infrastructure. These sectors are described as components of a broader technological stack rather than as independent developments.

The interview concludes with observations regarding the long-term nature of Web3 infrastructure development, emphasizing ongoing technical iteration, ecosystem coordination, and cross-regional participation as ongoing factors influencing the evolution of decentralized technologies. ^[18]