John Chen is the CEO of Crypto Briefing, an independent crypto news and research organization, and a Senior Advisor at Umbrella Network, a VC-backed decentralized blockchain oracle. Chen is also the Founder of CPXi Asia, a network of independent digital media and marketing agencies operating in Southeast Asia with a team of almost 100 marketers. ^[1]

Education

John Chen attended Columbia University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree. His studies focused on Computer Science and Economics. ^[1]

Career

Chen began his career as an Analyst in Information Security at Goldman Sachs in 1996, where he gained foundational experience in the financial services industry. ^[4]

Afterwards, Chen worked as a Management Consultant in Information Technology at PricewaterhouseCoopers from 1997 to 1999, where he provided strategy and tech consulting services to clients in the financial services vertical, including Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. ^[4]

Chen also served as a Senior Analyst in Technology M&A at Broadview International (now part of Jeffries Technology Investment Banking) from 1999 to 2002. In this role, he played a key role in M&A/Private Equity transactions, successfully closing deals worth over $5 billion. ^[4]

Chen worked as an Associate at iFormation Group from 2002 to 2003, where he focused on investment opportunities from underutilized assets and intellectual property at existing Fortune 500 companies for spin-outs and joint ventures. ^[4]

From January 2004 to June 2015, Chen served as the Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Global Vista Trading, where he established and managed a global manufacturing, wholesale, and distribution business in the luxury flooring industry. His responsibilities included product sourcing in Asia, sales and marketing in North America, and overall business management. ^[4]

CPXi Asia

John Chen is the Founder and CEO of CPXi Asia, a digital marketing and media agency based in Singapore. Since May 2015, he has led the company in providing digital marketing solutions to clients across Southeast Asia. CPXi Asia specializes in executing omnichannel media strategies, encompassing various formats such as display, video, social, search, native, and mobile. ^[4]

Umbrella Network

John Chen has been serving as a Senior Advisor at Umbrella Network since January 2023. Umbrella Network is a decentralized off-chain data oracle that facilitates the integration of real-world data onto the blockchain. With a tenure of over a year, Chen contributes his expertise to the project, particularly in operations, marketing, and strategic planning. Prior to his role as Senior Advisor, Chen held the position of President at Umbrella Network from January 2021 to December 2022. ^[4]

Crypto Briefing

John Chen was appointed as the CEO of Crypto Briefing in February 2024. Crypto Briefing is an independent crypto news and research organization based in Puerto Rico. Established in 2017, the organization has gained recognition for its coverage of emerging trends in the blockchain industry, such as decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). With a commitment to providing unbiased information, Crypto Briefing offers expert insights, market analyses, and in-depth research to help readers navigate the cryptocurrency markets. ^[2][3]

“AI is positioned to disrupt the digital media landscape. As CEO, I’m excited to lead Crypto Briefing toward a more data-driven and technology-first approach to news reporting that will allow the publication to remain at the forefront of crypto media.”