# Leo Yiyang Li

> Leo Yiyang Li is a software engineer and co-founder of AEON Protocol, focused on developing crypto payment infrastructure. He has experience across software engineering, search relevance, and AI technology.

- Canonical URL: https://iq.wiki/wiki/leo-yiyang-li
- Categories: People in crypto
- Tags: Developer, Founder, Researcher
- Created: 2026-07-30T17:09:36.570Z
- Last updated: 2026-07-30T17:15:25.553Z
- Source: IQ.wiki — the world's largest blockchain and crypto encyclopedia (https://iq.wiki)

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**Leo Yiyang Li** is the Co-Founder and CTO of [AEON Protocol](https://iq.wiki/wiki/aeon), where he focuses on the technical development of its crypto payment infrastructure. His background spans software engineering, search relevance, speech recognition, and advertising technology. [\[2\]](#cite-id-s8c60lm3R1v9wrJs) 

## Education

Li earned his Bachelor of Science in Computer and Systems Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and his Master’s in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Stanford University. [\[3\]](#cite-id-SiH7QFoqijgttQdr) 

## Career

Li began his professional experience through software engineering internships at Microsoft and Otter.ai. At Microsoft, he interned with the Bing Relevance team in 2017, working on search relevance, before joining Otter.ai in 2018 as an intern on the platform team, where his work involved speech recognition. In August 2019, Li joined Google as a software engineer in Mountain View, California, working in Ads Quality. He remained at Google for more than five years before leaving in October 2024. That same month, he joined [AEON Protocol](https://iq.wiki/wiki/aeon) as Co-Founder and CTO, taking responsibility for the technical side of the company's [cryptocurrency](https://iq.wiki/wiki/cryptocurrency) payment infrastructure. [\[2\]](#cite-id-s8c60lm3R1v9wrJs)  [\[3\]](#cite-id-SiH7QFoqijgttQdr) 

### AEON

​[AEON](https://iq.wiki/wiki/aeon) is a [crypto](https://iq.wiki/wiki/cryptocurrency) payment infrastructure project focused on connecting [blockchain](https://iq.wiki/wiki/blockchain)-based assets with real-world merchant payments, online checkout, and AI-driven transactions. Its [AEON](https://iq.wiki/wiki/aeon) Pay product enables users to spend [crypto](https://iq.wiki/wiki/cryptocurrency) through existing merchant QR codes and local payment networks, while [AEON](https://iq.wiki/wiki/aeon) Checkout provides Web2 and [Web3](https://iq.wiki/wiki/web3) businesses with [crypto](https://iq.wiki/wiki/cryptocurrency) payment processing and [crypto](https://iq.wiki/wiki/cryptocurrency)-to-[fiat](https://iq.wiki/wiki/fiat-money) or [crypto](https://iq.wiki/wiki/cryptocurrency)-to-[crypto](https://iq.wiki/wiki/cryptocurrency) settlement. The project also includes an AI Payment Framework designed to allow [AI agents](https://iq.wiki/wiki/ai-agents) to execute transactions on users’ behalf using agent identities, cryptographic authorization, payment-intent verification, and auditable transaction records. Its broader infrastructure is designed to support cross-chain settlement, with the [AEON](https://iq.wiki/wiki/aeon) token intended for network fees, [validator](https://iq.wiki/wiki/validator) [staking](https://iq.wiki/wiki/staking), governance, liquidity, and fee-based buybacks. [\[2\]](#cite-id-s8c60lm3R1v9wrJs)