# Mirko Zhao

> As Leader of Cronos Labs, Mirko Zhao is a former PayPal and Flexport exec who co-founded the Y Combinator-backed startup Orin.

- Canonical URL: https://iq.wiki/wiki/mirko-zhao
- Categories: People in crypto
- Tags: Developer, Founder
- Created: 2025-09-16T11:18:31.337Z
- Last updated: 2025-09-17T03:00:42.064Z
- Source: IQ.wiki — the world's largest blockchain and crypto encyclopedia (https://iq.wiki)

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**Mirko Zhao** is the Leader of [Cronos](https://iq.wiki/wiki/cronos-cro) Labs, where he also serves as the Head of Product and Engineering. He was appointed to this leadership position on March 25, 2024, succeeding [Ken Timsit](https://iq.wiki/wiki/ken-timsit). [\[4\]](#cite-id-event-appointed-leader-of-cronos-labs-link)

## Education

Mirko Zhao holds a Master of Science in E-Commerce and Internet Computing (2015) and a Master of Science in Computer Science (2025) from The University of Hong Kong. He also earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Information Systems from Boston University in 2013. [\[1\]](#cite-id-Pvzj7aEJO0)

## Career

Mirko Zhao is a [blockchain](https://iq.wiki/wiki/blockchain) and technology executive with extensive experience in product management, operations, and startup development. He began his career at PayPal as an Agile Project Manager from June 2014 to May 2015, supporting teams in merchant services, data science, and DevOps. He then joined Flexport as the first Product Manager in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region from June 2016 to May 2020, where he focused on optimizing global trade logistics and leading product development for factory export processes.

From May 2020 to July 2021, Zhao co-founded Orin, a startup providing tools for small and medium-sized exporters to digitize and organize supply chain data. The company secured grants from Y Combinator and the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park and participated in Entrepreneur First Paris.

Zhao entered the [blockchain](https://iq.wiki/wiki/blockchain) and [Decentralized Finance (DeFi)](https://iq.wiki/wiki/defi) sectors in 2019 and joined Crypto.com as a Senior Product Manager from July 2021 to June 2022, contributing to the New Venture team to develop innovative crypto solutions.

In June 2022, he joined [Cronos](https://iq.wiki/wiki/cronos-cro) Labs as Head of Product, leading its startup incubation program. On March 25, 2024, Zhao was promoted to lead [Cronos Labs](https://iq.wiki/wiki/cronos-cro) as Head of Product and Engineering, overseeing the $100 million accelerator dedicated to fostering [DeFi](https://iq.wiki/wiki/defi), [NFT](https://iq.wiki/wiki/non-fungible-token-nft), [Web3](https://iq.wiki/wiki/web3) projects, and the broader [Cronos](https://iq.wiki/wiki/cronos-cro) [blockchain](https://iq.wiki/wiki/blockchain) ecosystem. [\[1\]](#cite-id-Pvzj7aEJO0)[\[4\]](#cite-id-event-appointed-leader-of-cronos-labs-link)