Sean Li is a software engineer and entrepreneur recognized for his contributions to containerized application development and cryptocurrency infrastructure. He is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Magic Labs, a company that provides wallet-as-a-service infrastructure and develops AI-integrated crypto tools. Before his work in the crypto space, Li co-founded Kitematic, a tool designed to simplify Docker container management, which was later acquired by Docker Inc., where he also served as a co-creator of Docker Desktop. ^{[1] [2]}​

Education

Li attended the University of Waterloo, where he earned a Bachelor of Software Engineering degree. This educational background in software engineering provided the foundation for his subsequent career in technology and product development. ^[1]​

Career

Li began his professional career in 2014 as a fellow at Lightspeed Venture Partners, where he developed the initial groundwork for what would become Kitematic. Later that year, he co-founded Kitematic and took on the role of Chief Product Officer. In this capacity, he was responsible for setting the product's direction, shaping its market strategy, and designing the overall user experience. The company’s early journey included a rejection from the accelerator Y Combinator, an experience Li has cited as a key learning opportunity that helped shape the team's reliance on mentorship and user feedback. ^{[3] [4]}​

In 2014, Docker Inc. acquired Kitematic, and Li transitioned to a role at Docker as a product lead and member of the technical staff. During his tenure until 2016, he contributed to the early versions of Docker’s desktop and enterprise products and was a co-creator of Docker Desktop. He also played an instrumental role in establishing the company’s design function. ^{[1] [2]}​

In 2018, observing the complex and fragmented onboarding experience within the Ethereum ecosystem, Li co-founded Magic Labs (originally Magic) with Jaemin Jin and became its CEO. He has since led the company's work in building authentication and non-custodial wallet infrastructure for developers. Since 2020, Li has also been active as an angel investor, backing early-stage technology companies such as Copy.ai, Ollama, and Syndicate Labs. ^{[4] [3]}​

Projects

Li has been a principal figure in several influential technology projects, spanning from developer tools to crypto infrastructure and artificial intelligence.

Kitematic

Co-founded by Li in 2014, Kitematic was a desktop application designed to make container technology, particularly Docker, more accessible to developers by providing a graphical user interface (GUI). The project aimed to abstract away the command-line complexities associated with container management. After its acquisition by Docker Inc. in 2014, its technology and user-centric philosophy were integrated into Docker's official product suite, influencing the development of Docker Desktop. ^{[1] [3]}​

Magic Labs

As co-founder and CEO, Li leads Magic Labs, an enterprise-grade wallet infrastructure company. Founded circa 2018, Magic provides developers with an API to programmatically create and manage non-custodial wallets for their users, aiming to simplify the onboarding process for Web3 applications. The platform's core technology is designed to abstract away the complexities of private key management, allowing for user authentication through familiar methods like email or social logins. ^{[5] [6]}​

​Magic's infrastructure has been used to create over 50 million wallets and is utilized by over 200,000 developers across more than 18,000 applications. Key features include a non-custodial key management system that uses trusted execution environments (TEEs) and a customizable sharding system for security. The platform supports whitelabel user interfaces and is designed for high performance, with low latency for wallet creation and signing. Magic Labs is compliant with SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, CCPA, and GDPR standards. The company's partners and clients include Mattel, Forbes, Polygon, and Immutable, with backing from investors such as Lightspeed, PayPal Ventures, and Tiger Global. ^[5]​

Newton

Newton is a project developed by Magic Labs and governed by the Magic Newton Foundation. Li has described it as a decentralized policy protocol designed for the "agentic economy," particularly for governing AI agents and digital assets like stablecoins and Real-World Assets (RWAs). The project's genesis launch occurred on May 7, 2025. Newton functions as a programmable layer for on-chain compliance and security, offering more expressive guardrails than traditional smart contracts. ^{[7] [2]}​

The protocol aims to provide "verifiable automation," where actions taken by an AI agent are accompanied by on-chain proofs, making automation a "trust primitive." This is intended to address user hesitancy around using AI for financial tasks. Newton is designed to act as an "AI co-pilot" that helps users manage investing and savings while maintaining transparency and user oversight. Its features include cross-chain expressive policies and the ability to integrate dynamic off-chain data. The long-term vision includes an "agent marketplace" where developers can build and share task-specific agents, potentially evolving user interactions toward command-driven or natural-language interfaces. ^{[8] [2]}​

Views and Philosophy

Through various interviews and public statements in 2025, Li has articulated his philosophy on product development, user experience, and the future of technology at the intersection of AI and cryptocurrency.

User Experience and Product Design

A central theme in Li's work is a strong focus on user experience, a principle he states has guided him from Kitematic to Magic Labs. He credits his time observing Apple's approach to product design for influencing his focus on detail and craftsmanship. He advocates for creating "invisible" technology, where underlying complexity is abstracted away from the end-user, and tasks are handled seamlessly by background processes. This philosophy was a primary motivator for founding Magic Labs, which was created to solve the high barrier to entry in crypto by developing the "embedded wallet" concept. His product development approach involves balancing rapid iteration with meticulous attention to detail. ^{[6] [3]}​

AI, Trust, and Verifiability

Li frequently discusses the future of "agentic user experiences," where autonomous AI agents operate on a user's behalf, potentially reducing the need for traditional graphical interfaces. He acknowledges that a significant hurdle for this future is the "trust problem," especially regarding financial applications. To overcome user hesitancy, he stresses the need for clear storytelling and transparent, verifiable mechanisms that ensure AI agents operate reliably and within an owner's intended boundaries. ^[9]​

He argues for the development of "verifiable agents" that operate with cryptographic proofs, a core concept behind the Newton protocol. He believes that as AI agents gain more autonomy, such verifiable constraints are critical for ensuring security and maintaining user confidence. Li also highlights the importance of transparency and security in AI development as both centralized and open-source models evolve, acknowledging the ethical questions that arise. ^[6]​

Crypto and Long-Term Building

Li views cryptocurrency as part of a fundamental "upgrade to society’s coordination systems," shaped by developments like stablecoins and decentralized finance (DeFi). He advocates for a product strategy that focuses on solving core infrastructure problems rather than chasing market hype. He has stated that this long-term focus helped Magic Labs maintain direction, secure investment, and forge partnerships through various market cycles. He believes that while hype can accelerate interest, durable progress requires staying focused on core principles amid evolving trends. ^{[9] [3]}​

Media Appearances

In 2025, Li participated in several public discussions that detailed his work and vision for the future of technology.

Magic Labs Documentary

In a September 2025 documentary by EO Studios, Li and co-founder Jaemin Jin discussed their backgrounds and the founding journey of Magic Labs. They reflected on their shared interests in software, jazz, and Ethereum, and how Li's time at Apple influenced his focus on craftsmanship. The interview covered the creation of Kitematic, navigating a Y Combinator rejection, and how those experiences informed their decision to tackle the fragmented onboarding in crypto. They also detailed Magic Labs' growth, its development of a non-custodial key management system, and their vision for invisible technology powered by AI agents.

The Future of Applications and Identity

In a July 2025 interview with EigenCloud, alongside Nima Vaziri of EigenLabs and Sreeram Kannan of EigenLayer, Li discussed how the complexity of crypto onboarding pushed him toward building more accessible tools. The conversation explored the role of AI in an increasingly decentralized world, focusing on the need for trust, verifiability, and transparent mechanisms to ensure AI agents behave reliably. The group concluded that durable progress in the space comes from focusing on core principles rather than market hype.

AI's Trust Problem

In a May 2025 appearance on The Rollup podcast, Li addressed the hesitancy users feel toward AI in financial applications and the need for clear storytelling to build trust. He outlined his career path and how a focus on user experience has been a consistent theme. He explained how the concept of embedded wallets at Magic emerged to solve crypto onboarding issues and how AI introduces new security considerations. He proposed that agentic experiences could reduce the need for traditional interfaces, provided the agents operate within verifiable boundaries.

Portfolio Autopilot and Newton

In an April 2025 interview on The Edge Podcast with DeFi Dad, Li introduced Newton as an AI-powered platform designed to make crypto automation more secure and reliable. He described it as a co-pilot to help users manage investments with transparency. The conversation covered the shift from traditional wallet management to automated agents, the importance of streamlined onboarding via social logins, and the future potential for command-driven wallet interactions. Li also outlined his vision for an agent marketplace on the Newton platform.