Leading with Vision: The Success of Owlto Under a Trailblazing Female Entrepreneur

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With the ever-increasing number of layer 2s launching every other day, the cryptocurrency sector continues to get more and more fragmented. 

While these L2s aim to enhance the user experience by tackling the issue of scalability on the Ethereum network, their growing numbers have made it difficult to achieve seamless liquidity and created barriers for users and developers who must navigate different ecosystems and security models. 

To address this pressing need for efficient cross-chain solutions, interoperability protocol Owlto launched a low-priced, easy-to-use, safe, and fast bridge to transfer assets across 40+ blockchains effortlessly within the BTC, ETH, and SOL ecosystems.

In the Web3 world, which is increasingly becoming multi-chain, a cross-chain bridge facilitates the transfer of assets from one blockchain to another. Such a decentralized application brings all the isolated ecosystems together and helps realize the full potential of a multi-chain ecosystem. 

According to DeFi Llama, there is more than $800 million worth of total value locked in cross-chain bridges, which are currently handling over $2.4 bln in collective weekly volume. 

Owlto here is the first cross-chain protocol to use AI agents to optimize product experience and enhance the user experience by simplifying complex blockchain logic to help them make more informed decisions. 

This advanced bridge is the brainchild of Krystal zhang, a first-time female entrepreneur. In just a year, she has built the leading cross-chain bridge as per trading volume, that too, with limited funds. This marks a great achievement not just for Owlto but for the entire crypto sector, which is a male-dominated market. 

Women in crypto make up only about one-third of investors in the U.S. despite being more than half of crypto-curious individuals.

Each passing year, as more women become aware of digital asset opportunities, the number of female investors in crypto has been on the rise. The rate of women’s crypto ownership has surged from just 18% a year ago to 29% at the beginning of this year.

While crypto is the combination of finance and technology, two sectors dominated by men, it doesn’t have the barriers that the traditional world of finance has. More importantly, it’s the knowledge, skill, and drive that matters and thrives here.

So, taking advantage of crypto’s meritocracy, Krystal entered the sector to lead a project that aims to make it easy for users to move value and generate wealth, representing a great female role model for women looking to join the crypto space and capture lucrative opportunities. 

“My experience demonstrates that in the world of Web3, boundaries related to experience, age, gender, or professional background are irrelevant. Web3 is a burgeoning field where we are all pioneers, shaping the future as we go,” said Krystal.

Pioneering Cross-Chain Connectivity with Female Leadership

Under the leadership of Krystal, Owlto has achieved the top spot as a cross-chain bridge on DefiLlama within just one year of its launch, capturing a 25% market share.

This great feat was achieved in part by Krystal’s educational and professional background in finance. She graduated from CUHK Business School with a Master of Accounting degree, and her work experience involves the ‘Big Four’ PwC, which has its own blockchain Lab and provides crypto services, and one of the leading crypto exchanges, Huobi. 

Besides her credentials, Krystal’s dedication, ambition, and resilience helped Owlto climb the ladder of success. Before starting the project, she took upon the task of researching the market about the feasibility of the cross-chain bridge sector, which she found to be in dire need of a solution to connect all the siloed networks.

Her research began in 2021 when DeFi exploded, and with that, dApps across L1, L2, L3, and application-specific blockchains, each with their own approach to security and trust. Over the past few years, this trend further intensified and today, there are thousands of blockchains competing for capital and user attention. 

While this proliferation of L2 has been the result of a shift in focus from technological innovation to building robust ecosystems, user funds are now distributed and stretched across various chains, leading to a growing demand for cross-chain transactions. 

“I often liken blockchain networks to department stores, with dApps as products and chain events as promotional activities. When there is only one department store, users can meet their needs in one place. But as more stores emerge, offering unique products and promotions at different times, consumers will shop around, necessitating cross-store navigation,” noted Krystal.

This led to the launch of Owlto Finance in early 2023, when the sector was still in its infancy. With a goal to tackle the issues of slow transaction speeds, high fees, and inadequate customer service, Owlto began seeking professional technical and product partners. 

“A good cross-chain bridge should provide quick and cost-effective access to the most profitable opportunities,” explained Krystal.

Now, to turn this idea into a reality, the project sought funding. But instead of pursuing large-scale funding, Krystal chose to go the route of angel investment and secured a modest amount from a few trusted friends. In crypto, where projects are notorious for raising huge funding from large backers in exchange for tokens sold at a hefty market discount, which are later dumped on the project users, Krystal’s approach has been a breath of fresh air. 

This approach had its benefits for Owlto, too, as Krystal noted, “Looking back, not seeking additional funds during the bear market allowed us to preserve a larger equity stake, which proved advantageous when the market eventually rebounded.”

On top of that, the project kept its operational costs low, which allowed it to maintain “a vital sense of urgency and drive.” 

Then, equipped with a solid idea, market study, competitive assessments, and Krystal’s leadership, Owlto began its journey by supporting popular networks like Linea, Base, Zora, Scroll, Blast, and Zeta Chain. For these additions, Owlto developed a unique evaluation system that allowed it to integrate new mainnets quickly and seamlessly.

In addition, Owlto Finance invested significantly in customer service, employing six representatives across different time zones to ensure prompt responses to user inquiries. Given crypto’s lack of focus on customer experience and support, this has helped Owlto stand out in the sea of broken bridges. 

But of course, to survive in crypto, one must capture the market’s attention. And to accomplish this, Owlto focused on creating a strong brand identity. The owl in Owlto was chosen for this very purpose: to convey the brand’s friendliness and trustworthiness.

A layer of incentivization was then added to the Owlto to encourage users to interact with the protocol. With a points and invitation system, Owlto users earn points by inviting friends and performing cross-chain transactions, which act as key criteria for airdrops. 

This wasn’t just in name only, Owlto has distributed more than $200,000 in incentives just this year alone. The idea is to have Owlto supporters and users “share in the success and benefits that Owlto achieves,” said Krystal.

Now, with the support of its strong community and Krystal spearheading the advanced technical capabilities and growth of the cross-chain bridge, Owlto is all set to take the crypto space forward.