Community Trust ScoreVerified
B2C2 just made a big move in Asia. The institutional crypto liquidity firm hired Jason Lai as a senior adviser, based in Singapore, with a clear mandate: deepen ties with family offices, funds, and asset managers across the Asia-Pacific region.
Lai’s résumé is hard to argue with. He founded Thirdrock Group back in 2009, building it into a serious wealth and asset management operation before Schroders snapped it up in 2019. After the acquisition, he ran Schroders’ Asian wealth management unit as both CEO and chairman — holding those roles until his retirement in 2026. That’s a long run at the top of one of the region’s most respected private wealth businesses, and B2C2 is clearly betting that his contact book and credibility open doors that a pure-crypto firm would struggle to unlock on its own.
B2C2 itself has been around since 2015. It built its name providing liquidity to banks, exchanges, and asset managers through proprietary trading technology, covering spot markets, derivatives, and structured products. It’s not a flashy consumer brand — it’s the kind of firm that operates quietly in the background of most large institutional crypto trades.
Why Asia, Why Now
The timing isn’t random. Family offices and traditional wealth managers across Asia are moving into digital assets faster than most people expected even two years ago. The Boston Consulting Group put a number on the region’s longer-term trajectory: assets under management could hit $99 trillion by 2029. Singapore and Hong Kong are both sprinting to become the dominant regulated digital-asset hubs in the region, and roughly one-third of family offices worldwide have already dipped into crypto in some form.
The transaction volumes back that up. The Asia-Pacific region saw a 69% rise in crypto transaction volume, reaching $2.36 trillion as of June 2025, per Chainalysis. India leads global adoption rankings. Singapore and Hong Kong are fighting hard for the institutional money, and firms that can credibly bridge traditional private wealth and crypto liquidity are in a strong spot right now.
Lai is basically the bridge. His decades in Asia’s private wealth world mean he knows how family offices think, what they need from a counterparty, and what it takes to get a conservative wealth manager comfortable with a new asset class. That’s not something B2C2 could easily hire from within the crypto industry.
Rogers, Teo, and a Broader Hiring Push
Lai’s appointment isn’t a one-off. B2C2 has been building out its Asia team steadily, all under APAC CEO David Rogers. Laura Teo was brought in as head of Singapore operations — another deliberate hire aimed at giving the firm real local weight rather than a thin regional presence managed from London or Tokyo.
The firm is majority-owned by Japan’s SBI Holdings, which shapes a lot of what B2C2 is doing strategically. SBI has pushed hard into digital assets across multiple fronts, and B2C2’s expansion into payments and wholesale liquidity services for family offices fits neatly into that wider playbook. It’s not just about trading anymore — the firm wants to be a fuller-service player for institutional clients who want exposure to crypto without piecing together five different counterparties.
And there’s another layer here. B2C2 has apparently been in takeover discussions with several potential buyers over the past 18 months, according to people familiar with the matter. That’s worth noting. Firms that are actively exploring acquisition conversations tend to be shoring up their fundamentals, and a high-profile hire like Lai in a key growth market probably doesn’t hurt the valuation story.
What B2C2 Is Actually Selling
The pitch to Asia’s wealth managers is pretty straightforward. B2C2’s proprietary technology gives it the ability to offer continuous liquidity across over-the-counter transactions and a range of market structures. For a family office that wants to execute a large crypto position without moving the market or dealing with a retail exchange, that matters a lot. Speed, discretion, and depth of liquidity — that’s the product.
Crypto adoption among wealthy Asian families has accelerated, but it’s still early for many traditional institutions. The compliance and regulatory environment is murky in parts of the region, even as Singapore and Hong Kong sharpen their frameworks. B2C2 seems to be wagering that getting the right people in place now — people like Lai who can walk into a family office meeting and be taken seriously on day one — positions the firm well before the market fully matures.
Rogers is running a deliberate playbook. Hire credibility, build relationships, let the technology close the deal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Jason Lai and what is his background?
Jason Lai founded Thirdrock Group in 2009, which Schroders acquired in 2019. He then served as CEO and chairman of Schroders’ Asian wealth management unit until his retirement in 2026, before joining B2C2 as a senior adviser in Singapore.
What is B2C2’s ownership structure and expansion focus in Asia?
B2C2 is majority-owned by Japan’s SBI Holdings and is expanding into payments and wholesale liquidity services for family offices across the Asia-Pacific region, with Singapore as a key base.
