FigureAsia 35 Under 35 · Finance
Thomas de Phuoc
Age 31 · Digital-asset finance operations · France, Singapore and Japan
A finance-operations founder who has built the legal, treasury and international machinery behind an institutional staking platform.
- Age at the edition eligibility date
- 31
- Field
- Finance
- Country or region
- France, Singapore and Japan
- FigureAsia U35 Assessment
- 77.0 / 100
Profile
Career and documented record
Thomas de Phuoc's contribution to Kiln is unusually specific for a co-founder profile. As chief operating officer, he supervises financial and legal operations. A banking case study records how he managed a €16 million capital increase involving 21 domestic and international investors, tracking transfers and compliance questions through completion. The transaction supported a wider operating build-out, including offices in Singapore and New York.
That foundation now supports a much larger business. Kiln reported more than $18 billion in assets staked during 2025, more than $500 million in DeFi total value locked and a workforce of 110. De Phuoc has also documented direct work with customers and partners in Japan. The recognition is for finance operations and international execution, not for ancestry inferred from his surname and not for a funding headline detached from completed organisational work.
FigureAsia selection
Why Thomas de Phuoc is on the list
FigureAsia selected de Phuoc because legal, treasury and cross-border execution are central to whether financial infrastructure can scale safely. His record identifies the work he personally supervised and connects it to a completed Asian operating presence, rather than relying on the success of Kiln by association.
The assessment separates his contribution from Szabo's chief-executive record. De Phuoc's case is the construction of operational capacity: closing a complex international capital process, supporting treasury and compliance, and helping establish the entities through which the platform serves global clients.
Verified work
The 2025–26 record
De Phuoc supervised a €16 million capital increase
The operation involved 21 domestic and international investors and was completed with real-time transfer and compliance tracking under his financial and legal oversight.
Kiln's operating platform passed $18 billion staked
The company also reported more than $500 million in DeFi total value locked, renewed SOC 2 Type II compliance and 110 employees at year-end.
Field context
The work in its field
Infrastructure companies handling digital assets must solve conventional corporate-finance problems as rigorously as technical ones. Capital collection, banking access, investor verification, treasury controls and entity formation determine whether a product can operate across borders.
These functions are often invisible beside protocol metrics. They become especially consequential when a company enters jurisdictions such as Singapore and works with regulated institutions that expect clear legal accountability and dependable financial reporting.
FigureAsia U35 Assessment
Assessment breakdown
77.0out of 100
Completed financial consequence
23 / 30
De Phuoc supervised a €16 million capital increase is treated as a delivered financial outcome. The score is confined to the completed result described in the record and excludes projections or paper valuation.
Individual agency and execution
19 / 25
The documented role—Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer—and the attributed actions in the profile establish accountable execution. Institution-wide results are not assigned to the person alone.
Verified reach and significance
16 / 20
Infrastructure companies handling digital assets must solve conventional corporate-finance problems as rigorously as technical ones. Capital collection, banking access, investor verification, treasury controls and entity formation determine whether a product can operate across borders.
Innovation and field influence
11 / 15
The record combines digital-asset finance operations with the completed work described in Kiln's operating platform passed $18 billion staked. Credit reflects demonstrated practice, not a claim of novelty by itself.
Stewardship, access and Asian relevance
8 / 10
The Asian connection is explicit: A Kiln operating executive responsible for an international build-out that includes a Singapore entity and direct customer and partner work in Japan. Stewardship credit is limited to the regulatory, governance, access or stakeholder evidence described in the profile.