From McDonald’s Worker to Encryption Business Leader: Johann Kerbrat’s Rise to Success

Fifteen years ago, 21-year-old Johann Kerbrat spent his youth in a tiny apartment near the French Riviera. By day, he worked at a fast-food restaurant, and by night, he taught himself programming—this was a snapshot of his life at the time. Today, as the Senior Vice President and Director of Encryption Business at a company, he returns to his old haunts with the company’s most ambitious encryption product suite, embarking on a grand comeback.

Cannes Memories: From a Small Apartment to Fintech Entrepreneurship

Kerbrat recalls his first studio, “possibly smaller than an average bathroom.” While studying at the University of Nice, he resolutely quit his job and founded his first fintech startup. This no-code payment company aims to help small merchants build e-commerce websites without hiring developers.

“That was the stage when e-commerce was just starting. At that time, merchants either had to spend huge amounts of money hiring agencies or could not conduct online business. Our idea was to allow people to set up their own stores without any technical knowledge, somewhat similar to certain e-commerce platforms today,” Kerbrat explained.

The emergence of this idea is timely. In the early 2010s, online business was booming, and Kerbrat’s tools provided small businesses with the opportunity to compete. At the same time, this experience also made him acutely aware of the vulnerabilities and high costs of the global financial system.

Bitcoin White Paper: Enlightenment Moment

Kerbrat later recalled that a conversation with a Greek classmate made him realize the “vulnerability” of the traditional banking system. His classmate recounted the experience of his family having their bank accounts frozen during the Eurozone crisis, which caused life to come to a standstill. Meanwhile, merchants on his platform were constantly providing feedback: high transaction fees, complex refund processes, and credit card fraud had become uncontrollable sunk costs.

“Then I read the Bitcoin white paper,” he said, “and at that moment I thought, ‘Well, this is simply the solution to all problems.’”

That was in 2010. Kerbrat began to delve into Bitcoin technology, assembling mining machines, deploying wallets, and trying to build a payment interface based on Bitcoin. He did not see Bitcoin as a tool for overnight wealth, nor did he choose to become a speculator, but rather dedicated himself to understanding the real possibilities behind this technology.

“At that stage you will realize that cryptocurrency is not just an asset, but a structural transformation.” Kerbrat said.

New Directions in Encryption Business

Before joining his current company, Kerbrat held key positions at several well-known tech companies, including being one of the core engineers at a certain shared accommodation platform and a certain ride-hailing platform. He also served as Vice President of Engineering at a blockchain project focused on privacy technologies such as zero-knowledge proofs. These experiences not only brought him back to the encryption circle but also made him realize that “user experience” is the biggest shortcoming in the encryption industry.

In 2021, he officially joined the company’s encryption business department as the Chief Technology Officer and was promoted to Senior Vice President and General Manager in 2023. At this point, it had been a full 13 years since he first came into contact with the Bitcoin white paper.

Under the leadership of Kerbrat, the company’s encryption business has successively launched several important products:

• In 2022, a non-custodial wallet was launched, described as “a Web3 browser built for the average person”.
• Starting from 2023, support for Bitcoin transfers and on-chain asset withdrawals will begin, marking a shift from “trading interface” to “encryption infrastructure.”
• In 2024, it dominated the acquisition of a European encryption exchange, using this as a lever to enter the European market.

Kerbrat emphasized that “compliance is not an obstacle, but rather a market barrier.” This is also key for the company to establish a foothold in the encryption business.

A Glamorous Return: From the Beach to the Mansion

Today, Kerbrat is in a Belle Époque mansion called “Cross Garden Castle” on the coastline of Cannes, participating in the launch of the most ambitious encryption product suite in the company’s history. This is the same coastline where he once lived and worked.

“This is absolutely surreal,” Kerbrat remarked in the iconic Carlton Hotel, “When I was young, I often walked past here and never thought I would stay here.”

New Layout: Integrating Traditional Finance and Blockchain

The company’s latest initiative aims to integrate traditional finance with blockchain-based infrastructure. This includes:

• Expand the issuance of tokenized US stocks and ETFs in Europe
• Launching encryption currency staking services in the United States
• Provide perpetual futures for eligible EU traders
• Launching a new Layer 2 blockchain optimized for real-world asset settlement and 24/7 trading.

Kerbrat stated that their goal is to make encryption technology “invisible” in the background, just like “pipes”. “You don’t think about how the water flows to your faucet, you just expect it to come out when you turn it on.”

Future Outlook

The company’s newly launched core product is a tokenized US stocks and ETFs open to users in 30 EU and EEA countries. These tokens are initially built on a certain Layer 2 network, providing trading access 24 hours a day, 5 days a week, supporting dividend payments, and with no commissions or spreads. In the future, these tokens will migrate to a customized Layer 2 blockchain that supports tokenized assets, seamless bridging, and self-custody.

In the United States, the company is launching staking services for Ethereum and a certain public chain. In Europe, cryptocurrency perpetual futures will offer eligible users up to 3x leverage. Other upgrades include smart exchange routing, tax batch management, and advanced charting tools, aimed at making cryptocurrency trading as seamless and intuitive as stock trading.

“When we talk about mass adoption,” Kerbrat said, “this is what it looks like. A product that people use without needing to understand how it works.”

For Kerbrat, this return is not just symbolic. It witnesses his journey of growth and how much remains unchanged. Starting with computers at the age of 7, programming at 11, and by 17 already attempting to fix the flaws in the internet economy he observed, Kerbrat’s story is an inspiring journey from dreams to reality.

“We chose Cannes because the license approval and the conference are here,” Kerbrat said, “but I won’t pretend it feels good. I never thought I would come back in this way.”