Katherine Ross

Jack Kubinec

Some employees at Bitget’s new blockchain, Morph, initially thought of the L2 network as a potential future rival to Coinbase’s Base.&nbsp;



But sources familiar with the project tell Blockworks that Morph has been stymied by internal dysfunction. Sources claim that since a $20 million <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/morph-announces-20mm-fundraise-in-seed-and-angel-investment-302094646.html">seed raise</a> in March of last year, team conflicts, flashy spending and a mysterious “shadow CEO” have led to layoffs, delays and a loss of direction.&nbsp;



Blockworks spoke with a dozen current and former employees who were granted anonymity to share candid details of what went wrong inside one of Bitget’s most public bets.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Morph’s beginnings</h2>



Exchanges are crypto’s largest apps. One way these digital asset titans capitalize on their popularity is by launching their own blockchains.&nbsp;



Binance first <a href="https://www.binance.com/en/blog/all/bnb-smart-chain-launches-today-421499824684900933?hl=en">launched</a> the BNB Chain in 2020. Coinbase launched an Ethereum layer-2 named Base in 2023. Kraken, OKX, and Gate.io have all built or are building blockchains.&nbsp;



These chains can be lucrative. Base generated $76 million in gross profit in 2024, per Blockworks Research.



It was in this context that an L2 named Morph became a hot ticket after being incubated by Bitget, the 10th largest exchange by <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/research/publications/largest-centralized-crypto-exchanges#which-exchanges-have-lost-market-share-since-2020">spot volume</a>. But instead of following a more classic startup model where two co-founders come together with a single idea, Morph saw two co-founders who didn’t know each other become paired together.&nbsp;



The team behind Morph brought in Azeem Khan — who lives in the US and was previously head of impact at Gitcoin — and Cecilia Hsueh, who is based in Singapore, according to her LinkedIn. Hsueh was formerly chief marketing officer and, briefly, the CEO of the crypto exchange Phemex. She was tapped as CEO of Morph, while Khan became chief operating officer.



Things looked bright at first. As crypto fundraising began to recover, Morph raised $20 million in seed funding from US-based venture firm Dragonfly. Other investors included Pantera, MEXC Group, Bitget’s venture arm Foresight Ventures, and Spartan Group.



Bitget and Foresight didn’t return multiple requests for comment on Morph. Dragonfly and Pantera declined to comment when reached.



Morph’s mainnet went <a href="https://decrypt.co/289113/morph-announces-mainnet-launch-on-ethereum-paving-the-way-for-consumer-blockchain-adoption">live</a> in late October of last year. According to Morph’s <a href="https://morphl2.socialscan.io/">block explorer</a>, the L2 had roughly 16,000 transactions on Monday, May 12. To put those numbers in perspective, Base averages several million daily transactions, per a Blockworks Research dashboard.



The launch was only half the battle. The other big goal was to launch a token, former employees recounted, but this has yet to materialize.&nbsp;



Last month, Morph <a href="https://morph.ghost.io/morph-platinum-nft-sale-is-live/">teased</a> that folks who mint so-called Platinum NFTs would be “securing their position in the ecosystem at a $500 million FDV valuation, with 50% token unlock at TGE.”&nbsp;



The seed round had put Morph at a $125 million valuation in March 2024, according to a person familiar.



Since the raise, however, Bitget’s layer-2 has experienced a turbulent year.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">‘Ghost founder’</h2>



As Morph staffed up and tried to bring a working blockchain to market, cracks emerged among its leadership.



People familiar described tension between Hsueh and Khan, who did not know each other before being tapped as co-founders.



Khan declined to comment when reached by Blockworks.



Bitget, which is not available in the US, has seen strong growth the past few years in Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia, <a href="https://www.bitget.com/blog/articles/bitget-2024-year-in-review">according</a> to company data. Morph initially aimed to reach users in the Global South who are not being served by other exchange blockchains, as co-founder Azeem Khan explained in a CoinDesk <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j7oh5lfCpU">interview</a> last year.



Strategically, Khan and Hsueh were not always aligned, per several sources. While Khan talked about emerging markets in press appearances, those initiatives were slow to materialize internally, former employees recounted. A team that spent months planning out activations in those markets was told they wouldn’t receive a budget, a source said.



Stranger still, employees who spoke to Blockworks sensed that neither Khan nor CEO Hsueh seemed to always have the final say on things.



One employee described Khan as being more like a “ghost founder” than an actual co-founder, and noted they’d never seen anything like it throughout their crypto career.



A lot of decision-making power seemed to rest with Forest Bai, a co-founder and partner of Foresight Ventures (Bitget’s venture arm and an investor in Morph) as well as chair of The Block. Multiple people confirmed that Bai was like a “shadow CEO.” Sources noted that he had oversight on things like spending and company strategy.



Khan announced that he was leaving Morph in March, noting in an X post that stepping down was “the best path forward for me.” He’s since <a href="https://polygon.technology/blog/miden-raises-25m-from-a16z-crypto-1kx-and-hackvc-to-build-the-edge-blockchain">emerged</a> as a co-founder of a different blockchain named Miden.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">After careful consideration, I’ve chosen to step down from my position as co-founder &amp; COO of <a href="https://twitter.com/MorphLayer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MorphLayer</a> . This was not a decision I took lightly, but ultimately after thinking it over, this is the best path forward for me. I’d like to take a moment to thank all my…&mdash; azeem (@azeemk_) <a href="https://twitter.com/azeemk_/status/1902933187296190593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 21, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



The lack of alignment and independent decision-making power contributed to Khan’s departure, according to multiple people familiar.



Hsueh has stayed on as CEO — although her power internally has allegedly waned further in recent months, three people told Blockworks.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Who’s really in charge?</h2>



Nearly everyone Blockworks spoke to described Hsueh as having a limited understanding of the technical ins and outs of blockchain. While it’s not a prerequisite for an executive to be crypto-native, sources claimed that Hsueh was out of touch with blockchain users and didn’t show an interest in learning about the technology, creating a feeling that Morph lacked clear strategic direction.



Instead, Hsueh was preoccupied with growing her online presence, sources said. Three ex-employees recounted being asked to engage with her posts. Others added that Hsueh would prioritize <a href="https://x.com/cecilia_hsueh/status/1851610014697361890">announcements</a> about Morph on her personal account over the official account.&nbsp;



At one point, Hsueh took to posting pictures of her feet on X.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">ran into some crypto folks and it went like this. guy: hey, aren’t you the founder who posts all those feet pics? me: yeah, i’m just really down to earth like that. <a href="https://t.co/A1ljUcNC6A">pic.twitter.com/A1ljUcNC6A</a>&mdash; Cecilia Hsueh 🐨 (@cecilia_hsueh) <a href="https://twitter.com/cecilia_hsueh/status/1846201866981642571?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 15, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



It’s unclear how much power Hsueh still holds, though an ex-employee described her as being “teflon.”



While she’s listed as the CEO in company documents, Foresight Ventures co-founder Forest Bai’s name appears next to hers on an internal organization chart shared with Blockworks.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXd4a58UnMCtLHzaM-MMfwbiwnjBL1mMhIjaPApqsLYcWGP9p2P5s1pva4ovdBcd1led3MeMi50_8LybdDutbTnIwzGWzJBvRGGTZUQxTgmKWgM2JmvJ3Y7AVy-HmLB4aJ2twHzL?key=3cJcF7ftMvN2nPy8lwbXgJZM" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">An edited screenshot from Morph’s organizational chart showing Bai and Hsueh’s roles</figcaption></figure>



Neither Hsueh nor Bai returned emails or messages requesting comments.&nbsp;



While Bai has taken more control in recent months — having been officially added to the company Slack, per three sources familiar — others noted that he held sway over both Khan and Hsueh before Khan’s departure. Officially, Bai is listed as a consultant in internal Slack messages seen by Blockworks.



Another internal Slack message shared with Blockworks requested Bai’s presence in ecosystem and marketing team meetings.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Deal or no deal?</h2>



In 2024, Morph was a big spender, four people said. Granted, the company had just finalized a $20 million raise.&nbsp;



But the spending included events with K-pop band tripleS, where Morph allegedly covered the group’s travel and accommodations, one source told Blockworks. An invite on Lu.ma, a popular website utilized by projects planning post-conference events, teased a “special performance” by tripleS in April of last year. The <a href="https://lu.ma/KpopParty">event</a> was hosted by Zircuit, Bitget, Morph, Foresight Ventures and Quantstamp.



Multiple sources discussed Morph spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on events at crypto conferences. At Token2049 in Singapore, Morph hosted an all-day side event at Singapore’s ArtScience Museum, sources noted. A Lu.ma <a href="https://lu.ma/yb8ouaam">invite</a> shows that the event was attended by the likes of Vitalik Buterin, Avara’s Stani Kulechov and Aptos’ Mo Shaikh, with popular South Korean performer DJ SODA as the main act at the afterparty.



The large event spending didn’t align with the return on investment or bottom line, another source noted. And, while events seemed to get money, Hsueh seemed reluctant to greenlight actual business deals, people familiar told Blockworks.



The bright side of the company’s spending, per a source familiar, was that Morph initially compensated its employees competitively.



Outside of events, there were discussions for a physical office in New York City that culminated in a space on One World Trade Center’s 77th floor, three sources told Blockworks.&nbsp;



The office is also shared with Foresight and The Block, though it’s unclear who’s on the lease.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Such a pleasant view from the <a href="https://twitter.com/MorphL2?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MorphL2</a> office <a href="https://t.co/6dZLnKR8QJ">pic.twitter.com/6dZLnKR8QJ</a>&mdash; azeem (@azeemk_) <a href="https://twitter.com/azeemk_/status/1861501600277090391?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 26, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



On the developer side, Morph once paid a team of developers over $200,000 to build a fork of Uniswap v2, according to multiple sources. Since Uniswap’s code is open source, one ex-employee felt that the project overpaid for the DEX, which became known as BulbaSwap. BulbaSwap currently holds around $93 million in total value locked, according to DeFiLlama, making it around the 200th-largest DEX by that metric.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The ‘dark arts’</h2>



Morph’s burn rate may have been offset by a planned Series A fundraise, but a fresh funding round is yet to materialize.&nbsp;



“We are looking for our next round,” Hsueh said in an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMatGF85v0M">interview</a> with Web3TV in September, noting that “running a chain is very expensive,” and the company was looking to grow its headcount.



However, people familiar noted that there were tensions around a Series A prior to Khan’s departure. Bai, two people familiar said, pushed for Morph to raise another round.&nbsp;



Blockworks was unable to determine the current status of the Series A.



Even without the raise, a source familiar told Blockworks that Morph isn’t out of money yet, and it’s still backed by Bitget.



Morph didn’t return multiple requests for comment.



Meanwhile, Morph has had some trouble retaining talent. One ex-employee said it’s faced a “crazy amount” of turnover, from departures to layoffs. Some employees have also taken salary cuts, others noted.



Multiple employees said they didn’t receive token contracts. According to one source, Morph attempted to force some employees who did receive contracts to sign new ones in May of last year which would have changed their vesting periods.



Another source told Blockworks that the departures have left some teams depleted, and some Slack channels have little to no activity. Despite the hardships, Morph still plans to launch its token by the end of this year, a person familiar said.



For investors, Morph’s saving grace may be its connection to Bitget, which may yet be keen to list Morph’s forthcoming token at launch.



Bitget understands the “dark arts” of facilitating trading around tokens that may have questionable value, said an ex-employee.



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Bitget

Morph, Bitget’s L2, is stymied by founder disputes, lavish spending and power struggles: Sources

Sebastian Sinclair

<div id="highlights-block_6232844e4e80c" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The Shanghai-based company told Blockworks it would invest in projects focused on building out Web3, NFT and blockchain infrastructure</li>
 <li>The budding firm invests in the primary and secondary markets through equity as well as digital tokens</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Crypto venture capital firm Foresight Ventures said it will invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Web3 startups and projects over a three-year horizon in a bid to capture a portion of the budding sector&#8217;s growth.



In a statement shared with Blockworks on Wednesday, Foresight said it will set aside between $100-$200 million in venture capital for a range of crypto assets, NFTs, blockchains and metaverses. The firm&#8217;s investment portfolio includes financial services platform Matrixport and metaverse developer Everyrealm, among a <a href="https://www.foresightventures.com/Portfolio.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">host of other</a> budding Web3-focused businesses.



Venture capital continues to pour into the crypto industry&#8217;s Web3 and metaverse sector having already garnered billions in dollars over a relatively short period beginning in 2020. 



That&#8217;s despite frothy market conditions <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6908149366863872000/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">having cooled</a> from a hype cycle that has seen an explosion of investment in everything from providers of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) to virtual worlds seeking to leverage the new medium in an effort to reach new audiences.



Founded in April 2021, the Singapore and Shanghai-based company aims to provide additional support across its ecosystem for what it terms as &#8220;up-and-coming&#8221; projects with &#8220;disruptive potential.&#8221;



Binance Labs, Polygon, Chainlink, Avalanche, crypto exchange OKEx and NGC ventures, <a href="https://www.foresightventures.com/partners.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">among others</a> make up a part of Foresight&#8217;s ecosystem of partners used to bolster support for the VC&#8217;s chosen projects.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">&#8220;We are at an exciting time in the evolution of Web3 and related technologies,&#8221; said Foresight&#8217;s co-founder Forest Bai. &#8220;We will continue to look for outside-the-box investment opportunities in that arena and support projects we feel have the potential to be market leaders in their space.</blockquote>



Bai, a former investment banker, added the firm would focus more on &#8220;contrarian investment opportunities&#8221; and that his firm had invested $10 million in the crypto primary market through simple agreement for future tokens. &#8220;At the same time, we also invested more than $100 million in the crypto secondary market,&#8221; Bai said.



Asked about the company&#8217;s future investment outlook, Bai told Blockworks that Foresight intends to invest with an 80/20 split of crypto-assets to equity and would focus on layer-1 and layer-2 solutions in addition to Web3.



Foresight&#8217;s General Partner Tony Cheng, who previously heralded from Sequoia Capital and 3G Capital as a TMT investor, said the firm provided him with an ability to dig deeper into the &#8220;Web3 rabbit hole.&#8221;



&#8220;I’m particularly interested in crypto infrastructure, scaling solutions and applications that bridge CeFi and DeFi,&#8221; said Cheng.



Foresight has $150 million in assets under management and said it mainly invests in the primary and secondary markets via both equity and digital tokens. Its ecosystem also includes crypto exchange Bitget and crypto wallet BitKeep —&nbsp;a top 3 wallet in the region boasting more than 4 million users, including 200,000 daily active users.



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