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Welcome to Amberdata's Podcast series featuring leaders in the Crypto space, where we go in-depth and dive into various topics. In this episode, Izzie Henderson, Director of PM of Amberdata, interviews Jill Gao, Product Manager at FalconX!
Introduction: From Wall Street to Web3
In this episode of the Amberdata Podcast, Jill Gao, Product Manager at FalconX, shares her journey from a decade in traditional finance to building next-generation crypto trading tools. With seven years at Morgan Stanley, including experience in liquidity risk and equity derivatives, Jill brings institutional rigor to the fast-evolving world of digital assets. Today, she leads product development at FalconX, a CFTC-registered swap dealer and a leading execution platform for institutions in crypto.
Early Career: Building from the Ground Up in TradFi
Jill began her career at Morgan Stanley as one of the first hires on the liquidity risk team. There, she built risk frameworks, data pipelines, and reporting systems, a role she described as a “mini PM” position before she knew what product management was.
Desiring a more decision-oriented role, she transitioned into equity derivatives trading, working on a newly established market. Jill helped define product structures, educated counterparties, and scaled the trading book from billions to tens of billions. She also worked with fintech vendors to improve workflows, often collaborating directly with product managers.
Her tenure at Morgan Stanley culminated in managing cross-asset ETF books and sector index products like the S&P 500 and NASDAQ. But after exhausting new opportunities in TradFi, Jill sought a more intellectually demanding path—one that could prepare her to one day launch her own company.
Pivot to Crypto: Joining FalconX
Jill’s next step was product management. Her understanding of trading, regulation, and institutional workflows made her a perfect fit for FalconX. The company was in the early stages of building its derivatives business and needed someone with both deep market knowledge and the appetite to innovate.
Though initially wary of crypto’s volatility, Jill was impressed by FalconX’s mature approach to risk and cash flow management. Within months, she was deeply embedded in building new products from scratch, owning every part of the product lifecycle—legal, compliance, go-to-market, and trading functionality.
Product Innovation: Marketspot and the Telegram Revolution
One of Jill’s standout initiatives is Marketspot, a Telegram-based analytics tool built in collaboration with Amberdata. The tool allows users—primarily crypto-native traders to access historical volatility, funding rates, and other real-time market data through a simple chat interface.
The idea originated from FalconX’s internal trading floor, where speed and simplicity are paramount. Traders were prototyping tools using Amberdata’s APIs to reduce context-switching across platforms. Seeing its impact, FalconX made the tool client-facing, creating a seamless decision-support system directly within the Telegram environment where most trading conversations occur.
Key Features of Marketspot:
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Query volatility surfaces and funding rates on Telegram
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Instant data visualization via in-chat charts
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Native integration into traders’ existing workflows
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Built using Amberdata’s derivatives and historical data APIs
This product reflects FalconX’s core principle: serve traders where they are. Jill envisions Marketspot evolving with AI integrations and eventually being ported across platforms like FalconX’s institutional product suite, Focal.
Institutional Appetite: 5x Growth in Derivatives
According to Jill, institutional appetite for crypto derivatives has surged, evidenced by FalconX’s 5x YoY growth in its OTC derivatives business. In the past, FalconX had to chase large TradFi institutions. Today, those same institutions are initiating contact, seeking 24/7 crypto options and more sophisticated risk management tools.
Trends fueling institutional demand:
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ETF tailwinds have normalized crypto exposure
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Retail brokers want to offer 24/7 options trading
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Crypto-native funds are hedging locked tokens via derivatives
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Corporate treasuries are using covered call strategies to generate yield
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Venture funds are increasingly using options for downside protection
FalconX's infrastructure, regulatory licensing, and deep liquidity give it a competitive edge in serving these diverse clients.
The TradFi–Crypto Convergence
Jill notes that crypto derivatives markets are increasingly mirroring traditional finance structures—separating exchanges and brokerages, creating margin efficiencies, and integrating risk protocols. However, crypto-native innovations like perpetual futures (perps) still distinguish themselves in this space.
While TradFi hasn't yet adopted these innovations, players like FalconX are acting as bridges, offering regulated products to traditional institutions while integrating with DeFi and other blockchain-native systems.
Navigating Regulation: Building with Confidence in the U.S.
Regulatory clarity is improving in the U.S., especially around stablecoins and perpetual futures. FalconX is preparing to offer perpetual products to U.S. clients as legislation evolves.
Jill also highlighted FalconX’s stablecoin liquidity and FX capabilities, including:
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On-chain cross-currency stablecoin conversions
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Margin posting for derivatives in stablecoins
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Off-ramp/on-ramp liquidity
FalconX is exploring broader stablecoin integrations across all business lines, including forming internal working groups to assess product-market fit.
What’s Missing in Crypto Infrastructure Today?
Jill’s hot takes on what digital asset infrastructure still needs:
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Stablecoin integration: Critical for capital efficiency and margin workflows.
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DeFi connectivity: Institutions want access to DeFi innovation via trusted intermediaries.
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Retail options access: Crypto options remain inaccessible to most U.S. retail traders. FalconX is actively working on distribution partnerships to solve this.
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Treasury management solutions: Many companies hold idle crypto on their balance sheets. FalconX is developing yield-bearing structured products for corporate treasuries and may soon partner with asset managers.
Conclusion: A Front-Row Seat to Crypto’s Institutional Evolution
Jill Gao exemplifies the entrepreneurial spirit driving the crypto ecosystem forward. Her unique blend of TradFi expertise and crypto-native product vision positions FalconX at the heart of digital asset infrastructure.
From scaling Marketspot to redefining derivatives access for institutions, Jill and her team are laying the groundwork for the next wave of institutional adoption, one that’s faster, more transparent, and increasingly on-chain.
Stay tuned—this is only the beginning.
