Cronos (CRO) Labs Appoints Mirko Zhao as New Leader

Alvin Lang
Mar 24, 2025 18:39

Cronos (CRO) Labs has appointed Mirko Zhao as its new leader, succeeding Ken Timsit. Zhao aims to enhance the blockchain’s growth and community engagement.

Cronos (CRO) Labs has officially announced the appointment of Mirko Zhao as its new leader, marking a significant leadership change within the organization. Zhao succeeds Ken Timsit and will now oversee product and engineering responsibilities, according to Cronos.

Mirko Zhao’s Experience

Mirko Zhao brings a wealth of experience to his new role, having served as the product lead and incubation program leader at Cronos Labs for the past three years. His tenure at the forefront of decentralized finance (DeFi) has been marked by significant contributions to the sector. Prior to joining Cronos Labs in June 2022 as a product lead, Zhao gained extensive experience in blockchain and DeFi product leadership from 2019.

In his new position, Zhao is poised to build on the strong foundations laid by his predecessor. He expressed confidence in the blockchain’s resilience and the unwavering commitment of the CRO community, highlighting the immense potential for Cronos to become a leading innovator in the industry.

Vision for the Future

Zhao has outlined a clear vision for his tenure, focusing on executing a more aggressive roadmap and enhancing communication with the community. His goal is to elevate the Cronos blockchain to new heights, leveraging its strong base and the support of its community.

Professional Background

Before his current role, Zhao co-founded Orin, a startup focused on digitizing supply chain data, which received backing from Y Combinator and Hong Kong Science and Technology Park. He also served as the first product manager for the APAC region at Flexport, where he led global trade optimization efforts. Additionally, his experience includes working as an agile project manager at PayPal, where he collaborated with various tech teams on merchant and data science projects.

About Cronos

Cronos is a prominent blockchain ecosystem with over 80 million users and more than 500 application developers and partners. It aims to facilitate easy and secure self-custody for over a billion web3 users, focusing primarily on decentralized finance (DeFi) and gaming. The Cronos ecosystem consists of three chains: Cronos (EVM), a Cosmos SDK-based Ethereum-compatible blockchain; Cronos POS, for payments and non-fungible tokens (NFTs); and Cronos zkEVM, a high-performance layer 2 network.

Since its launch in 2021, Cronos has secured over $6 billion in user assets and processed over 100 million transactions, solidifying its position as one of the top 15 blockchain ecosystems globally. Cronos Labs, the $100 million startup accelerator, is dedicated to fostering innovation within the Cronos ecosystem.

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