Charlie Yechuan Hu

Charlie Yechuan Hu is a crypto entrepreneur and ecosystem builder best known as Co-Founder of Bitlayer, a Bitcoin-focused Layer 2 and BTCFi infrastructure project. He co-founded Bitlayer with Kevin He. His earlier work included ecosystem and business-development roles connected to Tezos, Polkadot and Polygon in Asia.

Bitlayer

Bitlayer aims to extend Bitcoin programmability with an EVM-compatible Layer 2 execution environment and BitVM-related bridging technology. It was co-founded by Charlie Yechuan Hu and Kevin He. V1 mainnet launched in March 2024. In 2025, BitVM Bridge mainnet beta and YBTC ecosystem integrations were announced. YBTC was designed as a 1:1 BTC representation minted through BitVM Bridge, with trust-minimization claims based on the protocol design.

BitVM Bridge Discontinuation — Important

Bitlayer officially discontinued the prior BitVM Bridge public service in May–June 2026: bridge-in was disabled on May 28, 2026, and bridge-out after June 3, 2026 per official Bitlayer notification. The discontinued service must not be described as currently live. Whether a replacement bridge, V2 mainnet, YBTC migration or redemption process is live as of publication should be confirmed from Bitlayer's current official blog and documentation. Bitlayer's technical documentation may describe an architecture even when a specific public service has been stopped — these are separate things.

OpenMax

As of August 2026, Hu's professional profile also lists him as co-founder of OpenMax. OpenMax should only be covered after its product, entity, co-founders and Hu's current operating role are confirmed from an official source.

Career Background

Hu says he acquired his first Bitcoin in 2013 and began participating in the crypto sector. Later career included ecosystem and business-development work involving Tezos, Polkadot and Polygon; verify exact entities, dates and titles. Managing Partner at LucidBlue Ventures appears in professional databases; verify before display.