Derrick Ochago

Payment networks, stablecoins, logistics technology, wallets, exchanges, and developer infrastructure do not scale through product alone. They need operator trust, regulatory sequencing, local settlement rails, and partner distribution. I do the work between the product working and the market actually using it.

AI products are moving from demos to production workflows. The hard question is whether enterprises, operators, and users trust the model enough to put it inside real processes. I build adoption systems for technical products that need translation, deployment, and operational proof.

Prediction markets, live commerce, tokenized assets, and freight networks are trust categories before they are product categories. They need compliant distribution, market integrity, credible partners, and local operating rails. I'm useful where new markets need legitimacy before they can scale.

Ecosystems confuse activity with adoption. Adoption happens when builders ship, partners integrate, users return, and liquidity moves. I build the partner networks, onboarding systems, and enablement layers that turn technical platforms into distributed infrastructure.

Coinbase / Base. Most recently led market expansion for Base, Coinbase's Layer 2, across a 30+ market regional mandate. Built the institutional BD pipeline, local stablecoin integrations, regulatory intelligence, and an AI-native BD stack that compressed lead-to-meeting time by 60%. The lesson: technical infrastructure only becomes infrastructure when distribution, regulation, and local trust are built around it.

Binance. Helped build early regulated fiat-to-crypto payment infrastructure across African markets, connecting local banking and mobile money rails to global digital settlement. Worked across AML/KYC, partner onboarding, payment operations, and regional launch execution across multiple jurisdictions. The lesson: distribution in regulated markets is market design.

Bitget. Built the partner, payment, and liquidity infrastructure that enabled market entry across five jurisdictions. Negotiated local banking, OTC, and mobile money settlement corridors. Generated $40M+ in cumulative transaction volume through regulated payment rails and partner networks. The lesson: a global product becomes local when someone builds the trust layer around it.

Bolt. First local hire in Kampala. Launched Bolt Boda, the company's first motorbike service globally. Scaled from 0 to 100K+ monthly trips in six months. The lesson: local context beats global playbook every time.

CoinList, Safe, Deel. Worked across institutional token distribution, regulated international payments, and multi-sig treasury operations. Built compliance-bounded onboarding, vendor partnerships, and financial workflows across multiple jurisdictions. The lesson: a product becomes infrastructure only when users, partners, capital, and operations can keep moving through it reliably.