In between betting intervals and chip tossing, former professional poker player Greg Barnes discovered a passion that had very little to do with being dealt a straight flush.
Bitcoin, with its intangible mystique, captured Barnes’ imagination in a way that made even a perfect hand seem inconsequential. He became so enamored with the technology during his free time that he decided to pursue a full-time career in blockchain technology.
He created and ran his own Bitcoin mining operation while he explored the early stages of decentralized finance and built decentralized applications with other technologists. Several years into his career journey, Barnes developed a deep interest in another facet of decentralized technology — Web3, which is a new, decentralized iteration of the internet that’s built upon blockchain technology and is communally controlled by a decentralized network.
After working in the Web3 spaces for about three years, he discovered a company dedicated to maximizing the potential of his burgeoning passion. It was Chainlink Labs, a company that helps power next-generation applications for banking, asset management and other major sectors.
Barnes joined Chainlink Labs in 2024 as a product manager on Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol, building products that foster adoption and utility across the onchain ecosystem. According to him, his time at the organization has redefined his career trajectory, enabling him to evolve as both a manager and a technologist.
“Chainlink Labs takes professional development seriously,” Barnes said.
“Chainlink Labs takes professional development seriously.”
Growth is essential to Chainlink Labs’ culture for a reason. Engineering Director Lawrence Xia explained that as the company pursues its goals to transform the financial landscape, it’s relying on a lean and ambitious workforce to do so.
“There are opportunities to challenge yourself — and grow — wherever you look,” he said.
The team at Chainlink Labs is focused on building robust technology — and searching for new places to drive influence. Head of Business Development Thomas Trepanier, who is helping the organization expand its capital markets footprint in Latin America and North America, believes that there’s a positive level of pressure that keeps everyone moving forward in lockstep.
“We are all on the same page and always looking to find creative ways to grow our business for our clients,” he said.
Sitting at the crossroads of Web 2.0 and Web3 technology, Chainlink Labs offers employees the chance to pursue their career goals in an ever-changing sector of the tech industry. While not every team member brings a background in professional poker to the table, each of them has their own unique career story defined by a passion for technology — and a desire to make an impact.
About Chainlink Labs
Chainlink Labs builds blockchain-agnostic infrastructure that enables business to be done onchain, through which transactions are recorded and validated on the blockchain. Chainlink’s Web3 services enhance smart contracts — digital agreements that are automatically executed when certain conditions are met — by connecting them to real-world data sources and offchain computation across any blockchain.
Opportunity Meets Ownership
When Barnes first began building out his Web3 career, the teams he worked on were small and homogenous, offering exposure to the sector yet few opportunities to work with different types of people.
That changed when he joined Chainlink Labs. Barnes shared that he gets to work with a wide range of individuals every day, which has added a meaningful dimension to his professional journey.
“I have met incredible people at this company from all over the world and from different backgrounds,” he said. “I think many of these relationships and friendships are going to be around for the long haul.”
Barnes considers it his duty as a manager to empower his direct reports as they leave their own mark on the company. With help from some of the organization’s more senior managers, he has learned how to lead more effectively by asking for feedback regularly, offering constructive advice and running more productive meetings and working sessions.
And it’s not just Barnes who has been empowered to thrive. He has seen several teammates receive promotions and take on major responsibilities, such as leading high-priority projects, all while leaning on their managers to navigate challenges.
“Chainlink Labs is very explicit about giving us opportunities to grow and take ownership,” Barnes said.
“Chainlink Labs is very explicit about giving us opportunities to grow and take ownership.”
Embracing this ownership mentality, he and his peers have had the chance to work on some of the company’s first consumer-facing decentralized applications, including the CCIP Token Manager. According to Barnes, the application, which enables developers to create new and update existing tokens to move across blockchains, is one example of the innovative work technologists get to accomplish — and learn from — at the company.
As he hones new skills and dives further into the technical weeds of Web3, he aims to push the company’s mission even further, knowing that the work he produces matters.
“Working at Chainlink Labs has given me the opportunity to work on a project that I believe will change society and the world,” Barnes said.
A ‘Choose-Your-Adventure’ Approach
Xia also wants to make the world a better place, which is why he feels as though Chainlink Labs has profoundly shaped his career journey.
“I’m mission-aligned with how Web3 can fundamentally change how some of the world works in a positive way, and Chainlink Labs will likely lead that change,” he said.
“I’m mission-aligned with how Web3 can fundamentally change how some of the world works in a positive way, and Chainlink Labs will likely lead that change.”
Xia’s desire to make an impact took hold when he was in college, where he studied biomedical engineering. While that discipline wasn’t the right fit for him, he soon discovered a passion for building products, which gave way to a software engineering career.
He built products at a gaming company for several years before joining Chainlink Labs as an engineering manager. Xia has worked on several stretch projects since stepping into his role, which include developing products for the Solana ecosystem in addition to building Chainlink’s developer platform — Chainlink Runtime Environment — which aims to fundamentally change the way many developers build in Web3.
“My sole focus is building great products and contributing as much as I can to Chainlink and the Web3 ecosystem,” he said. “I am always excited to become a better technologist and build great products.”
Continuous development is integral to Chainlink Labs’ culture, which encourages leaders and managers to craft personal development plans with their direct reports. Xia has seen many other engineering managers prioritize the career goals of their direct reports, giving them a sense of autonomy while helping guide them on their professional journeys.
Overall, he explained, the company offers an environment that gives everyone room to grow — as long as they embrace the right mindset.
“If you demonstrate product focus, ownership and the ability to execute, Chainlink Labs becomes ‘choose-your-adventure,’” Xia said.
As he focuses on building up his knowledge of the Web3 space, he’s excited to see the company solidify its position as the standard.
“I see Chainlink as an index to the blockchain ecosystem,” Xia said. “If blockchain becomes a core piece of technology that the world relies on to operate, Chainlink will play a leading role.”
A ‘Unique Opportunity’ to Shape the Future
Everyone at Chainlink Labs gets to help shape the future of blockchain — including Trepanier.
With a professional background encompassing traditional financial services, fintech, Web3 and blockchain, he has seen technology intertwine with finance firsthand. From mastering the nuances of the trade lifecycle at Brown Brothers Harriman to helping advance automation in post-trade operations at Omgeo, he has played many roles in driving this transformation.
Now, Trepanier finds himself in a “unique opportunity” where he gets to help traditional financial institutions, such as central banks and stock exchanges, reap the benefits of blockchain.
“No day is the same here at Chainlink Labs, and I am constantly challenged to help move the needle forward with our clients and grow the global footprint of the company,” he said.
“No day is the same here at Chainlink Labs, and I am constantly challenged to help move the needle forward with our clients and grow the global footprint of the company.”
Trepanier leads an initiative for the company’s CCIP product to be a part of a central bank digital currency pilot project. For this CBDC project, Chainlink Labs is working with the Brazilian Central Bank as well as with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to buy and sell tokenized soybean contracts using the respective CBDC currencies from both countries.
“I believe in the power and promise of technology to create new revenue streams and resolve challenges facing existing and future business models,” Trepanier said.
While he relies on knowledge he developed prior to joining Chainlink Labs, such as fluency in Spanish, to shape these new business relationships, he feels as though the company’s leaders have helped him excel in identifying new opportunities — and pursuing them.
For Trepanier, Chainlink Labs has been the “best decision” he has made in his professional life. Along with Chainlink’s transformative products, the people at Chainlink Labs will help to redefine the way business transactions are done. Without its people, the company’s future — and its culture — wouldn’t be the way it is today.
“It is clear that a great amount of time and energy is spent in investing in the people that work for Chainlink Labs,” Trepanier said. “The caliber of the employees I work with is second to none.”
