Some chase high salaries, some value freedom, and others hope to align with the vision of changing the world.
Written by: Chandler, Foresight News
A company's recruitment can reveal the actual progress of its strategic execution and reflect the changing trajectory of industry demand, thereby predicting the future activity level and development potential of the market.
According to a report released by Tiger Research, after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the Bitcoin spot ETF in January 2024, the number of job openings in the global Web3 market began to increase significantly. With rising expectations for market recovery, hiring activities have become relatively active.
In the first half of 2024, the number of Web3 job openings increased by approximately 20% year-on-year, reflecting a significant rise in overall industry expectations compared to last year. The increase in job openings mainly comes from cryptocurrency ETF management companies and exchanges.
In the first half of the year, the Web3 job market in Asia was most active in Singapore, India, and Hong Kong. Especially in Singapore, the number of hires increased by approximately 23% compared to the second half of 2023.
With the significant increase in hiring demand in the cryptocurrency industry, the appeal of the Web3 sector is gradually extending to senior executives in Web2, forming a new trend of cross-border senior talent influx. Senior executives from traditional internet giants are attracted to Web3, bringing mature experiences from Web2 into the innovative development of Web3.
For example, former Goldman Sachs global head of asset and wealth management Peter Mintzberg joined Grayscale as CEO, Disneyland's global product management vice president Dan Odell joined ConsenSys as CFO, Bitcoin mining company Hut 8 hired former Citigroup executive Sean Glennan as CFO, and cryptocurrency custodian Copper hired former Goldman Sachs managing director Amar Kuchinad to replace Dmitry Tokarev as CEO, while former Sony and BeInCrypto executive Vugar Usi Zade joined Bitget as COO, among others.
At the same time, the internal Web3 sector is increasingly witnessing managerial mobility among top institutions, with significant increases in executive 'talent migration', continuously deepening the mobility and synergy of management teams in the cryptocurrency industry, further accelerating the competition and maturity of the Web3 industry. Binance has become a prominent 'talent magnet', attracting executives from multiple companies with different backgrounds to join its team.
According to statistics from @_FORAB, in addition to executives from OKX moving to Binance, former Kraken CFO, former OV venture capital investment manager, and CMC content creators, among others, have also joined Binance, further enriching Binance's management team.
Former executives from Binance are also continuously moving to other platforms, such as Bitget, forming a multi-directional cross talent migration network. For example, current Bitget Chief Legal Officer Hon Ng was formerly Binance's policy legal head, and Chief Business Officer Min Lin was formerly Binance's global director of understanding and development.
This elite flow and knowledge flow overlap, driving the industry towards maturity more quickly and giving the cryptocurrency industry stronger adaptability and innovation.
What kind of attraction is hidden behind this wave of migration? What makes these top talents flock to the cryptocurrency industry? We hope to delve into the characteristics of the cryptocurrency industry as an ideal destination for senior management talent, analyze the features of cryptocurrency companies that can attract top talent, and reflect on the industry development trends and factors of corporate attractiveness behind this cross-border talent migration.
What tree do good birds choose to perch on?
The choice of top talent is like selecting a forest to perch in. Some chase high salaries, some value freedom, and others hope to align with the vision of changing the world.
As the saying goes, 'good birds choose their trees,' these 'good birds' flying into the cryptocurrency field will not settle down casually.
According to Data.ai, the top three downloaded centralized exchange applications globally in October were Binance, OKX, and Bitget, with Binance's downloads reaching 4.06 million, and OKX and Bitget at 2.2 million and 1.92 million downloads, respectively. Who is the truly appealing 'golden branch and silver leaf'?
In this competition for talent, what are the employment perspectives of these major cryptocurrency companies?
Binance: Hardcore as Core Values
Hardcore: In the official release (How to Become an Excellent Binance Person?), Binance emphasizes 'hardcore' as a core value.
Adaptability: A key characteristic of Binance employees is the ability to adapt to internal job rotations and cope with uncertainties while delivering the highest quality of user trust.
Stress Resistance: Due to the fast-paced work rhythm and significant decision impact, Binance employees need to work in high-pressure environments. If you cannot handle pressure or prolonged stress negatively affects your work performance, our work environment may not be suitable for you.
OKX: Adhering to Basic Principles
Team First: Proposing a decentralized management concept to build a global team, where the collaborative model under a decentralized structure is simple, with clear work objectives for each department and position.
Integrity First: The blockchain industry is closely linked to money, and only those who can withstand temptation and insist on doing the right thing can ultimately gain value recognition.
Self-Driven: Given that the industry is in its early stages, only those with true curiosity and optimism about the industry and willing to deeply understand the industry can drive themselves further.
Bitget: Dual drive of results orientation and incentive principles
Results Orientation: Bitget emphasizes pragmatism and results orientation, focusing on candidates who can deliver substantial results for the company. Meanwhile, the company advocates for delegation, ensuring that employees who achieve results are adequately empowered and rewarded.
Open Communication: Management emphasizes open communication and addressing issues directly, encouraging team members to provide direct feedback and resolve problems rather than avoiding them or escalating them through layers, to achieve efficient and direct internal communication and promote continuous development of the company in a rapidly changing market.
Future Potential: Focus on candidates' adaptability and learning ability, innovation and forward-thinking, global vision and collaboration skills, risk management and compliance thinking, and spirit of cooperation with the team.
In fact, beyond salary, company culture, and career freedom, the platform's growth momentum and its continuous breakthroughs in technology, products, and markets are rare sources of attraction.
Choosing a strong platform means having the opportunity to participate in more projects in a shorter time, face more challenges, and gain greater career growth space. Bitget, with its rapid expansion and impressive market performance, has become one of the best habitats in the eyes of 'good birds'.
What has brought about the 'migration wave'
Not just a job
In the development of any industry or technology, the S-curve law is omnipresent. After reaching the limit of the first curve, the market will show new development directions and open up the second curve of growth. The phase of innovative technology brewing is a very short but opportunity-rich window.
From traditional financial giants to technological pioneers, many senior executives are leaving the familiar 'first curve' and turning to the early-stage 'second curve' innovation field of the cryptocurrency industry.
This wave of migration is not coincidental; it is the best proof of trust and expectation for the cryptocurrency industry as a second curve breakthrough path.
Reconstruction of financial incentives
Of course, the appeal of the cryptocurrency industry is also reflected in high compensation returns, but more so in innovative compensation designs and strong value-added potential.
Traditional companies' compensation structures are mainly based on fixed salaries and annual bonuses, with limited growth potential. In contrast, the cryptocurrency industry binds executives' personal interests deeply with the long-term development of the company through options, token incentives, and long-term dividends based on platform earnings.
Dragonfly Capital conducted a survey of 49 cryptocurrency companies in 2023, where most strongly considered adopting tokens, with only 14% of companies stating they would never launch tokens. As funding amounts, stages, and scales increase, companies are more likely to plan and launch tokens.
Attractiveness of corporate culture
The uniqueness of corporate culture is one of the important factors driving the movement of senior management talent. In the cryptocurrency industry, the differences in management styles among different platforms are significant, becoming an important marker for attracting talent.
In contrast, Binance tends to make quick decisions and high innovation, while Bitget's management style is profoundly influenced by the founder's 'decisiveness and sharpness', forming a results-oriented corporate culture. Coinbase, on the other hand, focuses more on compliance and transparency, attracting managers with different styles.
Market fluctuations and talent redistribution
The volatility of the cryptocurrency market and the wave of layoffs have further intensified the mobility of industry executives. During market downturns, many companies choose to lay off employees to cut costs, including a significant number of executive departures. For example, Binance.US laid off two-thirds of its staff in March due to an SEC lawsuit, Kraken laid off about 15% in October, and Consensys announced a 20% layoff due to macroeconomic pressures and increased legal costs. In this environment, some high-end talents choose to turn to platforms with greater growth potential.
High-quality cryptocurrency companies typically demonstrate stronger risk resistance and adaptability during market fluctuations, able to maintain stability in crises and seize new opportunities during industry restructuring, which also provides a more ideal working environment and development platform for executives seeking long-term growth.
This Web 3 ticket, will you follow?
Overall, cryptocurrency companies are becoming an ideal destination for senior talent, a trend driven by their rapidly growing market scale and innovative technology, and reflecting the unique appeal of the cryptocurrency industry in managing openness and incentive mechanisms.
For top talents, joining the cryptocurrency industry is not just about 'boarding the Web3 ship', but also requires the ability to identify valuable opportunities. This choice needs to be made thoughtfully. Senior talents must have a profound strategic vision when making career decisions to identify those companies with long-term strategies and execution capabilities, ensuring that their career development can achieve maximized long-term returns and stability in this emerging field.