Author: Chandler, Foresight News
A company's recruitment can reveal the actual progress of its strategic execution while reflecting the changing trajectory of industry demand, allowing for predictions about the future market's activity level and development potential.
According to a report released by Tiger Research, after the SEC approved the Bitcoin spot ETF in January 2024, the recruitment positions in the global Web3 market began to increase significantly. With the rising expectations of market recovery, recruitment activities became relatively active.
In the first half of 2024, the number of Web3 job postings increased by approximately 20% year-on-year, reflecting a significant rise in overall industry expectations compared to last year. The increase in job postings mainly comes from cryptocurrency ETF management companies and exchanges.
In the first half of the year, Web3 job postings in the Asian market were most active in Singapore, India, and Hong Kong. Especially in Singapore, the number of job postings increased by about 23% compared to the second half of 2023.
With a significant increase in recruitment demand in the cryptocurrency industry, the appeal of the Web3 field is gradually extending to the senior executive level in Web2, forming a new trend of cross-border senior talent influx. Senior managers from traditional internet giants are drawn to Web3, eagerly diving into this vibrant field, bringing the mature experience of Web2 into the innovative development of Web3.
For instance, former Goldman Sachs Global Head of Asset and Wealth Management Strategy Peter Mintzberg joined Grayscale as CEO, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products Global VP of Product Management Dan Odell joined ConsenSys as CFO, Bitcoin mining company Hut 8 hired former Citigroup executive Sean Glennan as CFO, and cryptocurrency custody provider Copper hired former Goldman Sachs managing director Amar Kuchinad to replace Dmitry Tokarev as CEO. Former Sony and BeInCrypto executive Vugar Usi Zade joined Bitget as COO, and so on.
Meanwhile, internal management movement among top institutions in Web3 is becoming increasingly frequent, with significant increases in executive 'talent migration', deepening the liquidity and synergy of management teams in the cryptocurrency industry, further accelerating the competition and maturation of the Web3 industry. Binance has become a prominent 'talent magnet', attracting executives from multiple companies and different backgrounds to join its team.
According to stats from @_FORAB, apart from OKX executives flowing to Binance, former Kraken CFO, former OV venture capital investment managers, and CMC content creators are also moving to Binance, further enriching Binance's management team.
Former executives from Binance are also continuously flowing to other platforms, such as Bitget, forming a multi-directional cross-talent migration network. For example, currently, Bitget's Chief Legal Officer Hon Ng was the former Binance policy legal head, and Chief Business Officer Min Lin was the former Binance global board member and development head, among others.
This flow of elites and knowledge overlaps, pushing the industry faster towards maturity and endowing the cryptocurrency industry with stronger adaptability and innovation.
What kind of allure is hidden behind this wave of migration? What is it that attracts these top talents to the cryptocurrency industry? We hope to delve into the characteristics that make the cryptocurrency industry an ideal destination for senior management talent, analyze the features of cryptocurrency companies that can attract top talent, and explore the industry development trends and factors of corporate attractiveness reflected in this cross-border talent migration.
What tree will the good birds choose to roost on?
The choices of top talent are like selecting a resting forest. Some chase high salaries, some value freedom, and others hope to align with a vision of changing the world.
As the saying goes, 'good birds choose their trees', and these 'good birds' flying into the cryptocurrency field will not settle down casually.
According to Data.ai, the top three centralized exchange applications downloaded in October worldwide are Binance, OKX, and Bitget, with Binance's downloads reaching 4.06 million, while OKX and Bitget had 2.2 million and 1.92 million respectively. Who is the truly attractive 'golden branch and silver leaf'?
In this competition for talent, what are the employment views of these major cryptocurrency companies?
Binance: Hard-core as core values
Hard-core: In the official release (How to Become an Excellent Binance Person?), Binance emphasizes making 'hard-core' its core value.
Adaptability: A key characteristic of Binance employees is their ability to adapt to internal job rotations and deal with uncertainty, while achieving the highest quality in user trust.
Stress resistance: Due to the fast pace of work and significant decision-making impact, Binance employees need to work in high-pressure environments. If you cannot handle pressure, or if sustained high pressure negatively affects your work performance, then our work environment is not suitable for you.
OKX: Adhering to fundamental principles
Team First: Proposing to build a global team based on a decentralized management philosophy, where the collaborative model under a decentralized structure is simple, and each department and position has clear work goals.
Integrity as the foundation: The blockchain industry is closely tied to money; only by resisting temptation and insisting on doing the right thing can one achieve ultimate value recognition.
Self-driven: Given the industry is in its early stages, only those who are genuinely curious and optimistic about the industry, and willing to deeply understand it, can drive themselves further.
Bitget: Dual-driven by results orientation and incentive principles
Results-oriented: Bitget emphasizes pragmatism and results orientation, focusing on candidates who can bring substantial results to the company. At the same time, the company advocates for decentralization, ensuring that results-oriented employees are fully empowered and rewarded.
Open communication: Management emphasizes open communication and facing issues directly, encouraging team members to provide direct feedback and solve problems instead of choosing to evade or escalate issues, to achieve efficient and direct internal communication, promoting the company's continuous development in a rapidly changing market.
Future potential: Focusing on candidates' adaptability and learning ability, creativity and forward-thinking, global perspective and collaboration skills, risk management and compliance thinking, as well as teamwork spirit.
In fact, aside from salary, company culture, and career freedom, the development momentum of the platform and its continuous breakthroughs in technology, products, and markets are rare sources of attraction.
Choosing a platform with strong momentum means having the opportunity to participate in more projects in a shorter time, face more challenges, and gain greater room for career growth. Bitget, with its rapid expansion and impressive market performance, is becoming one of the best habitats in the eyes of 'good birds'.
What brought about the 'migration wave'
More than just a job
In any industry's or technology's development process, the S-curve rule is omnipresent. After reaching the limit point 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 brief but opportunity-rich window.
From traditional financial giants to tech pioneers, many senior managers are leaving the familiar 'first curve' to engage in the early-stage 'second curve' innovation field of the cryptocurrency industry.
This wave of migration is not accidental; it is the best proof of trust and expectation for the cryptocurrency industry as a breakthrough path of the second curve.
Reconstruction of financial incentives
Of course, the attractiveness of the cryptocurrency industry will also be reflected in high compensation returns, but more so in innovative compensation designs and strong value-added potential.
Traditional companies' compensation structures mainly consist of fixed salaries and annual bonuses, which have limited growth potential. In contrast, the cryptocurrency industry deeply binds executives' personal interests with the company's long-term development through options, token incentives, and long-term dividends based on platform revenues.
Dragonfly Capital conducted a survey of 49 cryptocurrency companies in 2023, among which most strongly considered adopting tokens, with only 14% of companies explicitly stating they would never launch tokens. As funding amounts, stages, and scales increase, companies are more likely to plan and launch tokens.
The 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 across different platforms have become important markers for attracting talent.
In contrast, Binance leans towards rapid decision-making and high innovation, while Bitget's management style is deeply influenced by the founder's 'decisive and resolute' approach, forming a results-oriented corporate culture. Coinbase places greater emphasis on compliance and transparency, attracting managers of different styles.
Market volatility and talent redistribution
The volatility of the cryptocurrency market and the wave of layoffs have further exacerbated the mobility of industry executives. During market downturns, many companies choose to lay off employees to cut costs, including a significant number of executives. For example, Binance.US laid off two-thirds of its staff in March due to the SEC lawsuit, Kraken laid off about 15% in October, and ConsenSys announced a 20% layoff due to macroeconomic pressures and rising legal costs. In such a large environment, some high-end talent choose to turn to platforms with greater development potential.
High-quality cryptocurrency companies typically exhibit stronger risk resistance and adaptability in market volatility, maintaining stability during crises and seizing new opportunities during industry restructuring, thus providing a more ideal working environment and development platform for executives seeking long-term development.
Will you follow this Web 3 ticket?
Overall, cryptocurrency companies are becoming ideal destinations for senior talent, a trend driven by their rapidly expanding market size and innovative technologies. It also reflects the unique attractiveness of the cryptocurrency industry in managing openness and incentive mechanisms.
For top talent, joining the cryptocurrency industry is not merely about 'boarding the Web3 ship', but also requires a discerning eye. This choice needs to be made thoughtfully. Senior talent should have a profound strategic vision when making career decisions to identify 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.