Original author: Chandler, Foresight News
A company's recruitment can reveal its actual progress in 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 SEC approved the Bitcoin spot ETF in January 2024, the number of recruitment positions in the global Web3 market began to increase significantly. With rising expectations for market recovery, recruitment activities have become relatively active.
In the first half of 2024, the number of Web3 recruitment positions grew approximately 20% year-on-year, reflecting a significant increase in overall industry expectations compared to last year. The increase in recruitment positions mainly comes from crypto ETF management companies and exchanges.
In the first half of the year, Web3 recruitment positions in the Asian market were most active in Singapore, India, and Hong Kong. Particularly, the number of recruits in Singapore increased by about 23% compared to the second half of 2023.
As the demand for recruitment in the cryptocurrency industry significantly increases, the appeal of the Web3 field gradually extends to senior management levels of Web2, forming a new trend of cross-border senior talent influx. Senior executives from traditional internet giants are attracted to Web3 and are investing in this vibrant field, bringing the mature experiences of Web2 into the innovative development of Web3.
For example, former global head of asset and wealth management strategy at Goldman Sachs, Peter Mintzberg, joined Grayscale as CEO; Dan Odell, former VP of global product management at Disney, joined ConsenSys as CFO; Bitcoin mining company Hut 8 hired former Citigroup executive Sean Glennan as CFO; crypto custodian Copper appointed former Goldman Sachs managing director Amar Kuchinad to succeed Dmitry Tokarev as CEO; and former Sony and BeInCrypto executive Vugar Usi Zade joined Bitget as COO, among others.
At the same time, there has been an increasing frequency of management movements among top institutions within Web3, with significant increases in 'talent migration' of executives, deepening the fluidity 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 various companies and backgrounds to join its team.
According to statistics from @_FORAB, besides OKX executives moving to Binance, former Kraken CFO, former OV venture investment manager, and CMC content creators have all been flowing into Binance, further enriching Binance's management team.
Former executives of Binance are also continuously moving to other platforms, such as Bitget, forming a multi-directional talent migration network. For example, Bitget's Chief Legal Officer Hon Ng was the former legal policy head at Binance, and Chief Business Officer Min Lin was the former global director and development head at Binance, among others.
This elite flow and knowledge flow overlap, driving the industry towards maturity more quickly and endowing the cryptocurrency industry with stronger adaptability and innovativeness.
What kind of attraction is hidden behind this migration wave? What makes these top talents flock to the cryptocurrency industry? We hope to explore 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 the industry development trends and appealing factors reflected behind this cross-border talent migration.
Where do good birds choose to roost?
The choice of top talent is like selecting a roosting forest. Some chase high salaries, some value freedom, while others hope to walk alongside the vision of changing the world.
As the saying goes, 'Good birds choose their roosts', these 'good birds' flying into the cryptocurrency field will not settle down casually.
According to Data.ai, the top three centralized exchange app downloads globally in October were Binance, OKX, and Bitget, with Binance reaching 4.06 million downloads, and OKX and Bitget at 2.2 million and 1.92 million downloads, respectively. Who is the real 'golden branch and silver leaves' that captivates people?
In this competition for talent, what is the employment perspective of these major cryptocurrency companies?
Binance: Hardcore as a core value
Hardcore: In the official release (How to be an excellent Binance employee?), Binance emphasizes 'hardcore' as a core value.
Adaptability: A key characteristic of Binance employees is their ability to adapt to internal job rotations and cope with uncertainty while delivering the highest quality service to users.
Stress resilience: Due to the fast-paced work rhythm and significant decision-making impact, Binance employees need to work in a high-pressure environment. If you cannot withstand pressure, or if sustained high pressure negatively affects your work performance, then our work environment is not suitable for you.
OKX: Sticking to the basic principles
Team first: Proposing a decentralized management concept to build a global team, where the collaborative model under a decentralized structure is simple, and each department and position has clear work objectives.
Integrity-based: The blockchain industry is very close to money; only those who can withstand temptation and insist on doing the right thing will eventually gain value recognition.
Self-driven: Given that the industry is in its early stages, only those who maintain true curiosity and optimism about the industry and are willing to deeply understand it can drive themselves further.
Bitget: A dual drive of results-oriented and incentive principles
Results-oriented: Bitget emphasizes pragmatism and results-oriented approaches, focusing on candidates who can deliver substantial outcomes for the company. At the same time, the company advocates for decentralization, ensuring that productive employees receive full authority and rewards.
Open communication: Management emphasizes honest communication and confronting issues, encouraging team members to provide direct feedback and solve problems rather than avoiding them or escalating them, to achieve efficient and direct internal communication, promoting the company's sustained growth in a rapidly changing market.
Future potential: Focus on candidates' adaptability and learning ability, innovation and forward-thinking, global perspective and collaboration skills, risk management and compliance mindset, as well as teamwork spirit.
In fact, besides factors such as salary, company culture, and career freedom, the platform's development momentum and its continual breakthroughs in technology, products, and market are rare sources of attraction.
Choosing a robust platform means having the opportunity to participate in more projects, face more challenges, and gain greater career growth in a shorter time. Bitget, with its rapid expansion and impressive market performance, has become one of the best habitats in the eyes of 'good birds'.
What brought about the 'migration wave'
Not just a job
In any industry's or technology's development process, the S-curve rule is ubiquitous. After reaching the limit point of the first curve, the market will present new development directions and launch the growth of the second curve. The stage of brewing innovative technologies is an extremely short yet opportunity-rich window period.
From traditional financial giants to tech pioneers, many senior executives are leaving the familiar 'first curve' to dive into 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 expectations for the cryptocurrency industry as a breakthrough path in the second curve.
Reconstruction of financial incentives
Of course, the appeal of the cryptocurrency industry will also be reflected in high salary returns, but more importantly, in innovative compensation designs and strong value-added potential.
The compensation structure of traditional companies is primarily based on fixed salaries and annual bonuses, with limited growth potential. In contrast, the cryptocurrency industry deeply binds executives' personal interests 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 the majority 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 appeal 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 significant differences in management styles among different platforms have become important markers for attracting talent.
In contrast, Binance tends to favor rapid decision-making and high innovation, while Bitget's management style is profoundly influenced by the founder's 'decisive and resolute' approach, forming a results-oriented corporate culture. Coinbase, on the other hand, focuses more 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 fluidity of executives in the industry. During market downturns, many companies choose to lay off employees to reduce 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 rising legal costs. In this environment, some high-end talents choose to move to platforms with greater development potential.
Quality cryptocurrency companies often demonstrate stronger resilience and adaptability in market fluctuations, able to maintain stability in crises and seize new opportunities during industry restructuring, providing a more ideal work environment and development platform for executives seeking long-term growth.
This Web 3 ticket, will you follow along?
Overall, cryptocurrency companies are becoming the ideal destination for senior talent, a trend stemming from their rapidly growing market size and innovative technology, reflecting the unique appeal of the cryptocurrency industry in management openness and incentive mechanisms.
For top talent, joining the cryptocurrency industry is not just about 'boarding the Web3 ship'; it also requires a discerning eye, and this choice needs to be made thoughtfully. Senior talent must possess profound strategic vision when making career decisions to identify companies with long-term strategies and execution capabilities, ensuring that their career development can achieve maximal long-term returns and stability in this emerging field.