Some chase high salaries, some value freedom, and some hope to accompany the vision of changing the world.
Written by: Chandler, Foresight News
The recruitment of a company can reveal the actual progress of its strategic execution, while reflecting the changing trajectory of industry demand, thereby allowing predictions about future market activity and development potential.
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, recruitment activity has become relatively active.
In the first half of 2024, the number of job openings in Web3 increased by about 20% year-on-year, reflecting a significant rise in overall industry expectations compared to last year. The increase in job openings primarily came from crypto ETF management companies and exchanges.
In the first half of the year, job openings in the Web3 market in Asia were most active in Singapore, India, and Hong Kong. Especially in Singapore, the number of hires increased by about 23% compared to the second half of 2023.
With the significant growth in recruitment demand in the crypto industry, the attractiveness of the Web3 field has gradually extended to senior executives in Web2, forming a new trend of cross-border senior talent influx. Senior managers from traditional internet giants are attracted to Web3 and are investing in this vibrant field, bringing mature experiences from Web2 into the innovative development of Web3.
For example, Peter Mintzberg, former Global Strategy Officer of Asset and Wealth Management at Goldman Sachs, joined Grayscale as CEO, Dan Odell, former Vice President of Global Product Management for Disneyland, Experiences and Products, joined ConsenSys as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Sean Glennan, former Citi executive, was hired as CFO by Bitcoin mining company Hut 8, and Amar Kuchinad, former Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, was hired by crypto custodian Copper to succeed Dmitry Tokarev as CEO. Vugar Usi Zade, former executive at Sony and BeInCrypto, joined Bitget as Chief Operating Officer, and so on.
Meanwhile, within Web3, there has been an increasingly frequent movement of management between top institutions, with significant increases in executive 'talent migration,' continuously deepening the mobility and collaboration of management teams in the crypto industry, further accelerating competition and maturity in the Web3 sector. Binance has become a prominent 'talent magnet,' attracting executives from various companies with different backgrounds to join its team.
According to statistics from @_FORAB, in addition to executives from OKX moving to Binance, former CFO of Kraken, former OV venture capital investment managers, and CMC content creators are also flowing into Binance, further enriching Binance's management team.
Former executives from Binance are also continuously flowing to other platforms, such as companies like Bitget, forming a multi-directional cross-border talent migration network. For example, the current Chief Legal Officer of Bitget, Hon Ng, was the former head of policy and legal at Binance, and the Chief Business Officer, Min Lin, was the former global director and development head at Binance, and so on.
This elite flow and knowledge flow overlap, pushing the industry towards maturity faster, endowing the crypto industry with stronger adaptability and innovation.
What kind of attraction is hidden behind this wave of migration? What makes these top talents flock to the crypto industry? We hope to explore the characteristics of the crypto industry as an ideal destination for senior management talents, analyze the features of crypto enterprises that can attract top talents, and reflect on the industry development trends and factors of enterprise attractiveness behind this cross-border talent migration.
What trees do good birds choose to roost in?
The choices of top talents are like selecting a forest to roost. Some chase high salaries, some value freedom, while others hope to accompany the vision of changing the world.
As the saying goes, 'Good birds choose good trees to nest,' these 'good birds' flying into the crypto field will naturally not settle down carelessly.
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, OKX and Bitget at 2.2 million and 1.92 million, respectively. Who truly represents the 'golden branch and silver leaves' that captivates people?
In this competition for talent, what are the hiring views of these major crypto companies?
Binance: Hardcore as a core value
Hardcore: In an official release (How to become an excellent Binance person?), Binance emphasizes 'hardcore' as a core value.
Adaptability: A key trait of Binance employees is their ability to adapt to internal job rotations and handle uncertainty while delivering the highest quality of service to users.
Resilience: Due to the fast-paced work rhythm and significant decision impacts, Binance employees need to work in a high-pressure environment. If you cannot handle pressure, or if sustained high pressure negatively impacts your work performance, then our work environment is not suitable for you.
OKX: Adhering to Fundamental 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 as a foundation: 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 who maintain genuine curiosity and optimism about the industry and are willing to deeply understand it can propel themselves further.
Bitget: Dual drive of result-oriented and incentive principles
Result-oriented: Bitget emphasizes pragmatism and result orientation, focusing on candidates who can deliver substantial outcomes for the company. At the same time, the company advocates decentralization to ensure that employees who achieve results 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 rather than opting to avoid or escalate matters, achieving efficient and direct internal communication to promote the company's continuous development in a rapidly changing market.
Future potential: focus on candidates' adaptability and learning ability, innovation and forward-thinking, global vision and collaboration ability, risk management and compliance thinking, as well as teamwork spirit.
In fact, in addition to salary, company culture, and career freedom, the platform's development momentum 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 period, face more challenges, and gain greater career growth space. Bitget, with its rapid expansion and impressive market performance, is becoming 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 process of any industry or technology, the S-curve law is ubiquitous. After reaching the limit point of the first curve, the market will find new directions for development and open the second curve of growth. The stage of brewing innovative technology is an extremely short but opportunity-filled window.
From traditional financial giants to tech pioneers, many senior executives are leaving the familiar 'first curve' to engage in the early-stage 'second curve' innovation field of the crypto industry.
This wave of migration is not coincidental; it is the best proof of trust and expectation for the crypto industry as a breakthrough path for the second curve.
Reconstruction of financial incentives
Of course, the attractiveness of the crypto industry will also manifest in high salary returns, but more importantly in innovative compensation designs and strong value-added space.
The compensation structure of traditional enterprises is primarily based on fixed salaries and annual bonuses, which have limited growth potential. In contrast, the crypto industry deeply binds executives' personal interests with the long-term development of the enterprise through options, token incentives, and long-term dividends based on platform profits.
Dragonfly Capital conducted a survey of 49 crypto companies in 2023, of which most strongly considered adopting tokens, and only 14% of companies clearly stated that they would never launch tokens. As financing 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 mobility of senior management talents. In the crypto industry, the differences in management styles among different platforms are significant, becoming an important marker for attracting talents.
In contrast, Binance tends to make quick decisions and emphasizes 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, places greater emphasis on compliance and transparency, attracting managers of different styles.
Market volatility and talent redistribution
The volatility of the crypto market and the wave of layoffs have further exacerbated the mobility of industry executives. During market downturns, many companies choose to lay off employees, including a significant number of executives. 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 such a large environment, some high-end talents choose to turn to platforms with more development potential.
High-quality crypto enterprises typically demonstrate stronger risk resistance and adaptability amid market fluctuations, able to maintain stability during crises and seize new opportunities during industry restructuring, providing an ideal working environment and development platform for executives seeking long-term growth.
Will you follow this Web3 ticket?
Overall, crypto enterprises are becoming an ideal destination for senior talents. This trend stems from their rapidly growing market scale and innovative technologies, and also reflects the unique attractiveness of the crypto industry in terms of management openness and incentive mechanisms.
For top talents, joining the crypto industry is not just about 'boarding the Web3 ship,' but requires discerning vision, and such a choice needs to be made with careful consideration. Senior talents 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 maximum long-term returns and stability in this emerging field.
