Bitget's Fifth Anniversary: A Messi-style Victory, Mysterious Founder and Wolf Culture

Author: Deep Tide TechFlow

If you attended Token2049 in Singapore, it was hard not to notice the large Bitget logo at the registration desk and the "Messi Goal" at the Bitget booth.

"How did Bitget come to be?" "Who is the boss behind Bitget?" "What is the relationship between Bitget and Foresight?"… Such questions were often heard in Singapore, as people were curious about this trading platform that was born during the bear market of 2018 and made a strong comeback during the bear market of 2023.

In September this year, Bitget celebrated its fifth anniversary. With some curiosity, we spoke with several current and former Bitget employees and relevant investors to try to partially restore the story behind Bitget's five-year journey.

A Messi-style Victory

When we talk about Messi, what do we think of?

Seven Ballon d'Or awards? Leading Argentina to win the World Cup?

Sorry, I can't help but associate Messi with Bitget, picturing "Messi holding a phone showcasing the Bitget App."

In October 2022, Bitget signed a contract with Messi for over 100 million RMB. On one hand, Messi has global influence and can help Bitget better establish its brand overseas. On the other hand, Bitget's decision-makers believe that Bitget and Messi have too many similarities, or rather, Bitget's current success is a Messi-style victory.

Growing up on a diet of potatoes and carrots, Messi suffered from malnutrition as a child and was diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency dwarfism at the age of 11. On the day he received the diagnosis, he walked with his father on a cold street, fully aware that his family could not afford treatment, yet he remained remarkably calm.

Despite receiving three years of growth hormone injections with the help of FC Barcelona, his height of 1.69 meters still made him look like a "child who could be easily bullied" on the field. However, as an adult, Messi integrated weakness and strength, becoming a unique force in the football world.

A reporter once asked Messi, "Who are you most grateful to?"

Messi replied, "It's those who once looked down on me. Without their ridicule and disdain, I would have always considered myself a genius. Argentina has never lacked geniuses, but very few truly become usable talents."

Bitget's start seems to be similar. Established in May 2018, it was relatively unknown at the time when everyone was talking about Fcoin, and later FTX, while Bitget quietly developed in the corner.

Without star investors endorsing it, without creating a founder persona, and without massive funding for promotion, the early Bitget could only work hard from the ground up, "messaging community KOLs one by one, usually met with neglect and ridicule."

An early Bitget employee once stated that when she switched from another exchange to Bitget, she was questioned by those around her, "Why go to a 'small exchange'?"

As Messi said, being underestimated is the fate of growth.

Messi is often the player who runs the least on the field. Over the years, clips of Messi walking on the pitch have often been made into humorous compilations, as his seemingly fragile demeanor conceals his killer instinct.

In one world competition, Messi ran only 5 miles in 90 minutes, spending 83% of the time walking, with only 1% of the time used for sprinting, yet he achieved 1 goal and 1 assist.

This is Messi's strength and wisdom, not wasting unnecessary energy on the process but being responsible for the result, striking with precision.

A well-known blogger, "Lonely Brain," summarized Messi's playing style and abstracted it into a "football philosophy":

• Step 1: Scan the field and map the value areas;
• Step 2: Wait in the value zone;
• Step 3: "Black in" the micro-gaps of space and time;
• Step 4: Pursue diversified attacks for maximum offense;
• Step 5: Achieve scoring.

Messi's football philosophy on the field is also a survival philosophy for individuals and enterprises, and Bitget is a steadfast practitioner of Messi's philosophy.

1. Focus limited resources on high-value areas;
2. Regardless of the size of the market battle, always find the most important focal point, which is often just one;
3. The best focal point and specific actions are often based on certain fundamental elements; the key is to identify the crux rather than complicate matters with a plethora of methodologies.

In 2019, Bitget made a decision to cut its spot trading business and focus solely on futures trading, transforming into a platform dedicated to contract trading. This was Bitget's way of concentrating limited resources on high-value areas. So how to exert force?

Bitget keenly discovered that in the contract market, investors not only need a trading platform but also trading strategies. Bitget chose to innovate at the product level, launching USDT perpetual contracts in July 2019, becoming the first in the world, and subsequently introducing one-click copy trading and hybrid contracts.

Like Messi, Bitget did not charge recklessly onto the crypto field but instead remained in high-value areas, innovating where it mattered most, with everything serving the result.

KOLs and Overseas Markets

When we curiously consulted industry insiders, "How did Bitget rise? What did it do right?"

Most respondents would tell us two pieces of information: "Bitget has operated a vast KOL network, with one KOL potentially bringing in over $300 million in trading volume," and "Bitget's early rise relied on capturing parts of the core Asian market."

Today, we find that Bitget is expanding its KOL network from within the industry to outside, attracting a large number of non-crypto industry KOLs, including Tsao Ye, the host of the Taiwanese YouTube channel "Humble Grass Diary," which has millions of subscribers.

In 2021, Tsao Ye invested over ten million to start Bitcoin mining. Initially, he tasted success and increased his investment, but later the market took a sharp downturn, and mining became unprofitable. After two years of persistence, Tsao Ye announced the closure of his mining operation.

At his lowest point in life, Tsao Ye received support from Bitget to create the "Grass Coin Champion" incubation center teaching platform, nurturing newcomers interested in cryptocurrency.

In September 2023, Tsao Ye received the "Bitget Hero Award" at Bitget's fifth-anniversary gala.

Tsao Ye emotionally stated on stage, "It's hard to imagine that a year ago, I was the one who fell hard in mining, and now I can stand again."

At a blockchain event overseas, we encountered a crypto industry practitioner named KIM, who was once a supplier for Bitget. He recalled a past collaboration with Bitget. Due to accounting issues, he undercounted $500,000. Later, when Bitget discovered the problem, they proactively reached out to him and settled the $500,000, which deeply moved him and led him to recommend Bitget to more collaborative communities.

However, beneath the glamorous data, such a model may also harbor undercurrents.

Industry insider King pointedly noted, KOLs can bring users but can also take them away, testing Bitget's ability to retain users.

KOL collaborations often involve a game of human nature and interests. Just like live commerce on short video platforms, platforms may support streamers but will also suppress them when they become unruly. It is challenging for platforms to truly restrain streamers from seeking other opportunities or going independent.

Therefore, it is foreseeable that conflicts between Bitget and certain KOLs will not be uncommon in the future.

Founders and Wolf Culture

As we tried to explore Bitget's management team and corporate culture from the outside in, we encountered an information barrier—the founder of Bitget is exceptionally mysterious, having retreated behind the scenes and rarely speaks publicly.

Thus, we turned the microphone to current and former Bitget employees and seasoned industry professionals. Some avoided the topic, while others held him in high regard. A current employee stated that she tries to avoid direct communication with the big boss at work; a former employee mentioned that the Bitget founder is a strong "capitalist," focused solely on results…

Various fragmented pieces of information gradually pieced together the founder's style of operation—"decisive and ruthless."

This style has also shaped Bitget's corporate culture, a company full of wolf-like qualities.

"Wolf culture" is not a derogatory term, nor is it the 996/007 work culture perceived by the public. Here, I prefer to quote Ren Zhengfei's explanation of "wolf culture":

• First, a keen sense of smell. Wolves have evolved a "prophetic" perception ability and design consciousness in extremely harsh survival environments;
• Second, an indomitable offensive spirit, which embodies the heroism of an organization;
• Third, the "wolf pack spirit," which is unyielding in the face of setbacks.

Wolf culture is often based on utilitarian principles and pragmatism, with results always taking precedence.

"Those who achieve results will receive full authorization and rewards; if there are no short-term results, one must strive for opportunities with attitude; if there are neither results nor attitude, they will be eliminated," summarized a Bitget employee.

This employee personally appreciates such a "results-oriented" approach, allowing him to focus on the work itself and gain rewards from achieving results, rather than wasting energy on upward management, internal public relations, and interpersonal relationships, and avoiding internal intrigue and mutual reporting.

Wolf culture does not equate to internal competition; it demands results rather than meaningless internal strife. He enjoys this straightforward and direct way of working.

Industry investor Candy believes that Bitget is quite united internally, while another derivatives-based trading platform in the industry suffers from internal strife and conflict within its management team.

Talent

"Huawei does not reserve dollars, but reserves talent," this saying also applies to Bitget.

Why do they join Bitget?

A simple answer that aligns with human nature is, "They really offer too much."

It is understood that Bitget's BD and other employees have no upper limit on commissions. In the context of rapid development and personal effort, some overseas employees have earned bonuses of $200,000 in a single month.

"I'm not afraid of working a bit harder; what I fear is doing repetitive, meaningless work without a sense of achievement or earning money," said Yi, who joined Bitget today. Compared to his previous job, he finds Bitget's work to be much more demanding, but the style of "no empty promises, just direct payment" makes him feel that his labor is respected.

Yi told us that despite the crypto market being in a bear market in 2023, Bitget still distributed annual bonuses to everyone.

Throughout Bitget's development, some key talents have played important roles, helping Bitget build ecosystems in investment, media, incubation, and more; others have helped Bitget conquer overseas markets…

In a Bitget culture manual presented by employees, there is a dedicated page discussing "talent strategy": respect, empowerment; merit-based selection; personnel iteration; inclusiveness.

Currently, Bitget has over 1,500 employees globally and continues to expand this year, recruiting new talents.

Another truth about Bitget is that Bitget does not deliberately cultivate talent but selects it; excellent talents are chosen rather than cultivated.

Ecosystem Expansion

In addition to the rise in trading volume, what is clearly perceived today is the entire ecosystem of Bitget working in synergy, significantly enhancing brand momentum, which cannot be separated from the support of its investment and media brand, Foresight.

According to Bitget's fifth-anniversary open letter, Foresight Ventures has invested in 77 projects, including well-known companies like Space and Time, WalletConnect, Sei Network, Gitcoin, and Shardeum, with a total investment amount exceeding $60 million; Foresight X has incubated 12 early-stage projects covering AI + Web3, Bitcoin ecology, LSDFi, and other tracks.

On August 10, the Web3 multi-chain wallet BitKeep was officially renamed Bitget Wallet, still existing as an independent app and not integrated into the trading platform.

Exchanges, investments, media, incubation, wallets… The Bitget ecosystem has covered five major territories. Is there still a piece missing?

Perhaps you have already thought of it—public chains. According to information we obtained at the Bitget event in Singapore, Bitget is also continuously supporting some emerging Layer 2 networks, exploring more efficient and secure solutions.

Thus, Bitget's ecosystem has expanded further, gathering six major sectors.

Conclusion

On September 11, Bitget's General Manager Gracy Chen published an open letter titled "On the Occasion of Bitget's Fifth Anniversary—In Every Era, Someone Must Look Up at the Stars," in which two sentences left a deep impression:

The birth of Bitget stems from a unique belief—"to be the 10% who remain steadfast after the tide recedes."

Unlike those exchanges that rise quickly and then vanish just as fast, we are more like marathon runners.

In the crypto industry, success may not be that complicated; just keep running, avoid making mistakes, because your competitors will always make mistakes or voluntarily exit. Marathon runners do not care about immediate gains or losses; all the running is just to reach the moment of crossing the finish line.