Why are traditional brokerage talents flowing to cryptocurrency exchanges?

Author: Whiter Runner

For a long time, traditional brokers were seen as a more reliable choice by many financial practitioners.

Licenses are mature, processes are clear, and career paths are relatively certain. People who stay in such systems for a long time become accustomed to the clear boundaries of security: what can be done, what cannot be done, and every step has rules to follow.

However, in recent years, policies, compliance, and the cross-border business environment have continued to change, leading to adjustments in some business boundaries of traditional brokers. Client withdrawals, regional restrictions, and tightened customer acquisition—these terms that once only appeared in the news have slowly become a reality that front-line employees feel every day. With fewer users, narrower paths, and changed growth methods.

It was at this time that some traditional financial practitioners began to look outward again.

Ethan, Lily, Myooi—they once stood in different positions at traditional brokers: growth, operations, creativity, product, and marketing. Some began to understand what "blockchain" is, some only paid attention to Crypto in the news, and some had already seen the convergence of traditional finance and the crypto industry.

They each have their own concerns: compliance, stability, volatility, career development, personal fit—each issue is worth pondering.

But as familiar paths began to narrow, new markets were opening up. For them, Bitget is not just a new job opportunity; it feels more like a chance to re-understand the financial industry and to re-validate themselves.

Ethan: Five years on the front lines of overseas finance, first to feel the market shifting

Ethan worked at Futu for nearly five years, responsible for building regional business teams, local market development, KOL operations, and corporate partnerships.

These roles kept him at the market front lines for a long time. He could feel where users came from, whether channels could still run, and whether partners were willing to push forward. Later, as the business boundaries of traditional brokers began to change, cross-border business, client scope, and customer acquisition methods became more cautious. For someone focused on growth, this change was overwhelming: actions that could be quickly tried before now required confirmation of feasibility, in which regions it could be done, and to what extent.

Ethan has always been sensitive to changes in external markets. He said his career experience spans different industries, "from internet brokers to traditional banks to Web3," but he has always been in the overseas finance sector. While in Hong Kong, he noticed an increasing number of Web3 exhibitions, OSL, HashKey, and other exchange activities, and discussions about the current state of the crypto industry, regulation, and compliance began to occur frequently among clients and friends.

He said that during his years working in Hong Kong, he felt that Web3 was "entering everyone's daily work and life more." This change made him feel a bit of FOMO and prompted him to seriously learn about the crypto industry starting in 2024.

His first proactive experience with Crypto was due to the Trump coin in 2024. After downloading the exchange App, his first reaction was quite simple: "What is a blockchain? What are the differences between different blockchains?" He didn't initially understand the industry well and needed to relearn from the basics.

But he saw deeper opportunities. Compared to the traditional secondary market, the crypto industry seemed more like a primary market to him, possibly "a product that could bring changes from the settlement layer."

Later, he spent more than a year observing, trading, communicating, and comparing. Until he saw Bitget's UEX concept and direction, he felt it aligned with his career development choices and decided to apply to join.

Before making the decision, he said he "actually had no concerns." If there was one, it was:

"Do I have the courage to take the plunge?"

For Ethan, joining Bitget is about applying the market sensitivity, channel capabilities, and team-building experience he developed in overseas finance to a faster, newer market that requires breaking boundaries.

Lily: The longer she worked in operations at Futu, the more she knew opportunities couldn't wait too long

Lily worked at Futu for over three years, mainly responsible for community operations and wealth management-related business.

She has been involved in hot market operations, user engagement and conversion for funds and ETFs, KOL discovery and maintenance, and participated in investment strategy meetings, official account onboarding for fund institutions, and content collaboration. Those roles made her understand early on that financial operations rely not only on processes but also on timing.

• When the market comes, content must keep up.

• When users are active, conversion must catch on.

• When a hot topic arises, operational actions must be taken immediately.

If you are slow, user sentiment will pass.

Traditional brokers provided her with solid training. Standardized processes, mature regulation, and clear user paths helped her establish a basic understanding of financial users and wealth management business. But the longer she worked, the more she felt another side: operational actions are easily constrained by compliance and organizational boundaries. Many times, the ideas are not lacking; the problem lies in whether they can be executed, when they can be done, and to what extent.

Her later interest in the crypto industry also stemmed from observing users and the market.

She found this industry to be "very cutting-edge," with high user trading frequency, rapid market changes, and the flow of information and opportunities clearly faster than traditional finance. Before joining Bitget, her understanding of Crypto was not particularly deep, mostly built through X, exchange announcements, industry news, and her basic trading experiences.

What she cares about most is the industry's volatility and whether her growth speed can keep up with the company's and the industry's development pace.

The pace of crypto exchanges is faster, user feedback is more direct, and the demands for operational response speed and data judgment are higher. In the past at traditional brokers, an operational action might emphasize stability and standardization; here, hot assets, user behavior, and market sentiment change faster, requiring quicker judgments and actions.

Lily did not take this change lightly.

She knows it will be more exhausting and that she needs to fill in a lot of industry knowledge. But she also sees that the community operations, user conversion, KOL maintenance, and wealth management experience accumulated in traditional brokers have not expired. They have simply been placed into a faster, more dynamic new market.

For her, what attracts her to Bitget is not just the new industry itself. There is also the faster growth rate, a stronger global perspective, and more frequent knowledge sharing. She later mentioned that one of her biggest gains was discovering "that I can also adapt to a fast-paced job."

She brought her experience from traditional finance and is re-evaluating her capabilities in the new rhythm.

Joyce: With three years of experience in information roles, she shifts from content creation to value validation

Joyce worked in information business at Futu for 3 and a half years, responsible for producing and organizing stock and financial information content. She faced daily user demands for information and the rhythm of market changes. When the market moves, users want to quickly know what happened; when assets fluctuate, users want to understand the reasons behind it. She learned to clearly communicate information in traditional finance and became accustomed to adhering to compliance and expressing boundaries.

Initially, her understanding of the crypto industry was limited to news and social media, with some concerns about volatility, compliance, and the industry's future. "I know the pace here is fast, and there is high personnel turnover, stability is an issue," Joyce recalled. But she also saw this as a new space to validate the value of her content, where user feedback is direct and market responses are swift. "I want to see if the content I create can be re-validated in the new market."

What ultimately led her to decide to join Bitget was not just seeing industry trends and short-term heat, but the combination of personal growth opportunities and career judgment. She said, "Let's try it and see if my professional experience can have an impact here."

After joining, her most immediate feeling was the fast pace, direct feedback, and clearer responsibilities. In the past at brokers, content often required multiple layers of approval, leading to slow responses; at Bitget, every piece of material and every content output quickly shows user activity, retention, trading, and repurchase feedback. She felt that this was not just a change in work but a re-evaluation of her professional abilities.

For her colleagues in traditional finance who are still observing, she advises: "Don't just look at short-term heat; also consider whether the platform is long-term oriented, whether the team is professional, and whether the position can truly stretch your capabilities." This statement reflects the logic behind her own choice.

Joyce brought the professional skills accumulated in traditional finance to a faster, more dynamic new market, re-validating the value of content and reaffirming her core competitiveness in financial information and content creation.

Myooi: A creative person in Futu's Japan market, she doesn't want her creativity to be trapped in processes

Myooi worked at Futu for 2 years, responsible for social media buying materials and growth creativity during the pioneering phase of the Japan market POC.

This type of work relies heavily on speed. Whether a hot topic can be captured or whether a material can be produced often depends on how quickly the creativity can enter the market and how quickly the data can be fed back.

But in traditional brokers, materials must first go through local legal and compliance checks. She said that many times "by the time the process is completed, the timeliness has already passed," and even after repeated revisions, it still might not get approved.

For someone focused on growth creativity, this consumption can be exhausting. You know an expression might be effective, and you know users are discussing it, but if the material hasn't gone out, the opportunity has already cooled down.

Before joining Bitget, Myooi did not have a deep understanding of Crypto. She described herself more as an "outsider" who occasionally followed industry trends and was also concerned about the stability of Web3. The external voices about this industry are often split between optimism and pessimism, and she was uncertain about its long-term development.

What truly moved her was Bitget's UEX concept and its integration with traditional Web2. She said she had some dissatisfaction with existing traditional financial systems, and Bitget's advocacy for UEX "deeply resonated with me."

After joining Bitget, her most noticeable feeling was that the creative space had expanded. The cumbersome approval burdens were reduced, ideas could be tested more quickly, and data could come back faster.

Of course, this is not easy. She said the pace here is very fast, emphasizing agility and results. Sometimes when inspiration strikes, she gets so busy she forgets to eat; after the creative space expands, there is also pressure to continuously produce popular materials.

But for Myooi, at least the distance between ideas and users has shortened.

Her past experience of taking the Japan market from 0 to 1, her understanding of traditional financial user psychology, and her judgment of growth materials can all be reused at Bitget. In her own words, bringing these underlying business logics to Web3, combined with the high freedom of material expression here, "creates a very easy chemical reaction."

Abby: After years of designing financial products, she redefines "delivery" in a faster rhythm

Abby has worked for many years in financial product design and has also had experience in the crypto industry.

Her first encounter with the crypto industry was around 2018, when she joined Huobi and also had her own investment experiences. So compared to some traditional financial practitioners who have just entered Crypto, she is not unfamiliar with the industry. Before coming to Bitget, she had few concerns at the industry level; her choice to join was more based on "career development considerations" and because she felt "the work content aligns well with herself."

What truly made her feel the change was the speed.

She said that Bitget's pace is faster, "for example, a feature that might take Futu six months to launch could be required to go live here in at most 2 months."

This statement, when applied to a product manager, means that many things are compressed.

Demand judgments need to be faster, trade-offs need to be quicker, cross-team communication needs to be swifter, and delivery and reviews also need to be expedited. In the past at traditional brokers, a financial product feature could be polished over a longer cycle; at Bitget, market changes and business demands push the product forward.

This is not just an increase in workload.

For Abby, the greater challenge is to re-understand financial products in the crypto industry. She mentioned that she needs to learn industry knowledge about Web3, such as DeFi, which she had not encountered much before.

But she also recognizes the pace here.

She mentioned that Bitget makes her feel the "efficient output of the team" and "the rapid development of products." The biggest gain has been understanding how financial products are made in the crypto industry.

The product skills and broker knowledge she accumulated in the past have not been set aside. This time, they have simply been placed into a faster system.

For a product manager, this means pressure, but it also means more direct growth feedback.

Vera: Responsible for content at Futu, she begins to think about broadening her capability boundaries

Vera worked at Futu for two years, mainly responsible for investor trading content.

At that time, she was more familiar with the content aspect: when the market moves, how to clearly communicate the information; when users need to make judgments, how to explain the trading logic. The responsibilities in traditional brokers are also clearer, with "more execution staff on single business lines and clear boundaries of responsibility."

But she later began to think about pushing her capabilities further.

She seriously considered the crypto industry mainly because of "personal development opportunities." She said she "wants to further broaden her skill set" and was also looking for a remote opportunity. Before joining Bitget, her biggest concern was compliance issues, but later, through communication with friends and industry professionals, she gradually dispelled her worries. She felt that Bitget "provides relatively good safety protection for employees."

After arriving at Bitget, her role quickly changed.

She began to do event growth operations, responsible for the operational activities and product operations of the CFD business. In the past, she focused more on content output; now she is involved in the entire process from event research to planning, communicating with products, execution, and review.

This was a direct change for her.

She said that Bitget has a "faster pace," with each business line being a small team where everyone backs each other up; the overall team is also quite open. In contrast, Futu is relatively more conservative, "providing less space for innovation for employees."

She likes this more direct sense of results.

In her view, the crypto industry "pays great attention to results and hopes to quickly achieve them," which is very different from the slow pace of traditional industries. She also recognizes Bitget's "growth speed and innovative atmosphere."

For Vera, coming to Bitget is not just a simple change of operational jobs.

She is still working in financial-related businesses, but this time, she is no longer limited to content output. She needs to be closer to events, products, users, and results, and also push her capability boundaries outward in a faster rhythm.

Cecilia: After years in advertising, she discovers for the first time that work and life can coexist

Cecilia previously worked in performance advertising at Futu. After coming to Bitget, she is responsible for strategy and execution of various advertising testing projects in the advertising data product team.

She clearly sees the differences between the two industries. Traditional brokers operate within a more mature financial system, with "clear and stable regulatory frameworks"; the crypto industry, on the other hand, has greater policy differences across countries and is still in a stage of development and exploration, with relatively uncertain compliance paths.

She also knows that the market volatility here is greater, the pace is faster, and user segmentation is more pronounced. The differences among users, from novices to high-frequency trading users, vary in cognition and behavior. This means that advertising, materials, audience selection, and conversion paths all require constant trial and error.

Therefore, Cecilia's choice was not just attracted by the "new industry."

She seriously considered the crypto industry, partly because she "sees good development prospects," and partly because the remote work style was indeed very important to her. At that time, her family was seriously ill, and she needed to frequently travel between her long-term residence and her hometown; remote work gave her the space to continue working while taking care of her real-life situation.

But what truly led her to make a judgment was the position and the team itself.

She mentioned that Bitget's interview process is "simple and quick," and the communication is very professional; the JD is clearly written, indicating that the company has deeply considered job fit and that the leader shows professionalism in the business.

After joining, the differences she felt were more direct.

Bitget is "more flat and open," with a stronger pace and a good team atmosphere. Compared to the "reporting culture" and "upward management" she encountered in traditional brokers, she has hardly seen any at Bitget.

She is also very clear that freedom comes at a cost.

She said that what attracts traditional financial practitioners to the crypto industry is " 7×24 operation, global mobility, innovation density, and fairer tools"; what needs to be adapted to is "no off-hours, self-responsibility, high volatility, and mindset management."

This statement closely resembles her own judgment style: neither beautifying nor avoiding.

For Cecilia, Bitget offers her not only the freedom to work but also a higher-density work environment. It requires quicker judgments, stronger self-drive, and the ability to re-validate user segmentation, data analysis, and refined conversion capabilities from traditional advertising in a faster-changing market.

She knows where the risks lie and where the opportunities are.

In the end, she chose to enter this place with higher uncertainty and higher potential.

When the boundaries of finance shift, talent will also choose new directions

When looking at these cases together, one can find that their choices are not the same.

• Some were the first to feel the shift in overseas markets and financial boundaries, while others noticed the speed at which opportunities are flowing is increasing;

• Some want to re-validate the value of content in new markets, while others need a stage for creativity to reach users faster;

• Some hope to move from a single content aspect to a more complete business scene, while others are re-understanding delivery in a faster product rhythm;

• There are also those who have made a more complex judgment between opportunities, risks, and real life.

They are not moving to the crypto industry because traditional finance is unimportant. On the contrary, it is precisely because they understand finance, understand users, and understand growth and compliance that they have realized earlier: the financial industry is entering a new stage.

In the past, traditional brokers taught them stability, standardization, and a sense of boundaries. Upon arriving at Bitget, they face faster feedback, stronger results orientation, more global users, and a market with higher uncertainty.

This is not an easier path. It requires individuals to continuously learn, adapt quickly, and have the courage to re-examine the experiences accumulated in the past in a new environment.

But talent movement is never just about changing jobs. It often signifies that an industry is changing and that new opportunities are forming. The flow of talent from traditional brokers to Bitget is not a simple career migration but a proactive choice by a group of financial practitioners regarding the next generation of financial forms.

When rules change, boundaries shift, and markets reopen, truly experienced individuals will not just cling to past certainties. They will take the professional capabilities honed in the past and seek the next place worth investing in.

The next stop for finance does not belong to those who only wait for certainty; it belongs to those who see change, understand risks, and are willing to re-prove themselves in new markets.