Interview: Tong, PANews

Editor: Yuliya, PANews

On the occasion of its seventh anniversary, Bitget CEO Gracy Chen accepted an exclusive interview to delve into the cutting-edge dynamics and future landscape of the crypto industry. This dialogue covered Bitget's core strategy—the concept of the panoramic exchange "UEX" (Universal Exchange), aimed at breaking down the barriers between traditional finance, centralized, and decentralized trading. Gracy shared how Bitget is responding to the shift in market focus, seizing new opportunities in RWA, AI, and more, and elaborated on the future empowerment path of its core ecosystem asset BGB. Additionally, she provided her unique insights on the current dilemmas faced by crypto-native projects, how traditional industry professionals can successfully transition into Web3, and the unique advantages and opportunities for women in the crypto industry.

UEX: Breaking Boundaries, Defining the Future Form of Exchanges

PANews: Hello Gracy, thank you very much for accepting this interview, and congratulations on Bitget's seventh anniversary! On this seventh anniversary, Bitget has proposed a new concept "UEX," positioning itself as a "panoramic exchange." Who proposed this concept? UEX attempts to break the "impossible triangle" between CEX, DEX, and traditional finance. Could you elaborate on this concept? Do you think UEX represents the future form of exchanges?

Gracy: This concept is the result of our team's collective wisdom. UEX stands for "Universal Exchange." In the past, the industry was accustomed to binary categorization of exchanges into CEX and DEX. Over the past few years, Bitget has made in-depth layouts in both areas. In terms of trading volume, Bitget has firmly ranked among the top three globally; in terms of user ecosystem, it is also among the top two in scale. In the decentralized wallet space, our Bitget Wallet and OKX Wallet are considered the two giants in the exchange wallet track.

During the simultaneous operation in these two areas, we found that their essence is trading, and while the user needs they satisfy may differ slightly in profile and scenario, there are often close points of integration. For example, we also provide products like Bitget's on-chain products within the centralized exchange.

The proposal of the UEX concept is a more important step, as we believe that the future is not only about the integration of CEX and DEX but also about the integration of traditional assets on-chain (RWA). In the future, we hope to launch various products such as tokenized stocks, tokenized commodities, and even tokenized foreign exchange. The future trading platform will no longer be a binary world but will achieve "full asset coverage"—any asset, once tokenized and existing on-chain, can be traded. We do not believe that the industry's development should be limited to altcoins or crypto itself; it is breaking the boundaries between traditional finance and crypto, as well as between CEX and DEX. UEX encompasses all of this.

In addition to the breadth of asset coverage, the UEX concept also includes product upgrades, especially some AI features. For example, our GetAgent product may be the most powerful crypto AI tool in the industry right now. A couple of days ago, I asked my GetAgent: "Based on my portfolio and trading habits, guess what my trading MBTI personality is?" It replied that I am an INFJ type, very similar to Buffett, a conservative investor inclined towards fundamental analysis and long-term holding (HODL) philosophy.

PANews: Today, another exchange has proposed the concept of CeDeFi, which I think resonates with your UEX. Do you believe UEX will be the ultimate form of exchanges in the future?

Gracy: Yes. I mentioned in my open letter for the seventh anniversary that UEX is not just the future of cryptocurrency exchanges. All centralized exchanges will develop in this direction. As you mentioned, OKX has also announced support for full on-chain asset trading, and I tweeted welcoming them to join the UEX ranks. I believe that DEX will also start to provide better services in the future, such as 24/7 customer support—which has been an advantage of CEX but relatively weak for DEX; this integration will inevitably happen.

Interestingly, we should observe more traditional trading platforms, such as Nasdaq. There are two news items worth noting: In March of this year, Nasdaq announced that it is working to provide a 24/5 trading experience to cover investors in the Asian time zone; and just recently in September, they announced that they are researching how to put the entire trading system on-chain, utilizing blockchain technology for faster, cheaper, 24/7 trading.

I believe Nasdaq is doing the same thing, and they will also join the UEX ranks in the future. Because in our definition, UEX represents a trading platform that is faster, stronger, offers more products, and utilizes blockchain technology to create the best experience for users.

Responding to Market Changes: Bitget's New Growth Engine

PANews: In the last cycle, Bitget achieved rapid growth in users and assets thanks to its advantages in the derivatives field and flexible listing strategies. This was the growth engine of the past. So, what do you think the next growth engine will be? Will it be the traditional assets on-chain that you just mentioned?

Gracy: I think it will be everything encompassed by the UEX concept. On one hand, RWA traditional assets on-chain will definitely be a huge incremental sector, attracting a large number of traditional investors into the crypto space. In this alternating bull and bear cycle, we see that the pricing power of crypto assets is gradually shifting from retail investors, miners, exchanges, and project parties to Wall Street. This group is precisely the target we want to serve now. Although we do not directly provide US stocks like Nasdaq, by tokenizing and putting leading tech stocks on-chain, we also have strong competitiveness. We have already achieved 24/5 trading, faster than Nasdaq's planned implementation by the end of next year. Additionally, we have pioneered US stock index contracts, supporting over 20 leading US stocks including Apple and Tesla, with leverage up to 25x, which is a service that traditional finance still finds difficult to provide. The advantage of crypto exchanges is that they are faster, more aggressive, and more precise.

On the other hand, I believe AI will also be a core growth point. Currently, many users are still using AI at the information collection level, or as I mentioned earlier, treating it as a "crypto doctor" for diagnosis. But our GetAgent can place orders directly. You can have the Agent help you formulate strategies, execute strategies, or execute them after you modify them. I believe that the model of placing orders through AI Agents will greatly change users' trading habits in the next one to three years. These are the increments I can foresee.

The Future of BGB: Payment Scenarios and Ecological Empowerment

PANews: As the core asset that runs through Bitget's products from trading, wallets to public chains, BGB is naturally a topic of great concern. The competition in public chains and wallets has entered a heated stage. What plans does Bitget have for public chains (like Morph) and derivatives DEX? How will you empower BGB in the future?

Gracy: To drive the adoption rate of BGB, or to say what everyone is more concerned about—the price increase, we have recently made an important strategic positioning: to establish BGB as the ecological token of the Morph public chain, which some users refer to as the "trinity" of exchange, wallet, and public chain. Previously, the market may have speculated whether Morph would issue its own token, but we have now clearly told the market: Morph will not issue a token; it will directly use BGB.

At the same time, the empowerment of BGB by Bitget Exchange and Bitget Wallet has never stopped. For example, in our recent "Divine Mine" event, users can stake BGB or project official tokens to mine Launchpool rewards with an APR exceeding 200%. This type of empowerment is something we have always been doing and will continue to do in the future.

Returning to Morph Chain, its development focus will be more on payment and stablecoin fields. We have discussed many times internally, besides trading, what is the next killer application in the crypto industry? We believe that after Bitcoin and various currency trading, the second is stablecoins and payment scenarios. Especially in the fields of cross-border transactions and remittances, payments have the potential to become a huge market far exceeding exchange business.

The concept of UEX hopes to position exchanges as the super entrance of the future. Once, decentralized wallets also hoped to become such an entrance, but we believe that with the current level of technology and experience, exchanges clearly have the advantage to take on this role. So how should wallets like Bitget Wallet be repositioned?

This is why we place payment in a very important strategic position. Whether it is Bitget Wallet or Morph Chain, we are laying out around the payment field. Although we currently have no plans to issue our own stablecoin, we have established deep cooperation with many leading stablecoin projects, from early USDT/USDC to the recent USDe (we are one of the earliest exchanges to support Ethena), as well as some new stablecoin projects we have invested in. We hope to leverage Morph Chain to strongly support the application of these stablecoins in cross-border payments and other scenarios.

Industry Polarization: The Path for Crypto-Native Projects Lies in Returning to User Needs

PANews: We see that the entire industry now seems to present a "twin peaks" situation. On one hand, RWA and stablecoins, led by traditional institutions, are developing vigorously; on the other hand, many crypto-native projects, such as some L2s, DApps, and blockchain games, are struggling. How do you view this situation? Where do you think the path for crypto-native projects lies?

Gracy: I first acknowledge that there are indeed many projects creating some "pseudo-demand." We won't name specific sectors, but almost every sector has teams that are genuinely working and thinking about how to provide better products and services for users, as well as some projects that are inherently far from money, which I consider to be "pseudo" demands.

For example, GameFi is currently very difficult. I have also invested in some GameFi projects and funds, and their performance has been very poor; this is indeed a challenging field. I believe that if a project is already doing something, it must return to and focus on the real needs of users. If you are a GameFi project, you must think about the playability of the game itself, not just design a purely mining model.

I once wrote an article published on CoinDesk, criticizing the "Tap-to-Earn" model like StepN. I believe that such an ecosystem is very unhealthy because the subsidies from the project parties are unsustainable. And if you are a so-called "game" product that lacks even the most basic playability and only allows users to "Tap," then it has lost its essential value.

Therefore, whether investing or participating in projects, I think it is necessary to base it on certain common sense. There may be a lot of short-term speculation, but if a project lacks fundamental support and does not provide a truly excellent user experience, it is very difficult to create long-term value in this industry. Investors may ultimately be led by project parties to "Pump and Dump," becoming victims of harvesting. From the perspective of probability and big data, things without value are ultimately unsustainable. For users, they need to look at the fundamentals; for project parties, they must meet the real needs of users.

Advice for Cross-Industry Players: Find the Right Direction and Engage with Purpose

PANews: Many professionals from traditional industries are looking to enter the Web3 space. You yourself successfully transitioned from an excellent media professional to the CEO of Bitget, quickly rising from Managing Director. As a successful "veteran," what experiences and insights can you share with those who want to enter the industry?

Gracy: Let me first correct a bit of information; I was a media professional ten years ago. From then until I joined Bitget three and a half years ago, I was an entrepreneur in the Web2 space, working on a fintech project and a VR/Metaverse project, both of which are somewhat related to what we are doing now. When I joined Bitget, my position was Managing Director.

Regarding advice for newcomers, the first point is: any talented person with a skill can find their place in the crypto field. Whether you are a CFA who understands traditional finance, an artist, or someone like me who excels in Web2 operations and marketing, you can smoothly enter the industry. So, the first point is to bravely take that step and choose the Web3 industry. Why? Because it is a sunrise industry, full of new opportunities and in desperate need of talent. When you join a company, make sure not to enter a sunset industry, where whatever you do may be wrong.

The second point is that once you enter this industry, you need to learn how to quickly learn and engage in meaningful networking. I recently published a "Token2049 Networking Guide" because I see many people socializing just for the sake of socializing. My advice is not to just socialize but to "close deals." You shouldn't just think about "taking a photo with Gracy," but rather consider "how to do business with Bitget" and "how to make Gracy remember me among the 100 people she meets today."

This "purposefulness," in my view, is a very positive term. If you have no purpose, then you are wasting each other's time. Of course, if someone just wants a photo, I would be happy, but I hope everyone comes to socialize and close deals with a purpose. This applies to working in any company or project; you should develop yourself purposefully, meet partners purposefully, and ultimately achieve results. In summary, it comes down to some very simple principles: choose the right direction and track, believe in your skills, and then deliver results. This is also our basic principle for selecting people and partners.

The Power of Women: The Flexibility of Web3 is a Unique Advantage for Balancing Work and Family

PANews: As fellow women and mothers, we carry not only the pressure of the workplace but also the expectations of our families. In an industry with a very high proportion of male practitioners, would you encourage women to join? Do you think women can balance work and family well? What advantages do they have?

Gracy: I actually think women have certain advantages in this field. Although people joke that crypto is a "bro culture," and it is also in the fintech space, which is traditionally male-dominated, women have two major advantages here.

The first point is that because there are more men, as a woman, you can easily stand out. Many people say that Bitget is remembered because Gracy is the only female CEO among the top ten exchanges. Because of my female identity, I find it easier to stand out and be noticed. I encourage women not to be shy about leveraging this; we don't need to wait for others to say "ladies first," we can take the initiative ourselves.

The second point is that the very flexible working hours in the Web3 industry is something I really appreciate. Last week, there was a typhoon where I was living for three days, and my son didn't have to go to school. If I were in a traditional industry, those three days could have been very chaotic for me. But because I can work from home, I can spend time with my son in between meetings. This flexible working time and location allow for a better balance between career and family. Many of my colleagues have seen my son in video meetings, and I think this is a special and lovely experience as a mother and a workplace executive, which may not be easily achievable in Web2 or traditional finance. I suggest everyone make good use of the cultural characteristics and time flexibility of our industry, turning so-called "threats" into "opportunities."

Market Outlook: Corrections are Buying Opportunities, but Beware of Leverage Risks

PANews: Finally, returning to the current industry and market situation, the market has been somewhat turbulent recently. What advice do you have for investors?

Gracy: Of course, the following does not constitute financial advice; it is just my analysis from an industry perspective. First, if there are still very aggressive long strategies in place, such as using high leverage or blindly chasing new projects that one does not understand, it may be worth considering shifting to a more defensive strategy.

Conversely, for those who have no crypto asset allocation at all, such as many family offices or friends from traditional fields I have spoken with recently, this correction actually provides an opportunity to re-enter the market. If your portfolio has no BTC, ETH, or BGB at all, I would think you should at least allocate 5%, or even up to 20%.

So, is it bullish, bearish, or neutral right now? I believe that from a five-year long-term perspective, we are definitely at a low point. But at this stage, is there a possibility that the market could drop another 20%? I think that is entirely possible. I tend to believe that the current four-year cycle is not as clear as before, and the volatility is not as high as it used to be. This is because the pricing power in this wave has shifted more to Wall Street and institutions, which means that the price of Bitcoin has a stronger correlation with traditional assets like US stocks, especially the "Big Seven" tech companies.

Recently, although Bitcoin has seen a decline, US stocks have not fallen in sync. Therefore, I tend to view this as a small correction rather than the beginning of a bear market. However, even so, if you are using very aggressive strategies and high leverage, it may be worth considering reducing leverage and adopting a more defensive posture. Of course, you can also ask our GetAgent for advice.

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