Fu Peng has joined the crypto world. Hong Kong New Huo Group (formerly Huobi Technology) officially announced that Fu Peng has taken on the role of Chief Economist. 1. Who is Fu Peng? A pretty well-known macro analyst in traditional finance. Previously, he was the Chief Economist at Northeast Securities. He’s in the same league as Ren Zeping, Hong Hao, and Guan Qingyou. He’s also super popular on Bilibili. 2. Why is he entering the crypto space? Well, to be honest, traditional finance has been super strict about salary caps these past couple of years. What’s not openly discussed is that the annual salary ceiling for leadership roles at state-owned financial institutions is around 2 million RMB, and it decreases based on rank. Brokerage research departments have been hit hard by layoffs, and even chief analysts aren’t safe. Fu Peng actually left Northeast Securities back in 2025. The official reason was "health issues," but since then, he’s been doing self-media. He’s been away from traditional sell-side finance for a while now. Of course, it’s also possible that New Huo simply offered him enough. 3. What does this mean for New Huo? Fu Peng definitely won’t be managing operations. Personally, I think this is more about New Huo gaining a new "brand ambassador." Having someone with a traditional finance background talking macroeconomics in the crypto space can add a layer of "credibility" to licensed institutions. This is probably one of the most interesting signals in this wave of licensed crypto adoption—seasoned faces from traditional finance are starting to move into this space. So Fu Peng isn’t the first, and he likely won’t be the last.