A good product should return to the level of user needs, allowing users to find what they want.

From internet entrepreneur to Web3 business leader, Bitget Wallet CEO Karry's career trajectory reflects the development context of China's internet industry.

After experiencing the waves of PC internet and mobile internet, why did this seasoned professional with 15 years of internet experience ultimately choose to dive into the Web3 track? In the fiercely competitive crypto wallet space, how does Karry lead Bitget Wallet to break through?

In this in-depth dialogue, Karry shared his career journey and contributed many deep thoughts on the industry and products, also systematically explaining the strategic thinking behind the Bitget Wallet brand upgrade for the first time. The vision of "Crypto for Everyone" is based on a deep judgment of user needs and industry trends. He believes that truly future-oriented Web3 products should not be complex tools serving a few, but rather a part of everyone's daily life.

Dialogue Highlights

The core of a founder's mindset is to not complain. As a founder, anyone can complain about the market, the team, or the product, but a founder cannot complain; the founder is the root cause of all problems.

There is no such thing as globalization, only localization. The core of localization is to have local people do local things.

Do not label products with definitions like "I want it to be minimal" or "I want it to be restrained." Complexity does not depend on the number of functions but on whether it forces interruptions to the user.

A good product should return to the level of user needs, allowing users to find what they want and use the product intuitively, rather than defining the quality of a product by its simplicity or complexity.

The blurring of boundaries between on-chain and centralized exchanges in terms of liquidity is a major trend.

The so-called "ticket" or "moat" is actually a subjective imagination. Once you think of the so-called "ticket" or "moat," you are essentially asking yourself: Can I lie flat? I believe this industry is still in its early stages, and the entire mobile internet industry has no possibility of lying flat. If Douyin lies flat, WeChat's video account will rise rapidly; if Meituan relaxes, JD will enter the takeaway field. No one dares to let their guard down. Once you relax, you will fall behind, and this applies even to the largest enterprises.

The following is the full content, with some organization and reduction:

Internet Veterans Entering Web3

Deep Tide TechFlow: Please introduce yourself, Karry, and how you entered the crypto industry?

Karry:

Hello everyone, I am Karry, the CEO of Bitget Wallet.

Since my graduation, I have been focused on the internet field. From 2012 to 2019, I was continuously starting businesses in the mobile internet sector. I have also served as a product leader in major internet companies.

During my entrepreneurial period, I had some exposure to the cryptocurrency field but did not participate deeply. It wasn't until the DeFi Summer in 2021 that I began to seriously pay attention to the Web3 industry. In the second half of 2021, I was invited by the founder of BitKeep (later upgraded to Bitget Wallet) to serve as a product advisor. After he left in 2022, I took over as CEO and have been responsible for the development of Bitget Wallet ever since.

Deep Tide TechFlow: Your career has always revolved around the internet. In your opinion, what are the main differences between traditional mobile internet and the Web3 industry?

Karry:

My experience at ByteDance in 2020 gave me an in-depth understanding of how large companies operate. By then, the internet giants had developed very maturely, with a complete support system, including specialized departments for data, growth, and business analysis. Each business operated within a strict framework, with clear evaluation standards and timelines. This highly standardized management approach, while bringing efficiency, also somewhat limited the space for innovation.

The internet industry at that time had turned into a battleground among the giants—ByteDance was competing with Alibaba in e-commerce, Tencent was competing with Douyin in short videos, and the space for innovation was shrinking.

After 2020, there was hardly anything new in the internet; it was just a fight among a few giants, giving a sense of embellishment on excrement.

In contrast, Web3 feels completely different to me. This field is constantly emerging with new things, from AA wallets to MPC, from Layer 2 to ZK rollup, with new concepts and technologies continuously surfacing. Although there is no shortage of concept hype, it indeed brings sustained innovative vitality to the industry. Any new project could suddenly rise, with no obvious industry barriers, making this environment full of possibilities very attractive.

For example, pump.fun might suddenly emerge in half a year or a year, and gmgn as well; there is no class solidification, and there are still many new possibilities, with the potential for a turnaround at any time.

However, as a wallet business in the Web3 field, we share many commonalities with traditional internet. We also need to develop apps, focus on user growth, and emphasize retention and conversion; about 80% of internet operation methods can be directly applied. This makes wallets and exchanges the business forms in Web3 that are closest to traditional internet. This characteristic allows us to fully utilize past experiences while exploring innovative possibilities in a new field.

Deep Tide TechFlow: There is a popular term in the internet now, "founder mode." As a professional manager, what do you think your advantages are compared to other companies driven by founders?

Karry:

I have also been an entrepreneur for many years. Although I did not create this product from scratch, I always approach my work with a founder's mindset. This mindset stems from my responsibility towards life: since I chose this path, I must give it my all. I believe the core of a founder's mindset is to not complain, so I always think from a problem-solving perspective, focusing on the market, business, vision, and long-term value, maintaining a long-term mindset and avoiding falling into short-term emotions. Facing challenges with a founder's mindset is the only way to continuously drive the business forward.

I believe there are a few differences in mindset. First, my experience in large companies has allowed me to accumulate some management experience. For example, in our small team of over 100 people, I introduced ByteDance's management methods, emphasizing data transparency. Each business line has its corresponding data system, and the Lark bot pushes data to the group, ensuring that team members can see business data and understand business performance and decision-making background. This management philosophy is called "Context" at ByteDance, which provides frontline employees with sufficient contextual information to make autonomous decisions rather than passing down instructions layer by layer.

Secondly, I always maintain direct awareness of business details and industry dynamics. Every day, I spend 2 to 3 hours using our product, conducting about 50 wallet transactions. This daily use allows me to directly experience the product rather than relying solely on others' reports.

Therefore, I believe that the founder mode is more of a mindset. If you want to achieve a sense of accomplishment in your work, this mindset is crucial. Conversely, if you only have the mindset of "completing tasks" or "working for money," it is easy to fall into a cycle of complaints.

The Development History of Established Wallets

Deep Tide TechFlow: Bitget Wallet has developed step by step from BitKeep. Can you introduce the complete development history of Bitget Wallet?

Karry:

BitKeep was established in May 2018.

Our real breakout moment was during the DeFi Summer in 2021 when we developed leaderboard and candlestick chart features for Uniswap's tokens, gaining a large number of users. Subsequently, we launched a trading aggregator and maintained active trading volumes on the Tron and BSC networks, with daily trading volumes exceeding $600 million at peak.

Currently, we support cross-chain functionality for over twenty public chains and have recently integrated emerging public chains like Berachain, Sonic, and Sui, continuously expanding liquidity sources to optimize the trading experience.

In 2021-2022, Bitget invested in BitKeep twice. After the original founder exited, I took over team management and rebranded to Bitget Wallet in 2023.

The reason for the rebranding was mainly to integrate marketing resources, allowing Bitget (focusing on centralized trading) and the original BitKeep (focusing on decentralized areas) to build a global brand more effectively. Although the brand is unified, the team, business, and equity structure remain independent.

Deep Tide TechFlow: What achievements of Bitget Wallet are you particularly proud of?

Karry:

In our view, the key indicator for measuring first-tier status is active users, especially the number of new users.

Looking back at the market landscape at the beginning of 2023, first-tier representatives like MetaMask, Trust Wallet, and Coinbase Wallet generally maintained over 500,000 new users per month. At that time, we were in the second tier along with TP and imToken, with monthly new users in the range of 200,000 to 300,000. Although we were leading in the second tier, there was indeed a significant gap between us and the first tier.

In the past year, we have reached the level of the first tier in terms of new users. For example, in February of this year, our number of new users surged to third globally, only behind Trust Wallet and Phantom, surpassing traditional mainstream wallets including MetaMask. Currently, we have over 80 million users globally, with approximately 10 million monthly active users (MAU) and around 1 million daily active users (DAU).

Strategic Thinking Behind the Brand Upgrade

Deep Tide TechFlow: Bitget Wallet recently celebrated its seventh anniversary and also launched a new brand upgrade. What thoughts are behind the complete visual rebranding and the proposal of the core vision "Crypto for Everyone"? How is this vision truly implemented and transformed into an experience that users can tangibly feel in your product planning and feature design?

Karry: Looking back at the development journey over these seven years, we are very proud to see ourselves grow from a basic crypto wallet tool into a one-stop Web3 platform serving global users, with a global user base exceeding 80 million. This brand upgrade has dual significance: on one hand, it showcases a new visual image externally, and on the other hand, it clarifies our core value proposition internally.

In terms of visuals, we chose a more modern blue-green as the main color, which maintains the professionalism that financial technology products should have while enhancing user friendliness. The new graphic language centers around arrows, symbolizing connection and progress, and also reflects our commitment to the spirit of decentralization and openness.

We proposed the brand vision of "Crypto for Everyone," which is not just a slogan but our judgment on the future development of the industry: the true value of crypto technology lies not in serving a few geek users but in becoming a part of the daily lives of the general public. To this end, we have comprehensively upgraded our products around four core scenarios: "trading, wealth management, payment, and exploration," aiming to enable every user to participate simply and securely.

In trading, we have built a closed-loop experience from market discovery to one-click ordering, combining the Alpha module's credit signal discovery and AI-powered project evaluation tools to help users seize opportunities more efficiently. We also introduced the innovative GetGas feature to solve the gas shortage problem for new users.

In wealth management, we have integrated mainstream DeFi protocols and launched low-threshold yield products like Hold2Earn. The upcoming native vault will further lower the participation threshold.

In payment scenarios, we support three methods: scanning QR codes, swiping cards, and shopping in stores. We have integrated merchant gateways like Padify and launched the Bitget Wallet Visa card, allowing crypto assets to be truly used for daily consumption.

In the exploration dimension, we aggregate various DApps and combine a mnemonic-free account system with comprehensive security guarantees to help users access the Web3 world more safely and conveniently.

The core idea behind these products is consistent—by lowering barriers and enhancing usability, we make crypto technology closer to the real needs of ordinary users. We believe that only when everyone can naturally use Web3 products can the vision of "Crypto for Everyone" truly be realized.

Deep Tide TechFlow: What is your view on the current competitive landscape of crypto wallets?

Karry:

The boundaries of liquidity between on-chain and centralized exchanges are becoming blurred, which is a trend in the industry. Take Binance Alpha 2.0 as an example; exchanges are starting to utilize liquidity provided by AMM, and this model will influence the development direction of the entire industry.

Regarding wallet competition, the entire industry is still in a very early stage, not mature, with a penetration rate of less than 5%.

We believe this is a long-term battle, not a one-time showdown. We often say internally: "Victory lies not in ourselves, but in our enemies." We can only ensure that we do not make mistakes; whether we can win depends on whether our opponents make mistakes. If our opponents do not make mistakes, the competition will last a long time.

Looking back, we chose to build an independent app and focus on on-chain trading in 2021, which was indeed a very correct decision.

We are not only focused on trading but have also simultaneously laid out the PayFi field. It now appears that on-chain trading is moving towards efficiency competition, while payment will become the next growth point. In the future, we will focus more on building consumption scenarios, transforming the wallet into a true crypto payment platform.

Deep Tide TechFlow: In this marathon, what is your core competitive advantage?

Karry:

Our core business philosophy is: pursue growth while ensuring breakeven.

This self-sustaining ability allows us to engage in a long-term battle without relying on subsidies or investor funds. We have achieved monthly profitability, which ensures continuous investment and avoids the risk of being cut off due to a decision from a leader, such as a ZK DEX project from a certain exchange that took two years and involved 60 people, only to be terminated by a single statement from the boss.

In terms of product strategy, we are not limited to the initial on-chain trading scenario. We believe that payment is a key scenario for the wallet's future, which is why we launched the PayFi strategy. At the same time, we have established an innovation team to maintain sensitivity to market trends and continuously innovate and experiment based on user feedback.

There is no such thing as globalization, only localization

Deep Tide TechFlow: How does Bitget Wallet plan its globalization strategy? Is there a differentiated layout for different markets?

Karry:

One viewpoint is that there is no such thing as globalization, only localization. The core of localization is to have local people do local things, including local community building, PR activities, and market strategies.

Our product features are very diverse, such as Swap, wealth management, Staking, DeFi interactions, airdrop activities, Alpha strategies, and even credit card services. With so many features, we cannot push them all to users at once; otherwise, users will be at a loss. Therefore, the promotional focus in different regional markets is different. For example, Japanese users are more interested in wealth management, while in some countries, due to local currency fluctuations, crypto assets are viewed as a means of preserving value.

Thus, we have local teams in various regions responsible for establishing operational models, building communities, and conducting promotional activities. These local teams can better understand market needs and provide us with effective strategic advice.

Deep Tide TechFlow: Chinese internet products often encounter "adaptation issues" when going overseas. On the product level, domestic users seem to prefer "all-in-one" products, large and comprehensive, like WeChat. The overseas market tends to favor simpler products. What are your thoughts on this? Do overseas users experience "adaptation issues" when using Bitget Wallet?

Karry:

I have a clear viewpoint: do not label products with definitions like "I want it to be minimal" or "I want it to be restrained."

A good product should return to user needs, allowing users to intuitively find and use the required functions.

Take WeChat as an example; its functional design (like red envelopes) naturally presents itself in specific scenarios rather than being forcibly pushed to users. Its user experience is excellent globally, comparable to products like WhatsApp. Its globalization limitations are more related to market strategies and geopolitical factors rather than product design issues.

This reminds me of some debates during the early days of mobile phones. Luo Yonghao emphasized "skeuomorphism," and the early iPhone indeed adopted a "skeuomorphic" design, but later the trend shifted towards "flat design."

Luo Yonghao argued passionately for these design philosophies, but I believe this reflects a lack of understanding of the essence of the product. The focus should not be on these design labels but on whether the flow of information for users is natural enough, allowing users to instinctively use your product. This is the true core of product design.

Therefore, when creating global products, our goal is to enable users from different regions around the world to use them intuitively, rather than simply pursuing a certain design philosophy like "minimalism." The emphasis on simplicity lies in making the user experience natural and smooth, rather than deliberately catering to a minimalist form.

Deep Tide TechFlow: You also mentioned that wallets and exchanges are the most similar to web2 applications. Based on your experience through the waves of mobile internet development, which stage of early competition in mobile internet do you think the current development stage of crypto wallets corresponds to? What are the similarities and differences?

Karry:

The penetration rate of crypto wallets is indeed very low, similar to the internet era around 1998-2000. However, we cannot simply assume that it will soon experience explosive growth.

The reason I am optimistic about this industry is that crypto has already demonstrated real value in the financial sector, such as cross-border payments and DeFi liquidity support. Currently, we are more focused on the development of PayFi.

The popular U card now only leverages the merchant networks accumulated by Visa and MasterCard over the years to achieve a cold start. However, the more valuable aspect is the future realization of direct payments and settlements from Crypto to Crypto, allowing users to directly use cryptocurrencies for wealth management, salary payments, or conversion to fiat currency. Once this end-to-end crypto payment system is established, it will bring enormous opportunities in remittances, cross-border payments, and other areas.

Wallets are not entry points; moats are a false proposition

Deep Tide TechFlow: Reflecting on the mobile internet era, we often hear about the "battle for traffic entry points." It was believed that Tencent secured the ticket to the mobile internet with WeChat. In web3, many people also view wallets as similar traffic entry points. What is your perspective on this analogy? According to this logic, which wallets do you think have already secured their tickets?

Karry:

I do not agree with this view.

Many people believe that wallets are entry points, but I do not see it that way. WeChat is an entry point because it has a very high user coverage and a strong social network effect. Wallets do not have such coverage and do not possess network effects—the account system in Web3 is inherently interoperable, and the cost of user migration is very low.

The so-called "ticket" or "moat" is actually a subjective imagination.

Around 2020, when I was working at ByteDance, the company held an all-hands meeting every two months. Someone asked Zhang Yiming: "Tencent has social networking as a moat, Alibaba has e-commerce as a moat, what is ByteDance's moat?"

I remember Zhang Yiming's answer was very clear. He responded in a video conference: "The concept of a moat is a very outdated idea. In the mobile internet era, or in such a fiercely competitive environment, there is no real moat."

Alibaba's large moat was still breached by Pinduoduo, and Tencent's strong moat, at least before the rise of the video account in 2020, saw its usage time continuously decline, being eaten away by Douyin.

What is a moat? He said a moat is that we have competitors like Kuaishou, which makes us dare not slack off and must strive to move forward.

Once you start thinking about "tickets" and "moats," you are essentially asking, "Can I lie flat?" But in this industry, whether in the crypto field or the entire mobile internet industry, there is no possibility of lying flat. Once you relax, you will be quickly surpassed by competitors.

Deep Tide TechFlow: Will there be a winner-takes-all situation in the crypto wallet field in the future, where only a few can survive in the market?

Karry:

According to business principles, mature markets inevitably concentrate towards the top, ultimately forming a pattern dominated by two to three players: the leader occupies 50-60%, while the second and third share around 30%. For example, the current exchange market is already showing this trend.

However, there is no such concentration trend in the crypto wallet field, indicating that this industry is still in a very early stage. Moreover, whether this industry can truly mature or will remain on the fringes is still unknown.

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