Today is my last day at OKX

Today is my last day at @okx .

1?? ??Who is Gala??

My journey in crypto has been quite straightforward, spanning a total of two and a half years—1 year in VC and 19 months at OKX.

Finding the crypto space took a long journey, so being cautious, deliberate, and strategic with every step was crucial to me.

During my school years, I had three main hobbies: writing, traveling, and basketball.

Writing:

Since the age of 7, I published five books, with two bestsellers. They were translated into multiple languages, quoted in textbooks, and sold over 300,000 copies.

I had to take gaps from school to go on nationwide book signing tours constantly.

Traveling:

In 2009, I began sharing on social media, gaining over 5,000,000 followers across all platforms. I founded my own studio, collaborated with dozens of national and state tourism departments in Europe, the USA, and Asia Pacific, along with hundreds of international brands like @Microsoft and Sony.

I traveled the world, and was listed in Forbes U30 in 2019 as a top travel influencer.

My typical life in 2016: in March, I took a gap from school for a national book signing tour, returned to school in August for the summer quarter, and in November, took another gap as I was invited as a travel influencer on a Costa Cruises trip, paid to sail around the Pacific Ocean for 46 days, 16 island countries and regions.

Basketball:

I started as a part-time NBA live commentator in high school and later became a field reporter for the Portland Trail Blazers for Tencent. For 6 years, I grew up alongside a generation of Chinese basketball fans. Millions of people watched my show.

In 2016, when Kobe Bryant retired, I never returned to the court.

As a student, I’ve given my all to everything I loved and have no regrets.

I left China to study in Seattle in 2009, staying for 15 years, building a life here, completing dual degrees in Accounting and Psychology at @UW .

Those years were filled with anxiety.

My life had been overextended too early, depleting my reserves and leaving me unprepared for the challenges ahead. The next step was hard to take.

As a KOL content creator, attending events and posting ads felt limiting, and after ten years, no breakthrough was in sight.

I wanted to ground my influence in reality. I invested in restaurants and launched a clothing brand, both of which failed disastrously.

Though there seemed to be many career paths, none felt right for dedicating my entire life.

I had an intense yearning, but what truly defines the value of my life?

After university, I left the KOL career for TradFi, believing it to be professionally aligned, increasingly valuable with age, and having high potential.

I moved from @PwC Asset Management and Equity Research, starting as an associate auditor and rising to PR Marketing Manager and CMO of emerging business in Asia-Pacific for a Nasdaq-listed company.

I dreamed of having a career where I could go all-in, and feel my life grow because of my dedication.

What exactly was it?

I searched for a long time but only found lessons that "definitely weren’t a lifestyle KOL," "definitely weren’t an auditor," or that "TradFi opportunities were too outdated."

2?? ??Enter Crypto Space: What I Believe??

I first heard of @Uniswap four years after its creation, in September 2021.

Seeing its financial efficiency and playing with non-custodial wallets, I quit my TradFi job.

In 1648, during the Dutch War of Independence against Spain, Spain was ruled entirely by the king's decree. In contrast, the Netherlands had the most advanced banking system in the world at that time—fair, secure, efficient, and offering high interest rates.

Consequently, no matter how the rulers tried to control it, the Spanish capital continuously flowed into the Netherlands as the war raged on one side.

Later, Spain issued treasury bonds to raise funds for the war, relying on the liquidity of the Dutch market. When Spain needed loans, it turned to third parties who borrowed from Dutch banks.

The history of finance does not bend to the will of sovereign states; it constantly flows toward greater efficiency, fairness, security, and profitability.

Beware of scams disguised as "financial innovation"?

In the 17th century, stocks were also a financial innovation.

When money and resources gather and reallocate to the most efficient place, that's finance.

When the Age of Discovery created public investment interests in maritime ventures and the need for risk diversification, explorers needed fundraising, leading to the emergence of primary markets. As everyone sought liquidity, secondary markets were invented.

Gathering everyone's money while maintaining liquidity—such a powerful financial tool had never before existed in human civilization. And then?

In 1720, the Mississippi Bubble burst, leading to a stock market crash that devastated the French economy. The Finance Minister, John Law, fled, and masses of people and institutions went bankrupt. The government, deep in debt, struggled through the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI without recovery. Taxes became unbearable, prices soared, and the “invisible hand” failed. The French people stormed the Bastille, ending over 300 years of French monarchy.

From the Tulip Mania to the South Sea Bubble of 1720, as Pandora's box was opened, humanity has confronted one financial disaster after another. Through these catastrophes, we have refined our financial regulations and compliance measures. This arduous journey to manage this powerful force has spanned hundreds of years, and the endeavor continues unabated.

In stark contrast, the crypto space is still in its infancy.

Yet, in a financial market where code is law, the currency is globally unified, and everything can be tokenized, with rights returned to individuals. It’s decentralized, permissionless, transparent, irreversible, censorship-resistant, borderless, cheap, efficient, and compensations are guaranteed to be distributed as initially agreed upon...

Which of these innovations isn't a hundred times more powerful than those that created the primary and secondary markets 500 years ago?

When the unreasonable hype subsides, and the opportunities for early adopters diminish, a new financial system shall emerge, forming the backbone of a new society.

As someone who writes history books and views history as my lens to the world, when I first encountered the crypto space, I saw that humanity had turned a new chapter. And I was late to the party.

For the first time, I felt I had touched the flow of history's current.

I was no longer adrift.

On January 4, 2022, I joined the crypto space as an Investment Director at a crypto VC.

During the interview, I knew nothing about crypto, even unable to name a few tokens.

The founder said, "A successful investor goes through four stages:

First, the ability to research projects and sectors.

Second, close deals.

Third, building a deep understanding of the industry, forming networks, and developing a systematic view of the political and economic landscape to anticipate new sector opportunities.

Fourth, having the influence to leverage investments and provide portco support.

You will excel in stages three and four, but without mastering stages one and two, it's all for nothing. I will teach you stages one and two."

I came late and knew nothing about crypto.

So, I organized the top 500 tokens on @coingecko into an Excel sheet, studying their history, teams, tracks, and fundraising efforts.

Categorized by market cap and track, I understood each track's potential

I compiled VC performance, sought advice on their tiers and characteristics.

I built a knowledge system to comprehend the industry, wrote 3 deep research reports weekly, and presented them to my boss, learning from his feedback.

I attended Twitter Spaces, spoke up, and validated my learnings.

After three months, they couldn’t believe I was a newcomer.

In 2022, discovering the vibrant crypto conference culture, I didn’t miss any major global summits.

I knew no one.

So, I messaged every project and VC. Most didn’t reply, but I made some friends.

I prepped for all main and side events, posted conference guides, and organized communities on social media.

I provided stages to everyone and solved their problems, becoming a source of information.

I immersed myself in crypto communities, engaging with every GameFi thoroughly.

Online, I learned from everyone, chatting in every group.

Offline, I connected with everyone I met at summits on Telegram, labeling and following up.

Many laughed at me, but they didn’t matter.

Many became close friends, and they mattered.

Within a year in VC, I became an angel investor of @Stepnofficial , @eigenlayer , @monad_xyz , @MantaNetwork , @Calderaxyz , and more.

People started asking, "Gala, how do you never tire of attending conferences?"

Compared to a top travel influencer’s schedule, crypto conference hopping was easy.

I did not want to visit any attractions or restaurants. Nothing else interested me besides the conference and understanding every industry participant and trend.

I had seen it all; nothing outside crypto intrigued or regretted me.

I rooted myself in the crypto space, finding joy in every minute.

However, I hit a growth bottleneck in the VC path.

In the summer of 2022, OKX Web3 Wallet recruited a BD team in the US for the first time and found me.

On December 1, I officially joined.

I had never done BD for a minute in my life.

But I thought deeply; in this small industry, projects have two major parts, product research for internal, BD is for external.

I wasn’t a tech, while BD is central to business operations and resources.

I wanted to deeply understand the business and build something from scratch.

In 2022, this lesser-known but advanced product wallet was the best platform for me.

I knew I could excel.

596 days have passed.

3?? ??Thank you OKX ??

Today is my last day at OKX.

My heart overflows with gratitude.

When I first joined, I found myself wondering daily: "OKX Web3 Wallet is such a great product. How can we make more people see and feel it? Is there a growth channel that can help users, projects, KOLs, and the ecosystem solve their needs while driving growth to the wallet?

It should be massive, systematic, replicable, and beneficial to the space."

My leader encouraged me, "Good idea, organize it and show me."

I lost sleep for nights, writing six documents in one go.

My leader revised them over and over.

They revised until I couldn’t recognize them, but they still pushed me to the forefront, introduced me in meetings, said the product was Gala’s idea, and had me report to Star, the boss.

I had only been here for two months+, nervous during the report.

Star was so smart, his thinking so fast that I couldn’t keep up, getting stuck on questions.

My leader stepped in to answer.

Star decided on the spot to go ahead.

I led the BD part.

My small spark of creativity received confidence, trust, and respect at OKX.

Cryptopedia was born.

No one ever asked why I named it that.

“-Pedia” is Greek for child, hence pediatrics.

In the late 16th century, the word encyclopedia was coined, with cyclo- meaning circle, also from Greek root, and encyclopedia meaning "a full cycle of child education."

Cryptopedia, I hoped, would be "a full cycle of systematic crypto education that even children could understand.”

Gradually, my efforts bore fruit.

By the sixth month at OKX, I was promoted to team lead and began recruiting my own team.

With ample room for growth, my scope in business development expanded—Bitcoin ecosystem, inscriptions, NFT Marketplace...

By the end of 2023, when handling the NFT Marketplace Drops business, my BD growth strategy and execution had become proficient, and I could teach new team members quickly and clearly.

Through this process, I found my rightful place in the space.

At OKX, learning was easy.

The spirit of diligent research was contagious.

I often went to Hong Kong because OKX gathered quarterly at least once. Everyone sit next to each other in a big office, Star in the middle, discussing product strategies and issues together.

At meal times, taking everyone to Michelin restaurants, filling them up, you could hear product discussions everywhere.

Daily, product issues from Twitter feedback were quickly screenshotted by Star, sent to the group, and solutions were immediately found.

A founder reaching this far with such heart can’t help but inspire his team.

The spirit of close-knit collaboration was ever-present.

Cross-departmental support was a call away. Everyone was actively engaged in building.

Voluntary crypto trend discussion groups flourished, with hundreds sharing and collecting information daily, meeting several times a week. In this vibrant vibe, I witnessed the rapid ascent of the wallet.

How could this not profoundly change those involved?

The spirit of leadership shone through.

Whenever I thought about team management, I closed my eyes and recalled how leaders treated me.

After the Cryptopedia document was complete, the leader said, "I’ll call a meeting for you to consult with the product and research people."

I thought it was just a friend of his looking over the document, but when I started the meeting, 50ish people showed up.

I straightened up for the presentation.

Everyone listened seriously, asked questions, and helped find answers.

Valuing and respecting the team.

Expanding channels for talent and creativity. Seeing my rough ideas, lifting me to achieve results, never mentioning themselves.

All I’ve experienced has become a part of me.

As I leave, I deeply understand that the strongest ability in crypto is to recruit teams and enable others. I extend my support to the entire space.

Where are more users, more talents, and how can I help?

596 days at OKX, I didn’t slack for a day.

I had no concept of work hours. as I was always working and learning. Each moment was filled with purpose. With a company such as this, it is impossible not to have faith in the progress of crypto.

Today marks my last day.

I bow deeply to this great company.

Having passed through OKX, I feel I carry a medal of honor.

Where next, I always think strategically.

This life has a mission.

I hope to follow THE most deserving leader, team up, and create works that last.

After two and a half years in crypto, I’m still just beginning.

[This post is a translation of the Chinese version:

https://x.com/galala_eth/status/1816277009707983071 ]

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