Dialogue with HashKey Group Chief Human Resources Officer Rain: The Organizational and Talent Upgrade Journey Behind the Rapid Rise of HashKey Exchange

In less than a year, HashKey Exchange has achieved rapid development. As of August 2024, the total trading volume exceeded HKD 500 billion, with assets reaching HKD 4.5 billion, ranking among the top 15 exchanges globally and firmly establishing itself as the largest licensed virtual asset exchange in Hong Kong. In an industry that is rapidly changing and emerging, achieving such results relies heavily on talent as a strong source of motivation.

People often only see HashKey Exchange as the largest licensed virtual asset exchange in Hong Kong, but behind it lies over 7 years of persistent commitment to compliance. Over the past 7 years, HashKey Group has navigated through two market cycles, obtaining relevant virtual asset service licenses in multiple countries and regions, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, and Bermuda.

In the layout of a licensed compliant exchange in Hong Kong, in 2022, HashKey Exchange obtained the 1 and 7 licenses issued by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, allowing it to provide compliant cryptocurrency trading services to the market. In 2023, when the market was in a deep bear phase, HashKey Exchange's 1 and 7 licenses were upgraded to allow retail investors to access cryptocurrency trading services. In 2024, HashKey Exchange successfully obtained the AMLO license, and other members of HashKey Group have acquired all necessary licenses from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission to provide virtual asset-related services in Hong Kong, becoming a fully licensed virtual asset service unicorn.

Last year, Rain joined HashKey as the Group's Chief Human Resources Officer and quickly advanced the transformation and upgrading of the organization and talent from an organizational and talent perspective. After the company was granted a compliant license, from March to May 2023, the exchange's business segment underwent a significant organizational upgrade in just three months, shifting from a structure focused on obtaining licenses to a "comprehensive operational" structure centered on serving users. As the exchange business gradually got on track, further support was provided at the group level to quickly complete a flat organizational structure upgrade aimed at "fully supporting business growth."

Rain has over 20 years of experience in human resource management, having held senior management positions at the US-listed company UT Starcom, served as Chief Human Resources Officer and General Counsel at JD.com, leading JD to a successful IPO on NASDAQ and achieving global organizational transformation and talent upgrading. After that, Rain transitioned from Web2 to Web3, serving as a senior advisor to the CEO of a leading exchange, focusing on serving global users, breaking geographical boundaries, helping companies complete global talent layouts, and truly achieving a transformation to distributed office work, significantly enhancing organizational capability and talent density.

While it may seem that Rain has crossed over into Web3, for her, the curiosity about decentralized management and the future changes in organizational forms, along with a strong belief in Web3, made the transition natural. She firmly believes that the faith in the web is crucial for a diverse and global team, enabling the team to overcome conflicts and balance itself amidst the fluctuations of a changing market environment. Rain also believes that Web3 still needs a large influx of talent, and the industry will thrive. Below are Rain's further thoughts and sharing on talent and organization regarding HashKey and the Web3 industry------

Q: From a human resources perspective, what did HashKey Exchange do right to become a leader in the Hong Kong virtual asset exchange market?

A: First, quickly build an efficient and pragmatic executive team. "Forming a team, building a group, setting a strategy," forming a team is crucial. CEO Xiao is a refreshing and fatherly figure in the Web3 industry, dedicated to the development of the Web3 sector. Because of his firm belief in Web3 and far-reaching influence, after HashKey obtained its licenses and began operations, a group of leading talents who strongly believe in Web3 quickly gathered around him and joined HashKey, allowing us to rapidly build an efficient and pragmatic executive team.

Secondly, quickly complete organizational and talent upgrades. Thanks to the efficient and pragmatic executive team, the organizational upgrade was able to be rapidly advanced. From March to May 2023, we completed a significant organizational structure upgrade for the exchange in just three months. The exchange shifted from a structure focused on obtaining licenses to a "comprehensive operational" structure centered on serving users. The upgrade of the organizational structure also created enough space for us to attract diverse talents from Web2 and Web3 backgrounds. Simultaneously, to support the business, we quickly completed a "fully supporting business growth" flat organizational structure upgrade at the group level within six months.

The third point is consensus on mission and vision. In the first strategic meeting after obtaining the license, we clarified and reached consensus on HashKey Group's mission and vision: Mission ------Make digital assets accessible, Vision ------Provide trustworthy digital asset services to 1 billion users globally. The upgrade of the organizational structure allowed us to attract talents from traditional finance, Web2, and Web3 backgrounds, and we quickly identified and recruited a large number of talents, establishing a capable and resilient team. This team has diverse backgrounds and experiences, which may cause friction during business operations, but under the guidance of the same mission and vision, everyone can easily reach a consensus and move forward together.

Q: What was the biggest challenge faced by human resources during the process of building the HashKey talent team?

A: We have a very diverse talent pool. Cultural differences exist, as our team comes from all over the world, currently operating in 10 countries and regions. Different career growth backgrounds are also present, including traditional finance, Web2, and Web3. How to integrate such a diverse team into a "One Team" and move forward in unison is indeed a significant challenge. However, as mentioned earlier, belief in Web3 is an important prerequisite; it is the foundation for overcoming difficulties. A shared mission and vision allowed the team, which quickly advanced in the wilderness after obtaining the license, to overcome one challenge after another, resolve conflicts, learn from each other, and ultimately form an efficient, pragmatic, and resilient team while finding a balance. As a compliant cryptocurrency exchange, we need to strictly control risks within a compliance framework while delivering experiences around user needs as quickly as possible. This may seem contradictory, but it is precisely the diverse team that helped us find this balance, perfectly welcoming and overcoming this challenge.

Q: How do you view and attract such diverse talents to the company? What personality traits, work abilities, or skills do they need to possess?

A: First and foremost, it is about belief. At HashKey, every employee shares a common title, "Hashkeer" (HashKey person), and each Hashkeer needs to have a strong belief and passion for Web3. We summarize this belief as 3B: First, We Believe, we believe in Web3; we have faith in this industry and firmly believe it will drive societal progress. Second, We Build, we are willing to contribute our wisdom and time to build the industry. Third, We Become, HashKey will become a top player in the compliant sector, leading the industry, and while achieving HashKey's success, we will also become top talents with faith in the Web3 compliant sector.

As a licensed compliant exchange, HashKey needs the rigor of traditional finance, the extreme pursuit of user experience from Web2, and the speed of Web3. We need these three types of talents to complement each other, and they must learn from and integrate with each other to form one team. Therefore, we encourage a diverse and inclusive work culture and actively create a fair, diverse, inclusive, and opportunity-rich work environment for talents. Because of the nature of being licensed and compliant, the multifaceted talent profile of Hashkeers is becoming increasingly vibrant. Here’s a preview: we will soon promote the AHA talent concept across the group: Adaptable, High-potential, Ambitious. Hashkeers need to have strong resilience and inclusiveness to work with partners from completely different cultures, backgrounds, and work habits, and they must endure the pain of this integration while advancing the achievement of goals amidst conflicts. Hashkeers need to have high potential and be willing to learn from partners with different backgrounds to accelerate their growth. They also need to possess ambition and willpower; while the compliant sector is an unstoppable trend, there are still new and greater challenges along the way. Web3 has its peaks and valleys; when the tide comes, everyone must remain humble, and during the lows, they must endure solitude and hone their skills. This is also a necessary trait; perseverance is crucial.

Q: There is a saying that HashKey is the "Huangpu Military Academy" of the industry, and the talents cultivated by the company are often sought after by other companies. What do you think?

A: HashKey's talents are multifaceted; through persistence and overcoming challenges, they learn and grow together, possessing both the strictness of a compliance framework and the knowledge and speed of Web3, while also considering the platform thinking of Web2 and focusing on user experience.

Because of the uniqueness of the HashKey platform, we seem to be a "Huangpu Military Academy," producing a large number of talents for the compliant Web3 sector. However, I don't entirely see it that way because Web3 itself is a very large industry ecosystem and is still in its early stages.

When I worked at JD.com, I mentioned that the future trend of talent organizations is boundaryless. Everyone is promoting the overall prosperity of the industry within a very large ecosystem; only when the industry's cake gets bigger can the pioneers in the industry reap more, rather than fighting over a small piece of cake. The Web3 industry is still in its early stages and needs a large number of talents to build it together. We welcome more talents to join the Web3 industry and promote its development together. For HashKey itself, we are also pleased to cultivate and deliver talents for the industry.

Of course, we treasure talent and firmly believe that talent is the cornerstone of sustainable organizational development. HashKey is also actively creating a fair, diverse, inclusive, and opportunity-rich work environment for talents, and we hope that the talents we value can stay longer on this platform.

Q: Many talents from offshore exchanges and other sectors also hope to join HashKey. What qualities do they need to possess?

A: HashKey operates in the compliant sector, licensed and regulated, and is at the forefront of compliance in Hong Kong and Asia, which indeed attracts many people. Talents from offshore exchanges possess rich Web3 knowledge and experience, many of whom are Web3 natives. If they come to a compliant platform, they must have an open mindset for learning and integration, quickly understanding and learning the compliance framework. Only in this way can they retain the speed of Web3 without crossing compliance red lines.

Secondly, under the compliance framework, our work and process designs require meticulous attention to detail. While adhering to compliance, we also need to ensure efficiency. Under such high demands, it can sometimes be a painful process. Therefore, we need talents who are willing to get involved and have patience, enduring the grind and solitude.

Q: How do you view the current stage of talent recruitment and management in the Web3 industry? What developments do you hope to see in the future?

A: From an industry perspective, the entire Web3 sector is still in its early stages, roughly equivalent to the traditional internet around 2011-2012 or even earlier. The next stage will be an era of explosive application growth; foundational technological infrastructure is already in place, but many application scenarios have yet to fully emerge, and the market is still in the process of education and cultivation. When it comes to Web3, many people still find it very distant and mysterious.

From a talent perspective, Web3 still needs a large number of talents. Currently, there are no major players in Web3, and the industry needs many believers in Web3 who are willing to dive in or transition to this field to promote its development and prosperity together.

I have great confidence in Web3. Many people find blockchain abstract, but when a large number of Web3-based application scenarios become closely related to our lives and work, the industry will truly enter an era of explosive growth. Just like the development path of the internet in Web2, it was the explosive application growth based on internet technology across various industries that ultimately brought about the prosperity of the era.

Because the phase of true application explosion in Web3 has not yet arrived, those interested in or believing in Web3 should join at this stage—not to "dive," but to learn, contribute, and accumulate madly in the industry, so that they can welcome the spring of their careers with the arrival of the Web3 explosion era.

Q: From your personal perspective, how did the transition from Web2 to Web3 happen? I believe you also have faith in Web3. How did you recharge this belief in Web3, prompting you to make such a decision?

A: "Winning the future, organizations lead the way." I am actually more interested in the development of future organizational forms. At that time, Web3 was often associated with the term decentralization, iterating from centralized organizations to decentralized organizational forms.

When I was at JD.com, I shared some insights on the future development of organizations, stating that cooperation between companies has shifted from a forest ecosystem to a bamboo forest ecosystem. Ultimately, the boundaries will become increasingly blurred, leading to boundaryless organizations where the lines between companies become less distinct, and their cooperation in the ecosystem is no longer satisfied with the interweaving of branches (business cooperation) but becomes intricately connected from the roots (equity). I proposed this concept a long time ago.

When I encountered Web3, the discussion about decentralized organizations aligned perfectly with my research goals on the iteration of organizational forms, leading me to enter the Web3 industry. Of course, my personal trait is a perpetual curiosity about new things. However, once I truly entered the Web3 industry and learned quickly, I became a believer because I firmly believe that the underlying technology and logic of Web3 will empower the traditional financial industry and drive deeper transformations in the financial sector. The traditional financial industry is one of the few untouched areas that have not been fully empowered by internet technology. The distributed network of Web3 and the distributed ledger of blockchain will provide clearer directions for this transformation. With this belief and my passion for researching the iteration of organizational forms, crossing over became much easier.

Q: What are the future plans for HashKey's organizational structure? Is there a possibility of transitioning to a DAO?

A: The overall trend of organizational iteration and evolution suggests that our generation will experience a mixed-mode era, which may not be entirely a DAO governance model but will still include traditional management models. Currently, Web2 is gradually accepting distributed and remote work, which I believe could be the precursor to achieving DAO governance models. With societal progress and more new generations joining the Web3 wave, future work models will undergo significant changes. The form of organizations will shift from management to governance, where people are not tightly bound to the same office or even the same company but collaborate based on shared beliefs, driven by strong self-motivation and task orientation to achieve mutual benefits. Transitioning to a DAO is a gradual process; at this point, for HashKey Exchange, which leads the compliant sector, it may still be a bit early to pursue DAO, as being licensed and compliant means we must operate within a regulatory framework. According to compliance requirements, we must have relatively fixed office locations and adhere to very strict operational rules and team requirements to manage risk points. However, at the group operational level, distributed and remote work already exists within our organization.

Q: Last question, I am very curious, what are HashKey's current human resources priorities?

Currently, we will focus on three very important aspects for annual horizontal and vertical layout: Globalization, Digitalization, and Intelligence.

First is Globalization------HashKey's vision is "to provide trustworthy digital asset services to 1 billion users globally." To achieve this vision, HashKey needs to build a global talent pool. We will recruit talents worldwide, enhance the company's internationalization, and ensure that the team not only possesses high professionalism but also has competitive cultural diversity. This will help HashKey better understand and serve global clients, integrating various important international perspectives, which is crucial for operating a digital asset platform on the international stage.

Secondly, Digitalization------This year, HashKey will focus on upgrading and integrating its internal management information systems. These systems are the infrastructure for the company's operations. By modernizing these systems, HashKey lays the foundation for accelerating its business processes, enhancing efficiency, and reducing risks, which is vital for maintaining competitiveness in the rapidly evolving digital asset market.

The third is Intelligence------The application of AI modules in management is also an irreversible trend, and this is the direction of our organizational transformation. By integrating advanced AI systems, the company can efficiently process and analyze large amounts of data, optimizing decision-making processes and daily operations. The application of AI will cover all aspects of internal management, making management more precise and automated.

Under each priority, our annual action plans will differ and deepen year by year. We hope that one day, Hashkeers in any corner of the world can fully enjoy the conveniences brought by the organization's digitalization and intelligence processes.