In celebration of the 12th anniversary of the Bitcoin white paper, OKCoin team members share their crypto journeys
This Saturday, October 31st, marks the 12th anniversary of the Bitcoin white paper being introduced to the world. In 2008, electronic cash was not new. Banks had been digital for decades, and digital commerce was becoming fully entrenched in our society. The difference with Bitcoin was how it was designed; as a secure, decentralized electronic cash that did not rely on the trust model used by intermediaries like banks. Bitcoin could be transferred directly peer-to-peer, without interference and without additional costs.
Bitcoin was introduced via its white paper, which outlined this architecture, forever changing how money would be perceived. While it was first sent to a relatively small group of cryptography supporters, the white paper gained traction in tech circles, leading to dedicated forums and a developing community.
From there, the author of the white paper, a pseudonymous computer engineer and cryptographer called Satoshi Nakamoto, launched the Bitcoin network in January 2009, mining the genesis block, and issuing the first bitcoins into existence.
For us at OKCoin, the creation of Bitcoin represents the birth of an entire crypto ecosystem and industry. This is the space where we work, advancing the capabilities of developers to improve upon the Bitcoin network, and supporting adoption of cryptocurrencies. To celebrate the 12th anniversary of the Bitcoin white paper, we asked some of our team members why they joined the crypto industry, what’s most exciting about crypto today, and why they chose OKCoin.
What intrigued you most about crypto when you joined the industry?
“How fast the industry moves. I’d already been following crypto quite closely before I joined the industry professionally, but it was when I joined that I realized how fast the landscape changes and how quickly the builders in the industry iterate. It’s exciting to see everyone be so passionate about improving the use cases in this space.” — Peter Chang, Product Lead
“What intrigued me most about crypto when I first joined the industry is how it has changed the financial landscape of the world and how that early development continues to have impact. Over the last decade there have been so many incredible developments, expanding the crypto space in ways perhaps no one envisioned at the outset.” — Philip Wei, Global Head of Finance
What prompted you to join OKCoin?
“After 6 years at Airbnb, I wanted to be really thoughtful about my next role. While initially the crypto industry was not top of mind, during the process I realized that OKCoin has the qualities I was looking for; innovation, a culture of kindness, and impact. I was also really inspired by our CEO, Hong, who is the only female CEO leading a globally regulated crypto exchange. She has a strong vision for the company and I was excited about the opportunity to partner with her to grow the team.” — Stephanie Wolff
“The opportunity for professional growth is what brought me to OKCoin.” Here, I’ve had the chance to take my experience and knowledge from previous roles and apply that to building out the financial infrastructure for a quickly expanding organization. As a finance professional that thrives on a challenging environment and seeks continuous development, this continues to be an amazing opportunity for me.” — Philip Wei
What is most exciting to you about crypto today?
“What’s most exciting about crypto today is how innovative the space is. It’s also a playbook that I haven’t experienced before. Google and Airbnb are both Silicon Valley companies that started serving the US market first. What’s fascinating about OKCoin is that it started in Asia, expanded across the globe and now headquartered in the US, similar to the approaches Tiktok and Spotify took. I’m excited to experience globalization from this perspective.” — Stephanie Wolff
“The rapidly growing number of useful dApps, especially those brought upon by DeFi use cases. Real use cases of financial application such as lending and borrowing and yield generation are rapidly growing. Crypto is no longer just a concept or a purely speculative asset; many of the DeFi applications have great traction and steady revenue streams. Development is at lightning speed, and it’s exciting to see the industry grow.” — Peter Chang
Join the crypto revolution and work with us at OKCoin! We enable customers to easily transition between crypto and fiat currency quickly and securely, with the industry’s lowest fees. As a cryptocurrency exchange based in San Francisco, California, OKCoin is licensed across the US and supports customers in 184 countries.
