It may seem odd to feel thankful for 2020. Back in January, who could have foreseen how this year would unfold? A global pandemic, massive monetary easing, prolonged lockdown, forced remote work and schooling, market upheavals–and an especially divisive year here in America.
In reflecting back, I do feel thankful that our team at OKCoin turned this challenge into an opportunity to reinvent, to focus, and to participate in shaping a new future.
Self-reinvention
Despite all the uncertainty, we have risen to the occasion. We’ve more than doubled our size and adopted a fully remote work culture. We shipped a record number of new features and partnerships. We repeatedly pushed ourselves to adapt — create more value for our customers, help our team members grow, and strike a healthier balance when the line between work and life is more blurred than ever.
It’s been a journey with many ups and downs — both as an organization, and as individuals. It’s also been an incredibly rewarding one. We now know that we can be stronger and better when we embrace these new changes, are open and transparent, and look out for each other.
Focus
In moments of turmoil, it is natural to look for an anchor to ground oneself. At OKCoin, we took a hard look at what we believe in and how we serve our customers.
We feel passionate about the empowering nature of crypto that will ultimately contribute to every individual’s freedom and dignity. We believe that every one of us is entitled to financial autonomy, and to get there, we need to build a more inclusive, open and empowering financial system.
That’s our anchor. What we are building for you, is also what we want for ourselves, and for the world. Everything we do is to make it easy for everyone to buy crypto, raise the bar for responsible investment, promote crypto education, support the wider crypto community, and advance crypto globally.
That alignment guides us and inspires us every day. It is a source of energy that we can draw upon when we feel tired, challenged or frustrated. We do need that source of energy from time to time.
Alignment
If the major price run-up in 2017 was driven by speculators, this year saw a new combination of institutions, accredited investors and consumer interest concretize bitcoin’s place in the global portfolio. The base is growing. You may ask how this happened?
Interestingly, the Chinese word “crisis” consists of two characters – one means “danger”, and the other means “opportunity”. It is no coincidence that two significant waves of monetary easing, on the heels of 2008 Financial Crisis and 2020 COVID Pandemic respectively, preceded bitcoin’s origin and its first signs of mainstream adoption.
Money is the invisible foundation of our economy–and, in many ways, society itself. If we want a better system, we might as well start with money. So I’m thankful for 2020, as painful and unpredictable as it has been — it has hastened the new mental alignment that could have otherwise taken years.
With all this new momentum comes an extraordinary responsibility. We may not be able to make all the right decisions all the time, but striving to do the right things for you, the customers we serve, will remain our enduring promise to you.
Fundamentally, OKCoin is built for investors with a longer-term outlook, who want to build their crypto portfolio in a reliable, intuitive and mobile-friendly environment. It is for investors who value autonomy and freedom. We serve to empower this new generation of sovereign investors.
If that sounds like you, welcome — or, welcome back.
And here’s to a bright new year.
Sincerely,
Hong Fang
OKCoin CEO
