Gate Founder Dr. Han's 13th Anniversary Open Letter: Unleashing the Power of Change Amidst Cycle Transitions

Dear Gate users, partners, and media friends:

This year marks Gate's thirteenth anniversary. When I founded this platform, Bitcoin and blockchain were still very niche topics. Today, Gate has grown into a platform serving tens of millions of users globally. This journey would not have been possible without the trust and support of every user, partner, and team member. On the occasion of our 13th anniversary, I would like to share with you Gate's development journey, our phased achievements, and our thoughts on the future.

The Starting Point of a Choice: Leaving Certainty, Embracing the Unknown

Thirteen years ago, on a seemingly clear and well-defined life path, I made an untimely choice.

At that time, I was a postdoctoral researcher overseas in the field of optoelectronics. Following the established track to become an academic researcher was a path with high certainty and broad recognition.

From a rational perspective, it almost required no additional judgment.

But I chose to leave.

If I had continued to focus on my original direction, on optoelectronics and the chip field, perhaps today would be a completely different trajectory. In those technological waves that also profoundly changed the world, these paths themselves were not lacking in certainty or value.

But looking back at that moment, the real question to answer was not "which path is safer," but which direction was closer to the starting point of the next structural transformation.

The blockchain industry at that time was a path with almost no reference points and a lack of consensus. It was more uncertain and easier to overlook; but precisely because of this, it demanded higher long-term judgment and greater patience and discipline. In hindsight, this choice defined the subsequent thirteen years.

This was more like a decision made by one person.

No team, no resources, not even a clear path. From one person, to a small team of over a dozen, to today's global organization of nearly three thousand people, this process itself is an answer.

I still remember the first team-building event. It was in a rather cold winter, with just a few people, our faces flushed from the cold. There wasn't much planning, and it could hardly be called a "team." We just sat together, talking about things that were still quite uncertain.

But that moment felt very real.

Later, the team expanded, the path gradually became clearer, and many things became orderly and controllable. But occasionally, when I recall that moment, I still feel that the starting point of everything was already there.

Defining Capability Through Action

Looking back, this kind of choice was not accidental.

From a very young age, I was accustomed to making my own decisions and preferred to verify answers myself rather than accept ready-made paths.

After getting my first computer upon graduating from junior high school, I began systematically teaching myself programming. Taking apart devices and reassembling them repeatedly was what I was most engrossed in at the time.

Compared to the results, I cared more about the process itself—understanding how it worked and then reconstructing it. This interest in "underlying mechanisms" later extended into more systematic learning.

Choosing the field of electronics in university was not just a major choice for me, but a deeper extension. During that stage, I spent far more time on experiments and practical work than on regular coursework, gradually forming a problem-oriented learning approach.

Entering the master's and doctoral stages, this state intensified further. Most of the time was spent in the lab, from design and debugging to repeated verification—a monotonous but highly focused rhythm. It's similar to Gate's recent investment in Intelligent Web3 R&D, where the team worked tirelessly for nearly two months. It was all very exciting, and we succeeded.

Looking back now, this experience brought some long-term influences, including sensitivity to details, patience in deconstructing complex systems, and an almost instinctive work rhythm. Some colleagues also joke that this was probably the starting point of my later habit of working late into the night.

In the early days of entrepreneurship, for a long time, I was always the last one to leave the office. Many decisions and reflections were made late at night. I would wait until dawn, rest for a few hours, and then enter the next cycle. People within the team often teased that my work schedule seemed to always have a "time difference" with others.

But in a way, this rhythm itself is my way of understanding problems and making judgments. I seem to enjoy such "undisturbed time" more.

Navigating the Unknown and the Fog

Choosing to invest long-term in a field that has not yet been validated, or even understood, is an adventure in itself.

The industry back then had no clear rules, no mature infrastructure, and lacked the most basic consensus of trust.

What we faced was not just a technical problem, but a more fundamental judgment—whether this world truly needed to be restructured. The answer we gave was yes.

Thus, Gate took its first step.

To understand this journey in a more intuitive way, in the first few years, I was almost always walking on the "least traveled path." Being misunderstood was the norm; being questioned, or even ignored, was also the norm.

But looking back, these "less traveled paths" are often the starting points of new technological paradigms—just like today's Intelligent Web3, which in its initial stages also experienced prolonged skepticism, scarce consensus, and repeated validation of long-term value.

From being ignored to being widely discussed; from exploring at the fringes to gradually becoming part of the infrastructure. Throughout this process, Gate has consistently maintained its pace of innovation, courageously staying at the forefront of the industry, and continuously trying new products, technologies, and models.

Looking back, I have also taken some wrong turns and made some imperfect decisions, but each attempt accumulated experience for the future and was worthwhile. I once told the team that historically, the cost we paid for mistakes was over one billion dollars.

During the industry's most frenzied times, we did not lose our basic judgment; during the industry's most pessimistic times, we did not abandon long-term investment.

We gradually realized that what truly determines how far a platform can go is not its ability to expand during a bull market, but its self-discipline during a bear market. Whether it can exercise restraint in the face of temptation, remain clear-headed in the face of risk, and stick to its underlying logic in the face of uncertainty.

These are far more important than growth itself.

It is these continuous attempts and advancements that have allowed us to evolve from initial explorers to a more constructive industry pioneer.

2025: Structural Advancement and Industry Restructuring

Today, as we stand at the beginning of our thirteenth year and look at this industry, it is transitioning from being "narrative-driven" to "infrastructure-driven";

From "amplified sentiment" to "value accumulation";

From localized innovation to broader real-world connections.

New variables are entering this system: technology, regulation, the macro environment, and a broader user base. This means the industry's barriers to entry are rising. At the same time, opportunities for true long-termists are also growing.

Gate is also gradually transitioning from a builder to a shaper of the industry's structure. We are no longer limited to providing trading services but are attempting to build more comprehensive connection relationships—connecting users with assets, connecting liquidity with innovation, and connecting structural opportunities between different markets.

This is a more complex path, and it also implies greater responsibility.

For Gate, 2025 is not simply a year of growth, but a conscious period of structural advancement.

In the two core markets of spot and derivatives, we continue to enhance depth, efficiency, and risk control capabilities, further solidifying our leading position within the mainstream trading system. These capabilities are not just reflections of scale, but the foundation for navigating cycles.

But the more critical changes are happening outside of trading.

Over the past year, we have continued to advance license acquisition and localization capabilities under a compliance and globalization framework. This is not passive adaptation, but proactive entry into a higher-standard competitive environment. Simultaneously, we are progressing in multiple directions:

RWA, enabling crypto assets to establish more direct connections with the real world;

TradFi, gradually reshaping the boundaries between traditional finance and on-chain systems;

The extension from CeFi to DeFi, transforming the platform from merely a bearer of centralized structures to part of a more open ecosystem;

And AI, which is redefining the efficiency boundaries of trading, risk control, and decision-making itself.

These seemingly different paths are converging into a clearer main theme: the industry is moving from being "trading-driven" to an "infrastructure-driven" stage.

In such a stage, the nature of competition has already changed. It is no longer just competition between products, but between system capabilities; no longer just competition of scale, but of structure and standards.

What Gate is doing is not chasing every short-term narrative, but completing the layout in advance across multiple key dimensions. When the industry enters the next cycle, platforms with true infrastructure capabilities will no longer be just participants, but part of the rules.

We are well aware that such a position will not be granted in the short term. It can only be built gradually through continuous investment, restraint, and judgment.

And 2025 is just one stage in this process.

Rebirth and the Future: Gate Defines the Next Stage

Twelve years feels more like a complete cycle. From early exploration, to mid-term expansion, to contraction and restructuring during cycles, we have experienced the evolution of almost all stages of this industry: boom, bubble, collapse, rebuilding, and the formation of new consensus. It's not just an accumulation of time, but a repeated calibration of cognition, capability, and boundaries.

And the thirteenth year, for us, is not just a "continuation." It feels more like a new starting point.

If we compare Gate to a person, what does turning thirteen, entering the teenage years, signify?

It is no longer an individual dependent on the external environment for survival, nor has it yet become a completely stable, mature system. It begins to have its own judgment, starts to understand the rules, and also begins to try to define the rules. It knows the world is not simple, but still chooses to move forward.

The next stage has already begun. Every strategic move, every innovation, is not only about growth but also about the restructuring of the industry landscape.

We will use higher-dimensional strategy, continuous innovation, and profound industry insight to restructure the rules, lead trends, and make Gate a truly irreplaceable force in the market landscape.

Thank you for your trust and choice at different stages.

In an industry full of volatility and uncertainty, such trust is never a given.

In our thirteenth year, we are still on the road.

Like a growing individual, imperfect, but more clear-sighted; not making promises lightly, but taking responsibility for every choice.

The future is long, let's walk it together.

Gate Founder & CEO

Dr. Han