Exclusive Interview with Bitget's Xie Jiayin: The Responsibility and Ambition Behind UEX Strategy and Eight Years of Growth

Interview: Tong, PANews

Editor: Zen, PANews

During TOKEN2049 2026, PANews sat down with Xie Jiayin, Head of Greater China at Bitget, for a conversation.

This year marks both Bitget's eighth anniversary and Xie Jiayin's eighth year in the crypto industry. From an industry newcomer to an exchange executive, he has weathered multiple cycles of the crypto market and witnessed Bitget's evolution from an emerging exchange to its current position.

Shortly before the interview, Bitget experienced its only security incident in eight years at the end of September. How the incident was handled, and the question of responsibility and accountability, became the first topic of discussion in this conversation.

In addition, around Bitget's ongoing Universal Exchange (UEX) strategy, Xie Jiayin shared progress on traditional financial asset trading businesses including US stocks, gold, and forex, as well as the changes these new products have brought to the platform's user structure.

From career growth and user service to product innovation and future plans, the following are the main contents of this interview:

Responding to the Security Incident: Trust Must Be Earned Through Action

PANews: Over the past two weeks, you and your team must have been extremely busy. Bitget experienced a security incident at the end of September, and now the matter has been settled. How was the entire incident handled? Has it had any impact on Bitget?

Xie Jiayin: Frankly speaking, this was our only security incident in eight years. I think the overall response was quite timely.

First of all, I said from the very beginning that Bitget is a platform that takes responsibility, and there was no need to worry. As for user assets, Bitget opened up withdrawals for everyone. Only on the first day did users withdraw coins; by the second day, many assets had already flowed back.

Trust is never a given — it must be earned through action, time and again. Since users chose to trust Bitget, you have to find a way to live up to that trust.

So this crisis isn't necessarily a bad thing for us. I've always believed that a crisis cannot end a platform, but accountability can redefine one.

It's like a ship sailing in the ocean — only after enduring storms can it prove it is sturdy enough.

Actually, I've always told my friends that I have ambition, and Bitget has ambition too. This year is my eighth year in the industry and also Bitget's eighth anniversary.

Eight Years of Career Growth: From Executor to Manager, Passing the Platform's Trust to Users

PANews: Both you and Bitget have spent eight years in the crypto industry. Looking back on your journey of growth, what changes in mindset have you experienced, and what have you gained?

Xie Jiayin: I think the biggest shift has been going from an executor to a manager. When I first entered the industry eight years ago, I was still a "workplace rookie." But after eight years of tempering, I've forged myself into someone with an "indestructible body" — able to withstand pressure and lead the team forward.

Whether it's me or Bitget, we're both moving from proving ourselves to expressing ourselves. I think this is a great transformation, and it shows the brand is getting stronger and gaining more user recognition.

PANews: I think Jiayin has now become a calling card for Bitget.

Xie Jiayin: It's mutually reinforcing — the platform made me. Frankly speaking, without Bitget, there would be no me today.

We shouldn't mistake the platform's capabilities for our own. I can only say that I'm someone who has been pushed to the forefront on behalf of Bitget's 2,100+ employees. It's not that I'm so impressive — it's because the platform is strong enough that others think Xie Jiayin is impressive.

Bitget gave me a great stage and also gave me a very solid backing.

PANews: Many friends probably know your story. You've shared on social media how you went from being a child from an ordinary rural family to where you are today, step by step. Do these experiences and your journey in the workplace make it easier for you to understand users and empathize with them when serving them?

Xie Jiayin: Of course they do. I've always said, I come from the masses, and now I return to the masses.

Although I'm now an executive at Bitget, I'm still willing to bring services to the masses and deliver them to everyone.

So I require the team to serve all customers — whether VIP clients, regular customers, or channels and other partners — we need to respond quickly and solve problems quickly.

Users' trust in you is built up slowly through little things. It's not that you suddenly give them a gift box one day and they'll like you — it's whether you can genuinely help users solve their problems.

Because I myself come from a very ordinary family, I understand how hard it is for ordinary people to achieve their dreams or solve their problems — because I've been through those processes myself.

So, having been caught in the rain myself, I want to hold an umbrella for others.

PANews: I remember one case where a user may have deposited to the wrong address. Although the amount wasn't necessarily large, you still mobilized many resources to help them resolve the issue. There must be quite a few situations like this, right?

Xie Jiayin: Very many. In these eight years, we've helped users recover assets and have never charged any fees.

Just yesterday, a client deposited gold assets worth about $160,000 to the wrong chain — one that we hadn't enabled.

In the end, we set up a group, organized a collaborative team of eight people, and resolved the issue in about 30 minutes.

Similar things happen frequently, so I always remind everyone to double-check and select the correct network when depositing.

UEX Universal Exchange: From Crypto to US Stocks, Gold, and Forex

PANews: Bitget is a fast-paced team, and the crypto industry itself changes rapidly. Policy regulation, market conditions, and user demands change almost daily. This poses significant challenges to your work. Do you feel anxious? How do you cope with that anxiety?

Xie Jiayin: I think anxiety comes in phases.

Frankly speaking, sometimes when we see others launch a new feature or product, we feel anxious too. But we've also made others anxious before.

When we launched UEX last September, I could clearly feel that our peers started to get anxious as well.

So anxiety is inevitable. We need to continuously refine our products and keep innovating. Because times have changed, users have changed — if you don't change, you'll only fall behind.

We've been overturning some of our past approaches. Some previously mature strategies and successful experiences may no longer be applicable to the present, nor to the future.

PANews: You just mentioned UEX. I think this was also a forward-looking judgment by your team. Why did you decide to lay the groundwork for these changes a year in advance? After this strategy was implemented, what impact has it had on Bitget's users and market business?

Xie Jiayin: This is an interesting story.

Last September, when we announced we would build the UEX Universal Exchange, many people thought it was something that couldn't be achieved, or that it was too complex and too far off.

Some people thought, as an exchange, you should just focus on Crypto — don't go into US stocks, and don't touch gold, forex, or silver.

But I believe our strategy must always stay at least half a year ahead of market peers. As an exchange, we need to continuously provide trading opportunities for our users.

Last September, Bitget launched its US stock trading business, initially providing related services through integration with Ondo. Subsequently, in response to user feedback on the trading experience, we began developing the tokenized US stock protocol Reality at the end of December that same year. This system directly connects to Nasdaq and NYSE liquidity, improving trade execution efficiency while supporting direct dividend payouts.

Thanks to this liquidity integration mechanism, Bitget's rToken has strong competitiveness in terms of liquidity. After the new system launched, US stock business daily trading volume reached a peak of $10 billion. However, trading activity is still affected by market conditions — when the US stock market performs poorly, related trading volume declines accordingly.

On January 5 this year, we also launched gold, forex, and silver businesses, integrated with MT5.

Currently, Bitget's gold, forex, and other CFD (contract for difference) businesses have reached considerable scale. Even compared to traditional forex trading platforms, we've reached the upper-middle tier of the industry.

In terms of US stocks, our US stock derivatives have reached a 19.5% share, making us the world's second-largest US stock derivatives market, second only to Binance.

PANews: From a user perspective, have you observed that existing Crypto users are starting to shift toward traditional financial assets, or is it that by providing trading channels for these traditional assets, you've also attracted new users to Bitget?

Xie Jiayin: Actually, both.

About two months ago this year, we conducted a survey and found that among new users who registered this year, one in every four is trading US stocks or forex.

We have indeed attracted some users from the traditional forex and US stock markets, but it hasn't yet reached the scale I imagined, so we need to keep working hard.

In previous years, Bitget didn't have C2C business. To expand into more markets, we've also launched C2C functionality — we need to provide an entry point for everyone.

From Dark Horse to Top-Tier Exchange: Product Innovation, User Service, and Long-Termism

PANews: This year is Bitget's eighth anniversary. In the crypto industry, eight years is a remarkable journey. Bitget went from being a dark horse exchange to now ranking among the top. What do you think are the main reasons it was able to grow rapidly and build its own competitive moat?

Xie Jiayin: First, it's the product. We've indeed led the market in terms of products, and we were the world's first platform to launch copy trading.

We can identify user needs and anticipate what products users might want.

Additionally, I want users to be able to see Bitget people anywhere and feel a sense of security. When they want to find someone from Bitget, they can find them anytime.

There's also Bitget's transparency, including asset transparency and proof of reserves. We disclose this publicly every month — our proof of reserves at the end of September was 131%.

In running an exchange, I think what's more important is long-termism.

We need to maintain respect for products, the market, and users, while continuously honing our own products — that's how we can be more competitive.

Future Goal: Making Bitget One of the Top Three Choices for Chinese-Speaking Users

PANews: Standing at the milestone of Bitget's eighth anniversary, looking ahead, what are Bitget's next goals and vision? What role do you hope to play in this process?

Xie Jiayin: Frankly speaking, my personal goal is to make Bitget one of the top three choices for Chinese-speaking users.

This is my goal — to have users genuinely recognize Bitget.

PANews: And in terms of personal development, what are your plans going forward?

Xie Jiayin: I want to help the team do better and help them grow.

I hope everyone on the team can do better than me, because only when they keep growing can the platform develop better.

PANews: Let me add one final question. If I were a complete outsider today with no crypto experience, and you wanted to recommend Bitget to me, how would you introduce it?

Xie Jiayin: I would tell them that Bitget is a one-stop financial platform.

Here you can trade not only US stocks and Hong Kong stocks, but also gold and Crypto, for global asset allocation. It's a great choice.