Growing Amidst Regulatory Uncertainty
In recent years, Bitget has emerged as one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, boasting an impressive daily trading volume of around $8 billion. With its rapid growth, Bitget is now considering partnerships with U.S.-based firms to gain a foothold in the American market.
Incoming Trump Administration and Pro-Crypto Stance
The incoming Trump administration’s likely pro-crypto stance has encouraged Bitget to revisit its strategy for entering the U.S. market. According to Gracy Chen, CEO of Bitget, the exchange had previously considered acquiring U.S. state licenses but ultimately decided against it due to the high costs and regulatory complexities.
Recent Challenges in the U.S. Crypto Market
The collapse of FTX has further complicated the regulatory landscape for crypto exchanges in the U.S. Binance.US, the American arm of the largest exchange, was forced out of the market as part of a $4.3 billion settlement between its parent company and U.S. authorities.
Bitget’s Experience with Regulatory Compliance
Despite these challenges, Bitget has experience forging mutually beneficial relationships to comply with regulatory requirements. A recent partnership with UK trading firm Archax enabled Bitget to become compliant with British financial promotions rules.
"We are revisiting a U.S. strategy, although we have not decided on anything yet," Chen said in an interview. "If we had a local partner who has many of those licenses already, then we could do a joint venture, for example. So we don’t need to go through all the applications. We might take that approach, but it’s not decided yet."
TON and Nigeria
The collapse of FTX and regulatory clampdown on Binance have created opportunities for rival exchanges to pick up customers around the globe. Mobile app downloads tracked by business intelligence firm Sensor Tower and web traffic researcher SimilarWeb show significant growth areas for several top exchanges in places like Russia, India, and Nigeria.
Customer Growth and Partnerships
Bitget may have picked up some business that previously belonged to Binance, but Chen emphasizes that customer growth was not solely due to this. Rather, Bitget’s innovative approach and sharp strategy enabled it to win over customers through its mobile app downloads in countries like Nigeria.
"We wanted to gain some of the TON users obviously, and this strategy worked really well from the Nigeria side," Chen said. "There was a period of time when we had more downloads in Nigeria than Google or TikTok."
Russia, India, China
Bitget has held back on aggressively courting Russian users and influencers following the Ukraine war, citing the need to avoid sanctions and regulatory complexities.
"Strategically, we thought we should stay away from the Russia/U.S. argument because sanctions were being imposed," Chen said.
India, a market where Binance is re-established after receiving a fine this year, has not been a growth region for Bitget due to the lack of clear regulatory framework.
"We are working with the government and we have a few team members looking at India right now," Chen said.
Cryptocurrency Exchanges and Restricted Territories
Large cryptocurrency exchanges often struggle with users in restricted territories finding ways to circumvent know-your-customer (KYC) checks and IP-blocking measures. In some cases, users may use virtual private networks (VPNs) or attach passports or drivers’ licenses from other countries to access the platforms.
"I think all the major exchanges have business that comes from certain countries, such as China," Chen said. "Because it’s such a big economy with so many retail users, it’s just very hard to avoid all of them."
Rising Star Gracy Chen
Gracy Chen, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate and former managing director and head of marketing at Bitget, was promoted to CEO this year. She is one of several Asian or Asian-American women steering the largest crypto companies.
"I know her pretty well," Chen said about Binance co-founder Yi He, an old friend who introduced her to crypto back in 2015. "She was a bridesmaid at my wedding. But today it’s kind of like a friend-enemy situation."
