Exclusive Interview with Bitget Wallet CEO Karry: Everyone's Building Wallets - How Is Bitget Wallet Breaking Out?

From “Trading-First” to “Consumption-Oriented Wallet”: Bitget Wallet’s Unique Growth Curve in the Web3 Wallet Landscape

In this exclusive conversation, Bitget Wallet CEO Karry shares his journey from a Web2 product manager to a Web3 entrepreneur, offering insights into the transition following BitKeep’s acquisition by Bitget. He emphasizes that the team has remained financially and product-wise independent, staying focused on user growth and long-term technology investments. This strategic approach has driven global users from 12 million to 80 million, propelling Bitget Wallet into the ranks of the world’s top crypto wallets.

Competing against players like MetaMask and Phantom, Bitget Wallet has adopted a “mobile-first, mass adoption” strategy. Features like MemeX are designed to lower entry barriers and help users navigate market trends more easily. Karry outlines three strategic priorities for Bitget Wallet: securing a top-three position in the wallet space, streamlining Web3 onboarding, and aggressively investing in PayFi (payment + finance) to enable real-world crypto applications and drive compliance-first framework. He also hints at an imminent brand refresh.

From Web2 to Web3: Karry’s Personal Trajectory

Karry: My professional path has unfolded in three stages. I started out as a product director at Sina Weibo, where I built a solid foundation in product development. I then ventured into multiple mobile internet startups, gaining broad, hands-on business experience. Later, I joined ByteDance, earned an MBA, and sharpened my strategic thinking. Finally, in late 2021, I joined BitKeep, which we’ve since rebranded as Bitget Wallet.

Though I joined mid-way, my entrepreneurial background — spanning over eight years — instilled in me a founder’s mindset. I treat the business with deep ownership and long-term commitment. I obsess over details and don’t approach leadership as a typical corporate manager would. To me, being a “founder-style CEO” means staying constantly in tune with industry dynamics and being relentlessly focused on building exceptional products. When challenges emerge, I take full accountability.

The BitKeep to Bitget Wallet Evolution: Integration Without Compromise

Karry: Bitget Wallet, originally BitKeep, was launched in May 2018. Bitget became a strategic investor in 2021 and completed a full acquisition in 2022. The rebrand to Bitget Wallet was finalized in 2023.

We gained significant momentum during the DeFi Summer of 2020–2021. When Uniswap started gaining traction, we were among the first wallets to introduce a Uniswap Token leaderboard, helping users discover newly-listed tokens early — and quickly capture upside in onchain trading. We later introduced a native Swap feature to aggregate trading directly within the wallet, making the process more seamless.

We were also among the first wallets to integrate an NFT marketplace and pioneer a unified multi-chain account system, which now supports almost all major blockchains. The modern wallet model widely adopted today was in many ways shaped and matured by Bitget Wallet. With our upcoming brand refresh, we aim to further solidify our leadership and set the standard for what a user-centric Web3 wallet should be.

Metrics That Matter: How Bitget Wallet Measures Growth

Karry: Our user base has grown from 12 million in May 2022 to over 60 million by the end of 2024 — fueled by our obsessive focus on growth as the north star metric. Internally, the wallet is structured into various business lines — core wallet functions, trading, payments — each with its own dashboards and KPIs. We ensure all decisions are rooted in data transparency and operational clarity.

Among all metrics, monthly new user acquisition is our biggest focus. Back in 2020, we set a clear ambition: to become a global top-tier wallet. Compared to abstract measures like brand awareness, new user growth offers a tangible read on traction and product-market fit. Our goal was to break into the top three wallets globally by net new users each month — and we’ve essentially achieved that. In February 2024, our new user count surpassed MetaMask and Phantom, second only to TrustWallet, placing us in the industry’s first tier.

Beyond user growth, we also track revenue-correlated metrics such as trading activity and volume. As early as the BitKeep days, we defined ourselves as a “trading wallet” with features like Swap and market data built in from the start. In the payments vertical — especially with PayFi — we’ve begun tracking metrics like new card issuance and crypto spending volume. Thanks to robust cash reserves and healthy inflows, we’re not chasing short-term profitability. We’re playing the long game.

Maintaining Independence Post-Acquisition

Karry: Despite the acquisition, we’ve retained full operational autonomy. Our legal entity, team structure, financial systems, shareholder structure, and mobile app are all independent. The only integration has been at the brand level — aligning with Bitget to build a unified tier-one Web3 brand.

More importantly, I have a high-trust relationship with Bitget’s founder. Once we align on strategic direction, execution and ecosystem prioritization are entirely in our hands. There’s no day-to-day interference.

Facing Competitive Pressure: Why Bitget Wallet Is Not a “CEX Wallet”

Karry: First off, I want to reframe how we think about this. Bitget Wallet has never positioned itself as a “CEX wallet” or an exchange wallet. Our peer group includes self-custody wallets like MetaMask, Phantom, and Coinbase Wallet. Using Porter’s Five Forces as a lens, we’re not just watching direct competitors; we’re also aware of potential substitutes, especially as transaction throughput leaps on certain blockchains.

The memecoin boom shifted the competitive landscape sharply in onchain trading. In 2023, our primary goal was still user growth. Trading features evolved — we expanded mainnet coverage, integrated more DEXs, refined slippage parameters, and deepened liquidity support. Trading user base and volume grew consistently, but we kept our investment measured. That changed when the Solana memecoin frenzy exposed gaps in real-time execution, token auto-detection, and front-running protection — we knew infrastructure upgrades had to accelerate.

While we used to focus on breadth via multi-chain support, 2024 marks a shift toward depth. Specifically, we’ve doubled down on performance optimization on high-frequency chains like Solana and BSC. We’re investing more heavily in infrastructure — node reliability, MEV mitigation, and anti-front-running systems. Our team has grown from around 100 to 160 since late last year, and we’re actively exploring M&A opportunities across chains, nodes, and core Web3 infrastructure.

Our approach has always been “sustainable over aggressive.” With strong cash flow, we don’t need to play a short-term game. We’re intentional with our pace — we shape it ourselves, rather than letting peers dictate it. At the same time, we’re committed to building a high-talent-density team capable of simultaneously defending execution strength and pushing boundaries around innovation.

Our Mission: Web3 for a Billion Users

Our long-term objective is to onboard 1 billion people into Web3. Lowering the technical and UX barriers to entry has always been key to that vision.

Years ago, we launched “InstantGas,” which let users pay gas fees with tokens they already held — no native chain tokens required. More recently, we introduced “GetGas,” a cross-chain gas solution that auto-converts USDC or BGB deposits into usable gas across networks. It dramatically simplifies transaction UX in a multi-chain world.

While market narratives may shift, our focus remains constant: filling infrastructure gaps in onchain trading while making long-term investments in people, product innovation, and organizational design. We believe this dual commitment is the only path to scaling reliably into the hundreds of millions.

Thoughts on OKX’s DEX Shutdown and the Structural Compliance Trade-Off

When OKX had to shut down its DEX interface, I don’t think the issue was with DEXs themselves. Take Bitget Wallet as an example — we don’t custody user funds. As a self-custody wallet, our role is to integrate Risk Control frameworks — like AML screening and blacklists — to monitor flagged addresses. But we don’t KYC users, nor do we have the authority to freeze assets. All onchain flows are public and verifiable — that’s what decentralization guarantees.

The problem was structural: OKX ran both its CEX and would-be decentralized functions under the same app and web platform. When suspicious flows were detected, regulators asked for KYC data — something the CEX-side couldn’t always provide if activity happened via the DEX wrapper. The lack of a “firewall mechanism” to separate centralized and decentralized user flows created compliance risks.

I understand the logic behind embedding a wallet into an exchange app — it reduces friction and drives growth. But when CeFi and DeFi experiences are bundled into the same interaction layer, it drifts into regulatory grey zones. The issue wasn’t that DEXs failed compliance — it’s that the architecture lacked separation of concerns.

Why Bitget Chose Product Separation from Day One

Karry: From day one, we made a deliberate decision to keep the wallet functionally and operationally independent from the exchange — and that wasn’t always easy to justify internally or externally. People often compared us to OKX and asked, “Why not just bundle everything into one app?”

Our answer is that CEXs and wallets represent fundamentally different systems. Merging them is not only technically messy, but poses long-term risks in compliance and product agility.

We had two key motivations:

1. High migration cost At the time of the acquisition, BitKeep had tens of millions of users. Forcing a move into the Bitget exchange app would’ve meant large-scale behavioral disruption and user churn. What happened with OKX — where they were later forced to decouple the wallet — is a case study in the cost of that decision.

2. Philosophical and operational conflict

CEXs are moving rapidly toward tighter KYC and regulatory alignment. Wallets represent the opposite value system — permissionless access and decentralization. Bundling them muddies this ideological clarity and creates friction at both user-facing and operational levels.

Strategically, we believe product separation gives us the flexibility needed to push innovation. Web3 moves fast. When the wallet team operates independently, it reacts faster and iterates more freely. Inside large conglomerates with thousands of staff, agility always suffers due to entropy. That’s why we’ve built Bitget Wallet as a lean, execution-focused team — with operational, equity, and financial independence — to retain that “edge.”

Adapting to Bitget’s “Aggressive, Performance-driven culture”: Was There a Learning Curve?

Karry: I adapted well, actually. People call Bitget’s culture “wolfish,” but honestly, that intensity isn’t unusual in tech. Just look at Pinduoduo — far more intense. I’d say Bitget’s pace is demanding but manageable.

What matters most to me is whether I can do meaningful work in a low-politics environment — and Bitget delivers on that. Internal decision-making is KPI-driven, not driven by office politics. Performance is transparent. If you execute well, you get credit. If not, it’s clear without posturing.

That level of clarity is invaluable. It’s why I’ve been willing to commit long-term and double down on building something meaningful here.

After the OKX Shake-Up: Strengthening Our Compliance Framework

Karry: I don’t believe DEX shutdowns are inherently about DEXs being non-compliant. What happened at OKX was the result of mixing CeFi and DeFi under the same platform umbrella. When pressure from regulators mounts, preserving the core exchange license becomes the priority — so they had to cut off DEX features to reduce exposure.

From a wallet perspective, several things matter:

1. Every single onchain transaction — including same-chain and cross-chain flows — is traceable and verifiable. For example, moving assets from Address A to B through Uniswap is fully transparent.

2. We’ve integrated blacklist databases and risk detection. If a transaction route touches flagged addresses, we restrict interaction.

But let’s be real — onchain risk can’t be eliminated entirely. Hackers are adaptive, and they’ll use clean new addresses constantly. So Risk Control is an iterative process. It evolves over time.

Compare that to Binance, which took a fundamentally different route. OKX Wallet is fully self-custodial, detached from the exchange account system. Binance Wallet, by contrast, uses MPC (multi-party computation) tied tightly to Binance IDs. It’s a CeFi-governed wallet. If asked, Binance can deliver complete KYC logs. So structurally, their compliance capabilities are vastly different.

Binance’s Push to Own Onchain Flows: Strategic Threat or Market Evolution?

Karry: Binance’s approach reflects the broader CEX pivot — to use wallets to capture onchain flow. It’s a way to “hedge” against the risk of new tokens getting shorted post-listing on centralized exchanges. We actually started working on this strategy in late 2023, but due to our more complex wallet-account architecture, GTM got slightly delayed — creating the impression that others are first movers.

Recently, Bitget Exchange launched “Bitget Onchain,” allowing users to directly buy onchain assets — somewhat like Moonshot, but more streamlined. This simplifies user interactions — blurring the boundary between onchain and offchain holdings. The model leverages order book mechanics paired with AMM liquidity, particularly memecoin token pools.

It’s clear that liquidity is moving from centralized spot markets to onchain platforms. Exchanges, with their massive user bases and funnel control, are in an ideal position to re-integrate that liquidity into their ecosystem. While new-token volatility remains a concern, it can be addressed via user education, alerts, and safeguards. The model is technically sound and commercially viable.

Bitget Wallet’s 2025 Roadmap: Top Priorities

Karry: We’re focused on three primary objectives this year:

1. Strengthen our brand and core capabilities — secure a global top-three position Bitget Wallet is already top-tier in DAU and user volume, but we want to level up trading volume and brand authority. In 2024, we’ll invest heavily in branding, growth, and tech robustness to cement our position globally.

2. Prioritize user-friendliness — make Web3 onboarding seamless Our mission remains: make Bitget Wallet “the easiest wallet for newcomers.” We’ll streamline fiat-onramp flows through partners like OSLPay and roll out intuitive KYC-lite solutions. Education and product simplification will play a massive role in lowering entry friction.

3. Double down on PayFi — unlock new long-term wallet use cases PayFi is a major strategic bet. Since forming a dedicated unit in September 2024, we’ve committed to a 3–5 year investment horizon. We’re targeting high-frequency use cases for crypto payments, working with banks, processors, and public chains like Solana. Examples include issuing crypto credit cards, enabling direct crypto payments for goods and services, and exploring real-world payment authentication through blockchain rails.

These products aren’t overnight hits — but we believe they’re essential infrastructure for bringing crypto wallets into everyday life. After all, wallets were originally built for one thing: payments. We’ll stay true to that vision and execute relentlessly.

Our upcoming brand refresh includes a redesigned logo and cleaner visual identity to reflect our current philosophy and global ambitions. On the product side, expect major updates to UX, asset management, and payment capabilities — enabling users to store, grow, and spend their crypto in a unified experience.

Whether you’re a first-time crypto user or a seasoned pro, Bitget Wallet will continue to make the Web3 experience intuitive and widely accessible. Stay tuned.

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