The "Court Politics" of the encryption exchange: Power Struggles and Loyalty Games

Source: Deep Tide TechFlow

I have a bold theory: all Chinese exchanges are essentially a "digital version of the Forbidden City," where the exchange owners can be treated as "emperors," and all the drama in the exchanges can be understood as "court politics."

Some emperors, like Jiajing, are devoted to cultivating their spirituality and are well-versed in the tactics of imperial power. They allow two factions under their command to balance each other, turning a blind eye to internal corruption, and are willing to share some power. When one person ascends, even the chickens and dogs rise in status.

Some emperors emphasize absolute loyalty, are decisive in their actions, and do not allow anyone to bargain. Once someone tries to seek more benefits or challenge authority, they are all swept out.

Let's briefly talk about the topic of internal court politics within cryptocurrency exchanges. This is purely fictional and for entertainment purposes only.

Power Struggle

To understand court politics, one must first rid oneself of a naive notion: there is no absolute distinction between good and evil, loyalty and treachery.

In "The Ming Dynasty 1566," Yan Song, although criticized by later generations as a treacherous minister, managed to maintain his position as the chief assistant for many years through exceptional political skills, and significantly helped to enrich the national treasury; however, after the reformists came to power, with a thunderous anti-corruption campaign, the Ming treasury became even more depleted.

Are there purely loyal subjects and traitors in the world? There are only those who are useful to the emperor at this moment and those who are not, as well as those who strive for power and those who fail in their struggles.

Where there are people, there are conflicts in the world.

Power needs personnel landing, the core of the struggle between Yan Song and Xu Jie lies in the competition for the personnel power of the Ming court, who can place their own people in the six ministries and nine secretaries, who can grasp the actual power, and influence the actual operation of the imperial court.

The power struggle within the exchange is essentially a competition for key positions.

For example, the core departments such as listing, finance, and investment. With too many people and too few resources, various parties are bound to clash.

As a boss, it is often pleasing to see the subordinates fighting among themselves.

When subordinates compete with each other, it becomes difficult for them to form a sufficiently strong alliance, eliminating the possibility of challenging authority.

The conflict between the two parties motivates each side to provide the boss with negative information about the other, allowing the boss to gain more comprehensive and multi-faceted internal intelligence, while also having leverage over their subordinates.

Of course, the conflicts among subordinates must be kept within a controllable range; excessive infighting can lead to resource waste, reduced efficiency, and even jeopardize the overall stability of the organization.

When one party's power becomes too large, even threatening the boss's authority, the boss will then employ certain "imperial tactics," such as promoting internally or bringing in an external professional manager, granting them significant power to eliminate the opposing faction.

For Emperor Jiajing, the core issue he faced was: how to select absolutely reliable ministers in a court where it was difficult to distinguish between loyalty and treachery?

The exchange owners still have this problem.

The suppression of competitors and the raid of supervision are visible dangers, but in the eyes of exchange bosses, the biggest danger may often lurk around and be imperceptible, such as the betrayal of those around them. As a result, cronyism has become the best solution of the moment – key positions are often filled by the founder's relatives, friends, classmates or even family members, even if they lack professional competence.

It turns out that nepotism or family-run businesses are actually the safest in the crypto market.

Corruption and Anti-Corruption

Power struggles are inevitably intertwined with corruption and anti-corruption; both are two sides of the same coin and are means to acquire power.

Court politics hinges on how to gauge the situation and correctly choose sides.

To form an alliance, it often requires a "bond," such as being from the same hometown, attending the same school, or having similar professional experiences... These can all serve as connection points, but what is more important is still the interests involved. Relationships based on geography or school ties also need money to be maintained.

How to gain the trust of the "big brother"?

In addition to providing emotional value, what is actually more important is to offer some leverage and actively expose weaknesses. "Brother, my problems are all here, you can take control, I will follow you from now on."

Therefore, bribery or participating in collective corruption is actually the most effective way to show loyalty, as well as a means to test a person's loyalty. By using money, several individuals are tied together with a single rope; how can they not work together and help each other?

In terms of cryptocurrency exchanges, it is difficult to eliminate issues such as internal corruption and insider trading for two reasons.

1. Whether it is trading cryptocurrencies or working, the vast majority of people enter the crypto space for one purpose only: to make money.

Especially when working for a "high-risk company" like an exchange, this is even more true. Many employees, especially those transitioning from traditional industries, have no sense of identity or belonging to the company; they are only thinking about how to make the most money in the shortest time possible.

Second, cryptocurrency exchanges are always a gray area. Compared to corruption in traditional enterprises, it is easier to evade legal sanctions in exchanges, and it is also easier to downplay major issues and trivialize minor ones. Ultimately, it may just end with someone walking away, but the goal has already been achieved.

This is also a long-term staffing challenge for the exchange.

The Emperor's Achilles' Heel

The owners of crypto exchanges and emperors share the same tragedy: the higher their status and power, the more difficult it is to establish a genuine trust relationship.

Everyone who approaches them may have different intentions: some covet certain core powers, some long for wealth, and some have ulterior motives. In such an environment, suspicion becomes instinctive, and vigilance becomes a habit.

This trust deficit ultimately leads to a smaller decision-making circle.

Since childhood, watching various TV dramas, there has always been a puzzling question: why is there always a "traitor" by the emperor's side, and why are they favored?

Emperors are all lonely; they do not lack money or power, but they lack love and loyalty, which is also their Achilles' heel.

Once someone contributes love and loyalty to those in power, making them feel as if they are basking in spring breeze, even if this person is of relatively average talent, they still have value in existence.

In this digital Forbidden City of exchanges, technical talent is not scarce, marketing experts are not scarce, and even funds are not scarce; the only thing that is truly scarce is genuine loyalty.

Love and loyalty, a simple way to express it is to show support no matter what the emperor does. The more absurd it is, the more you support it, which reflects loyalty.

Running a cryptocurrency exchange is not an easy task. It requires extensive mental and physical effort, as one must not only compete with peers but also guard against hackers and outsmart regulators. During such times, exchange owners often feel exhausted and may even experience self-doubt, questioning whether the growth of the exchange is due to their own brilliance or merely luck. At this moment, they greatly need external emotional support and spiritual healing, reminding them tirelessly, "You are right, it’s all thanks to you, we are all grateful to you."

Humans are not grass or wood; who can be without feelings? Being recognized, being loved, and being needed is a natural desire of humanity.

Ordinary people also have an extreme need for love and loyalty, but they are still at the lower levels of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, tirelessly striving for survival, without the time or ability to pursue the value satisfaction of higher-level needs.

Women Around the Emperor

The women around the emperor here are not the gossiping harem, but rather the female executives.

Exchanges often have a large number of female executives, which is a very reasonable thing.

A powerful traditional financial boss likes to reuse female executives. Because, in his opinion, women are more loyal than men. No matter how much a man is paid, he will not be satisfied in the end. Even after many men were promoted and gained a lot of wealth and power, they did not have much gratitude and loyalty in their hearts, but were raised in self-confidence, thinking "I can do it too".

The essence of power is the desire for loyalty and the fear of betrayal.

In the highly competitive environment of exchanges, what bosses worry about the most is "cultivating their own grave diggers."

After male executives gain power and wealth, they often view their current positions as a stepping stone to higher power. They are more likely to attribute their achievements to personal abilities rather than the favor of leadership. They are more likely to choose to leave at the right time to start a competing business or seek a higher position.

Female executives often demonstrate a stronger organizational loyalty and focus more on long-term stable career development rather than entrepreneurial risks. They are more likely to attribute their success to teamwork and leadership cultivation, thus placing greater value on their current positions and organizational relationships.

In addition, another major challenge faced by cryptocurrency exchanges is frequent crisis events and communication with users. In this area, female executives often demonstrate unique advantages.

For example, women generally perform better in recognizing, understanding, and responding to others' emotions, which is particularly important when soothing angry users, handling complaints, and dealing with public relations crises. In contrast, men are more likely to become emotionally involved and confrontational with users when dealing with related public crisis events.

Therefore, in my opinion, the power of women in the crypto world is greatly underestimated.

Quite interesting, looking back at history and the present, regardless of how technology develops, whether in the traditional business world or the cryptocurrency world, the essence of power has never changed.

Wherever there are people, there is a world of rivers and lakes.

When the moon is full, it wanes; when water is full, it overflows. This is the ultimate fate of all power games.