The "court politics" of the encryption exchange: power struggles and loyalty games

Written by: 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 act as "emperor" and all the exchange dramas can be understood as "court politics."

Some emperors, like Jiajing, devoted themselves to Taoism, were well-versed in the power tactics of emperors, allowing two factions among their subordinates to balance each other. They turned a blind eye to internal corruption and were willing to share part of their power, leading to a situation where one person ascended to the Dao and even their chickens and dogs benefited.

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

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

Power struggle

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

In "The Ming Dynasty 1566," Yan Song, although denounced as a traitor by later generations, managed to maintain his position as the Chief Minister for many years through his exceptional political skills and significantly contributed to the enrichment of the national treasury; however, after the rise of the reformists and the fierce anti-corruption campaign, the treasury of the Ming Dynasty became even more depleted.

In the world, where are there purely loyal subjects and traitors? There are only those who are useful to the emperor at this moment and those who are not, as well as those who struggle for power and those who fail in that struggle.

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

Power needs personnel to be implemented. The core of the struggle between Yan Song and Xu Jie lies in the competition for personnel authority within the Ming court. Whoever can place their own people among the six ministries and nine ministers will be able to grasp actual power and influence the real operations of the court.

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

For example, the most core departments such as listing coins, finance, and investment. With many monks and little porridge, various parties will inevitably fight for it.

As a boss, many times I am happy to see the people below fighting.

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 obtain 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, inefficiency, and even jeopardize the overall stability of the organization.

When one party's influence becomes too large and even threatens the boss's authority, the boss will 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 choose absolutely reliable ministers in a court where "loyalty and treachery are difficult to distinguish"?

Exchange owners still have this dilemma.

The suppression from competitors and the sudden raids from regulators are visible dangers, but in the eyes of exchange owners, the greatest dangers often lurk nearby and are not easily detectable, such as the betrayal of those around them. Therefore, nepotism has become the optimal solution at present – key positions are often held by friends, classmates, or even family members of the founders, 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 inevitably involve corruption and anti-corruption; the two are two sides of the same coin and are both means to obtain power.

Court politics is all about assessing the situation and choosing the right side.

To form an alliance, it often requires a "bond", such as being from the same hometown, the same school, or having similar professional experiences... These can all serve as connection points, but more importantly, it's about interests. Relationships like regional classmates also need to be maintained through money.

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

In addition to providing emotional value, what is more important is to offer some leverage and actively expose weaknesses. "Big brother, my problems are all here, you can handle them as you wish, I will follow you from now on."

Therefore, bribery or participating in collective corruption is actually the most effective way to show loyalty and also a way to test a person's loyalty. By using money, several people are tied together on the same rope. How can they not work together and help each other?

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

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

Especially when working for a "high-risk company" like an exchange, it is even more so. Many employees, especially those who have transitioned from traditional industries, do not have any sense of recognition or belonging towards the company; they are just thinking about how to make the most money in the shortest amount of time.

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 easier to downplay major issues and trivialize minor ones. Worst case, one can just walk away, but the goal has already been achieved.

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

The Emperor's Achilles' heel

The bosses of cryptocurrency exchanges and emperors share the same tragedy: the higher the position and power, the harder it is to establish a genuine trust relationship.

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

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

Since childhood, watching various TV dramas, there has always been an unresolved question: why is there always a "treacherous minister" beside the emperor, and why are they favored?

Emperors are all lonely; they lack neither money nor power, but what they lack is 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 breezes, even if this person’s talents are relatively average, 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 capital is not scarce; the only truly scarce commodity 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 your loyalty.

It is not an easy thing to experience a crypto exchange, not only to participate in peer competition, but also to prevent hackers, and regulatory wits and courage, at this time, exchange bosses are often exhausted in their hearts, and even have self-doubt, some do not know whether the development of the exchange is by his wisdom or luck, at this time it is extremely necessary to support the emotional value of the outside world, spiritual healing, and tirelessly tell him, "You are right, all depends on you, we are all grateful to you".

Humans are not grass or wood, who can be unfeeling? 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, constantly struggling for survival and lacking the time and ability to pursue the fulfillment of higher-level needs.

The women by the emperor's side

Here, the women around the emperor are not the gossip of the so-called harem, but rather the female executives.

It is very reasonable that exchanges often have a large number of female executives.

A certain influential traditional finance boss loves to promote female executives. In his view, women are more loyal than men. No matter how much salary he offers to men, he will never be satisfied in the end. In fact, many men, after being promoted and gaining a lot of wealth and power, do not feel much gratitude or loyalty; instead, their confidence is boosted, and they think, "I can do it too."

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

In this highly competitive environment of exchanges, what the 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 ability rather than the favor of leadership promotions. They are more likely to choose to leave at the appropriate time to start a competing business or seek a higher position.

Female executives often demonstrate a stronger organizational loyalty, placing greater emphasis on long-term stable career development rather than adventurous entrepreneurship. They are more inclined to attribute success to teamwork and leadership cultivation, and therefore value their current positions and organizational relationships more.

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 managing public relations crises. In contrast, men are more likely to become emotionally charged 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.

It's quite interesting. Looking back at history and the present, no matter how technology develops, whether in the traditional business world or the crypto digital world, the essence of power has never changed.

Where 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.