Throughout the Worldwide Crypto Buying and selling Cup 2025 (ICTC), the first-ever livestreamed crypto buying and selling competitors, our employees spoke with the WhiteBIT CEO, Volodymyr Nosov, and their CMO, Alex Kozenko, to achieve perception into the occasion, its origins, goal, and the worth it makes an attempt to offer to the crypto neighborhood. That is what they informed us.
Paradigm Shift: Crypto Buying and selling As The Final E-Sport?
Interviewer: Thanks very a lot for taking the time to talk with us. We’re excited to listen to extra about WhiteBIT. To begin, might you inform us a bit in regards to the early days of the platform? How a lot has it grown since then, and the place do you see it heading within the subsequent 12 months?
Volodymyr Nosov: Thanks. First, it’s necessary to notice that WhiteBIT is only one of many merchandise throughout the bigger WhiteBIT Group. Our group makes a speciality of blockchain growth, and right now, we handle over 12 energetic initiatives. We now have a workforce of greater than 1,300 folks, together with over 240 in-house builders.
All of our merchandise are constructed completely in-house. That’s vital to us. Many gamers on this business depend on outsourced growth or white-label options, which regularly results in technical vulnerabilities. You consistently hear about hacks and information leaks—and that’s typically why. In distinction, throughout our seven years of operation, we’ve by no means had a single hack or information breach. That’s one thing I’m actually pleased with.
And it’s not nearly crypto. Sure, the crypto house has many exchanges and firms, however the reality is, about 98% of them are primarily simply advertising and marketing shells—typically run by one particular person with a front-end and no infrastructure. At WhiteBIT, our core focus has at all times been on growth. That’s why we proceed to develop 12 months after 12 months.
By way of the change itself, final 12 months alone, WhiteBIT facilitated over $2.7 billion in buying and selling quantity in 2024 —with out a single technical subject. That tells you one thing in regards to the resilience of the platform.
Interviewer: Are you able to communicate extra about WhiteBIT’s broader technique and future imaginative and prescient?
Volodymyr Nosov: Our imaginative and prescient is to bridge conventional finance and crypto. We’re growing options that replicate the performance of traditional monetary methods however reimagined for blockchain. The thought is that you simply’ll have the ability to do the whole lot you want—from buying and selling to managing your funds—inside one built-in software.
We’re additionally investing closely in infrastructure that helps institutional purchasers {and professional} merchants. Past crypto, our workforce has been constructing blockchain-based options for conventional industries—banking, telecommunications, and even esports. These merchandise dwell “underneath the hood” of Web2 firms, giving them seamless entry to Web3 performance.
Right here’s the fact: large Web2 firms aren’t going away, however they lack the builders and expertise to combine blockchain correctly. Someday, they’ll understand they want crypto-native infrastructure. When that second comes, we’ll be prepared. We’ve spent the final 4 years constructing methods which can be simple to combine into their current stacks.
Interviewer: Are you already seeing establishments undertake these options?
Volodymyr Nosov: Sure, it’s already occurring—quietly however steadily. Proper now, it’s a whole bunch of firms. In a 12 months, it’ll be 1000’s. In three years, it’ll be hundreds of thousands. The wave is right here.
Interviewer: Let’s discuss right now’s occasion. What impressed WhiteBIT to host a buying and selling competitors?
Volodymyr Nosov: Good query. This isn’t our first occasion—we’ve partnered with soccer golf equipment, esports organizations, and different business leaders. However we observed that nobody had ever organized one thing actually significant only for crypto merchants.
In all the 14–15 12 months historical past of crypto, nobody has completed this. So we determined to create one thing particular for our neighborhood—one thing that celebrates merchants as professionals. This match is our first main step, and we plan to host it yearly. It’s a studying expertise, and we’re gathering suggestions so the subsequent one will probably be even larger and higher.
Interviewer: I additionally observed there’s a powerful instructional element. Would you say this occasion is geared towards serving to folks turn out to be higher merchants?
Volodymyr Nosov: Completely. It jogs my memory of how esports started. I keep in mind 15 years in the past, sitting in a pc lab with associates taking part in Counter-Strike. Again then, our households informed us it was a waste of time. At present, esports is a billion-dollar business.
We’re making an attempt to construct the identical type of infrastructure for buying and selling. Think about you’re a 25-year-old sitting at your laptop all day learning charts, and your mother and father don’t perceive what you’re doing. Now, all of the sudden, you’re competing on a global stage. That modifications the narrative. This occasion legitimizes buying and selling as a critical self-discipline, not only a pastime.
Interviewer: So it’s not nearly buying and selling—it’s about elevating all the tradition round it.
Volodymyr Nosov: Precisely. That is about extra than simply markets. It’s about friendship, neighborhood, and entry. Merchants can meet one another, change concepts, and get impressed by others on the high of their recreation. We’re constructing an ecosystem that goes far past numbers on a display screen.
Bitcoin value developments to the upside on the every day chart. Supply: BTCUSDT on Tradingview
A Chat With WhiteBIT’s CMO, The Origins of the ICTC 2025, And A Look Into Its Future
In a distinct dialog with a number of crypto information shops, together with Cripto Noticias, Crypto Insiders, and Bitcoinist, WhiteBIT’s CMO, Alex Kozenko, spoke about the concept gave kind to the ICTC 2025, and the way the workforce behind the occasion was in a position to pull it off, checking out many challenges.
Alex Kozenko: (…) It was a extremely complicated venture. We tried to mix the whole lot we’ve discovered as a workforce and do one thing that had by no means been completed earlier than: the world’s first offline crypto buying and selling match. I informed my workforce, if we’re going to do one thing, it must be extraordinary—a real “first ever” second.
Interviewer: So, anybody, even a newbie or a fan, might compete in opposition to high merchants?
Alex Kozenko: Precisely. That was the magic of it. That is the primary occasion the place anybody might take a look at their abilities in real-time, in opposition to seasoned professionals. In conventional esports, you possibly can’t simply present up and play with the professionals. However in our match, everybody begins on the similar time, on the identical information feed—it’s a degree taking part in discipline.
Interviewer: That makes it extra interactive and immersive than simply watching a recreation.
Alex Kozenko: Sure! Think about if you happen to’re a fan of FC Barcelona, and as an alternative of watching El Clásico, you possibly can play in it. That’s the emotional hook. Right here, followers of buying and selling don’t simply watch—they take part. They take a look at themselves in opposition to the perfect.
Interviewer: And the way was the response from the neighborhood and influencers?
Alex Kozenko: It was blended at first. Once we reached out, perhaps 80–85% didn’t reply. Some didn’t perceive the idea. Others have been skeptical. However those that did interact informed us, “That is the dream. That is what we’ve been ready for.”
We have been absolutely clear—no hidden tips, no faux numbers. Some contributors even informed us, “If I don’t win this factor, my followers received’t purchase my course!” It added strain, but in addition made it extra actual. Merchants had the possibility to showcase their ability, technique, and magnificence dwell on stage. It’s a dream situation for them.
Interviewer: That’s a daring solution to flip buying and selling right into a spectator sport.
Alex Kozenko: It’s. We designed this as an expert showcase—a spot the place merchants can show their concepts, their decision-making, their aggression, their expertise. It’s about displaying the world that buying and selling is greater than numbers—it’s a craft.
Interviewer: Was this a troublesome venture to execute?
Alex Kozenko: Extraordinarily. Each week, we had conferences with 40–50 workforce members. Every part—from partnerships to stage design—was fastidiously deliberate. One humorous instance: we needed to coordinate LED approval with La Liga for a part of the published. That usually takes two weeks; we had 12 days.
Our unique venue didn’t have sufficient electrical energy to energy all of the gear. We needed to transfer all the occasion to a brand new location and utterly recalibrate the whole lot. But it surely was value it. I informed my workforce, “We’re launching a rocket right here.” And someway, we did.
Interviewer: What was probably the most difficult half for you personally?
Alex Kozenko: The folks. Managing the workforce’s power and motivation was more durable than anything. We needed to push the occasion from February to Might, and that delay was powerful. However now, seeing 99% of the concept executed precisely how I imagined it—that’s probably the most rewarding feeling. Even in some areas, it exceeded my expectations.
I’m pleased with what we achieved. This occasion is greater than advertising and marketing—it’s a motion. And if that is just the start, I can’t wait to point out you what we do subsequent.
Cowl picture from WhiteBIT, chart from Tradingview
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