South Korean crypto trading platforms are not only offering huge pay packages to prospective new hires – they are also looking to retain their staff by paying them massive Lunar New Year bonuses.
As reported, the “big four” crypto trading platforms – Upbit, Bithumb, Korbit, and Coinone – collectively hired over 600 new staffers in 2021, and have been offering new employees lucrative joining bonuses.
But, EDaily reported, Coinone paid its staff between 150% and 250% of their monthly salaries in an end-of-year, performance-based lump sum payout. Coinone, like the rest of the big four, enjoyed one of its most profitable years ever in 2020, with trading skyrocketing in the first half of the year.
Coinone had previously announced that it would raise the salaries of all its employees by 20% in November 2021. All the bonuses were paid based on the increased salaries, the report continued.
Although the full extent of Coinone’s financial performance in the current financial year (FY2021) will not be made public until March this year, the industry is predicting “good results” for the trading platform – and its rivals – due to last year’s bout of Crypto Fever 2.0.
The firm has recently launched crypto staking services in earnest, with some USD 311m already deposited in staking accounts.
The trading platform has begun a “large-scale” recruitment drive, too, and has revealed plans to effectively double the number of employees on its roster in recent months.
The report added that in a bid to build up its developing team, Coinone has created the new post of Technical Director, and is offering all of its new developer hires an “unprecedented” 150% of their previous salaries.
Upbit, Bithumb, and Korbit are also thought to have performed well above expectations, and the platforms’ staff have also “received considerable bonuses,” EDaily added. Unlike Coinone, though, other platforms have been handing out individual performance-based pay bonuses.
Bithumb has also given all 300 of its staff members stock option bonuses for the first time since its inception. The firm is not currently listed, but data from domestic securities platforms that specialize in unlisted stock trading shows that the company’s shares are currently trading for around USD 290.