Why Is Crypto Down Today? – June 23, 2025

Ohio’s House passed a bill to legally insulate various crypto activities, such as mining and staking, and exempt some transactions from capital gains tax.

Japan Post Bank wil zijn enorme berg aan slapend spaargeld nieuw leven inblazen en doet dat op een verrassend moderne manier. In het boekjaar 2026 lanceert de bank een eigen digitale munt genaamd DCJPY, die gebruikers direct kunnen koppelen aan hun spaarrekening. Met deze stap mikt de bank niet alleen... Het bericht Japan Post Bank introduceert DCJPY voor NFT’s en security tokens verscheen het eerst op Blockchain Stories.

Author: Christian Crowley, Pyrs Carvolth, Maggie Hsu & Mehdi Hasan, a16zcrypto Compiled by: TechFlow Building an effective business development (BD) and growth team in the crypto industry is no easy task. The unique dynamics of the crypto space make it difficult to directly replicate Web2 organizational structures or recruitment models. Furthermore, the landscape is evolving as fintech and financial services become more involved in the crypto space. The right BD role configuration depends entirely on the product your company is building and the outcomes it's aiming for. For example, are you building a product on a public blockchain, focused on increasing total value locked (TVL) and user growth? Or are you acting as an infrastructure provider, aiming to help fintechs and neobanks embed crypto into their core products? Depending on your answers to these questions, your business expansion and growth strategy will need to adapt accordingly. Before hiring, clarify what your company is building, how success will be measured, and how the new BD or Growth role will help achieve that goal. This article is not a step-by-step guide for all types of crypto companies, but rather aims to share some guidance and practical lessons learned from real-world experience in the crypto ecosystem that can be shared with teams building and working closely with founders. But first, how does encryption change BD? Business development (BD) and growth in the crypto industry are fundamentally different from traditional Web2. Several key factors have completely changed the rules of the game: Token Design: When and how to use tokens in partnerships or joint incentive structures requires a deep understanding of the target ecosystem and a solid grasp of its own tokenomics. Proper use of tokens can drive user growth through partner products, while misuse can lead to high-cost, low-return experiments. Distribution model: Distribution in the crypto space typically happens on-chain, which means you need to design a strategy around wallets, airdrops, and tasks rather than relying on traditional mailing lists or paid advertising. Decentralized governance: In some cases, collaborative deals require approval through decentralized governance, which means securing support from a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) rather than a traditional executive team. This often involves managing a broader and more complex group of stakeholders. Open source ecosystem: The crypto industry generally operates in an open, permissionless ecosystem, where most code is open source. This makes competition more transparent and successful strategies easier to replicate quickly. These points won't apply to every project, and depending on your product, some may be more important than others. But they represent layers that simply don't exist in traditional Web2 strategies. If any of these points are core to your product's growth, they will directly determine what kind of talent you need, what experience you prioritize, and how quickly that person can start working on it. Understanding which of these dynamics are critical to your product can impact everything from how you go to market to how you structure partnerships and measure success. Step 1: Identify role requirements First, understand the need and what you want to achieve with this hire. Before starting the hiring process, the team needs to clearly understand why this new role will drive business success and what specific functions they need to recruit for. The following are several common specializations within the business development and growth field and their differences: Business Development (BD): Focuses on strategic deals such as enterprise partnerships, exchange listings, or wallet integrations that can help expand distribution channels and user access. Growth: Focuses on product-driven loops (such as referral programs or network effects where user behavior self-reinforces) and funnel optimization (improving every stage of the customer journey from awareness to conversion, retention, and monetization). Partnerships: Focus on product integrations (e.g. embedding your product into other platforms or having partners build on your platform), joint go-to-market initiatives, joint marketing to increase brand awareness, or other strategic collaborations that can multiply distribution. Revenue: Focus on scaling customer sales after achieving product-market fit. Ecosystem: This is broader and typically includes developer relations (DevRel), foundation or community-driven bounty programs to incentivize third-party applications, tools, and infrastructure, and grassroots community growth to scale the overall network. These roles are not interchangeable. While they all fall under the broad umbrella of "business development" or "marketing," each requires completely different skills and success metrics. Trying to assign all responsibilities to one person simultaneously can lead to misaligned roles or underperformance. A common mistake is expecting "strong BD talent" to be responsible for growth loops, revenue operations, and ecosystem development, when in reality, spreading focus too thin often means none of these tasks are done well. Therefore, before defining a role, be clear about the impact you want it to have and avoid confusion with a precise job title. We've emphasized this step in other recruiting articles as crucial for any role. This fundamental step is often overlooked at the beginning of the recruiting process, and negligence can snowball into a larger and larger process. If you're unclear about what you truly need, it will impact all subsequent processes, from sourcing and screening talent, to setting candidate expectations, and even compensation structures. Key Consideration: The Importance of Hiring First In the early stages of a startup, execution is crucial. Fast-moving startups need people who can make the most of limited time, budget, and team resources—people who can not only develop strategy but also get hands-on with the work. This often involves proactive outreach, prospecting and qualifying potential customers, and leading exploratory calls to deeply understand customer problems and how your product can solve them. It’s also important to set clear metrics and goals for your first hire, and these should be directly tied to the product. For example: number of pilot agreements or integrations signed, number of leads in priority verticals, or key partnerships in key categories. Prior to product-market fit, achieving the right BD goals can be complicated. At this point, the temptation to pursue major partnerships is strong, but this can backfire. Acquiring the wrong "big customer" too early can cause a team to focus too closely on a single feature request or custom integration, while neglecting other, more important parts of the product that may be more critical to broader market adoption. While strategic deals can bring distribution, credibility, or early revenue, they can also distract from the iterative learning required to find product-market fit. As a product matures, business development goals will evolve, but without clear metrics and milestones, it’s difficult to measure progress in a new role. Tie these metrics to compensation, setting goals that are both challenging and achievable. (If token compensation is involved, refer to our article on token compensation.) After defining role expectations, teams can also consider the timing, qualifications, and experience of the hire, which will be explored in detail in the next section. Step 2: Decide When and Who to Hire Hiring a business development (BD) or growth lead can significantly increase a company's growth, but only if the right conditions and timing are in place. Before achieving product-market fit, the team needs a flexible, hands-on talent to explore use cases, test effective strategies, and assist with feature development as needed. After PMF, the focus shifts to scaling: establishing replicable systems, clear metrics, and focusing on executing proven strategies. So how can founders make their first hire work? Before PMF: Recruit flexible and adaptable talent, explore use cases, and validate effective strategies. After PMF: Hire experts who specialize in scaling, sales processes, replicable systems, and team management. Here are some of the questions we’re often asked about hiring, ranging from qualifications to crypto industry experience. Every company answers these questions differently, but there are some patterns worth understanding that can help you avoid costly mistakes. When should you hire a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) or Chief Growth Officer (CGO)? When hiring senior leaders, execution is paramount in the early stages. Startups need resources who can get the job done, not just strategize. Therefore, hiring a CRO or CGO too early can result in high costs and inefficiencies. A true CRO/CGO requires a mature go-to-market (GTM) engine, including a replicable sales process, customer success support, marketing resources, and a stable pipeline of potential customers, to be fully effective. However, most projects before the PMF stage don't require these complex systems. If you're unsure whether you need a CRO or CGO, then you may not need these roles yet. The early stages are more suitable for "hands-on" people who can both lead and execute, who can close deals themselves while starting to build the sales or growth team. Maintain discipline and wait until the business or GTM engine is ready before considering hiring executives. Do GTM (marketing) talents need to have a technical background? This depends on the nature of your product and the target user group. If your product is aimed at a developer user group or is an infrastructure protocol, technical experience is usually necessary and valuable, even at the CRO/CGO level. If your product is at the application layer, familiarity with technical concepts is important, but a technical background is not necessary. How important is crypto industry experience? It depends on your product category. If you're building something like a Layer 1 or infrastructure protocol, crypto industry experience is often essential, as the underlying technology is complex and closely intertwined with other foundational components of the ecosystem. Furthermore, for some projects, cultural fluency (e.g., understanding crypto's local norms, memes, incentive mechanisms, and community dynamics) can be crucial to success. However, don't overlook talented talent from outside the crypto industry. For many roles, crypto experience isn't a requirement—candidates can learn the basics of wallets, protocols, and on-chain activities. However, some skills can't be acquired through training, such as customer empathy and strong communication skills. The crypto industry is still maturing, and experience can be scarce. The right talent from fintech, open source, gaming, or other cutting-edge technologies can bring fresh strategies, unfettered by traditional crypto thinking. Some of the strongest strategies often come from those who don't stick to established rules. More early-stage hiring considerations: Is this person responsible for finding new deals (outbound) or managing existing deals (inbound)? This distinction is important because the two require different skills. Are you building from scratch or expanding an existing successful strategy? You might need someone who can handle ambiguity or excels at optimizing existing strategies. What is your partnership strategy? Will this person be responsible for a small number of deep integrations, or a large number of light-touch collaborations? Clarifying your needs (patience and depth vs. speed and breadth) can significantly influence role definition. Do they have a track record and proven track record of success in similar roles? Someone who has been successful at a different type of company (stage, product, etc.) may not necessarily be successful at yours. Common mistakes: Hiring too senior (losing execution): Very senior hires are often expected to lead teams and set strategy, while the real need at an early stage is execution. Hiring too broadly (lack of GTM skills): Broadly qualified talent without go-to-market experience may struggle to prioritize the most effective early-stage strategies. Early-stage GTM hires typically require sharp, hands-on skills. Unclear goals (e.g., “do BD” without knowing the success criteria): Vaguely defining a task sets candidates up for failure. Having a clear definition of success is crucial. Team Structure Design: Marketing Strategy for the Crypto Industry As startups grow, founders often ask how to build a go-to-market (GTM) team. While there's no single answer, there are some successful models and pitfalls to avoid. The following are common questions and best practices regarding team structure for L1 and L2 protocols, applications, and infrastructure projects. Should BD, Growth, and Marketing be managed by the same person? In the early stages, it may be possible to have a strong marketing leader to manage all of these functions, but as the team grows, it makes more sense to separate these functions. BD (Business Development): Focuses on transactions and partnerships. Growth: Focus on funnel optimization and product-driven strategies. Marketing: Focus on brand building and communication. Each function has different cadences and metrics, so long-term bundling can lead to underperformance in certain areas. Do you need an early stage customer success or integration support function? For clarity, Customer Success is primarily responsible for managing existing customer relationships, including helping resolve product issues, ensuring customers continue to receive value, and remain active (and even purchase more products). This function is particularly important for complex, highly customized, or SaaS products. In the early stages, nimble product and development teams can often handle customer success. However, if your product requires significant implementation support (such as infrastructure, development tools, or protocol integration), it may be worth investing early in a dedicated customer success function, even if it’s not directly called “Customer Success.” When should founders segment the BD function by market segment or vertical? Some teams are organized by industry, such as DeFi, NFT, gaming, banking, and financial institutions. This approach is appropriate after finding market traction in core use cases, not before. Otherwise, there's a risk of overfocusing on an unproven area. If your product is immature or your user base is not yet established, keep the team flat. An experienced BD leader can cover multiple areas at the same time. What are the best practices for Layer 1/Layer 2 protocol teams? Protocol teams face unique challenges in business development because they aren’t just building a product; they’re building a network. This often means that BD isn’t just a single function, but rather multiple complementary roles working together to drive network growth. The following is a common division of labor within a team: Core BD team: Focus on attracting developers and projects to build on L1/L2. Ecosystem Team: Responsible for funding, community building, and governance. Technical Integration Team: Supports the deployment of partner projects on the network. Regional teams: handle local language and regional promotions, addressing region-specific needs. How does the team plan for geographic expansion? Unlike traditional product launches, crypto projects are typically global from day one. Therefore, prioritizing regions with established user adoption is crucial. It's not advisable to force full-time regional marketing positions until a region demonstrates significant market traction or interest. However, depending on product needs, hiring a junior community manager in a country with early interest may enhance local user engagement. The timing will depend on actual product adoption and future growth potential in that region. How will governance/community marketing be handled? Governance is the process of coordinating decision-making through a decentralized community. It is a unique feature of the crypto space and is only relevant to some projects. While traditional blockchain development relies on hierarchical decision-making and direct negotiations, governance-driven blockchain development emphasizes community participation and blockchain transparency. For example, community governance, through decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) or protocol governance mechanisms, plays a crucial role when protocols scale across blockchain networks. DeFi protocols like Uniswap and Aave use DAOs and token holders to vote on multi-chain deployments, protocol upgrades, fund management, and token issuance parameters. A successful BD leader is responsible for proposing proposals, activating delegates, and driving governance votes - this is as much a part of BD as it is community outreach, including communications and campaigning. Here are some nuances regarding BD and governance that candidates should be aware of. It takes more than just sales; product expertise is also required: The governance forum is filled with proposals at various stages, potentially spanning years of development and iteration. Each vote requires candidates to understand the historical context of the proposal and how it fits into the evolving topic. Sales experience alone isn't enough; candidates also need product expertise to tell a compelling story and handle post-vote activities (such as explaining the results and their impact on the protocol). Governance and Influence of Large Holders: Candidates must excel at relationship and community building, while being able to clearly explain value to stakeholders. This typically requires winning over large holders ("whales") through direct outreach, while also winning over smaller holders through governance discussion boards and community channels like X and Discord. On-chain and off-chain dynamics: Many successful community forums rely not only on online interactions but also on offline feedback. Proposals often begin as off-chain discussions but ultimately lead to a binding vote on-chain. This hybrid approach builds deep relationships and trust while also attracting scrutiny from the broader crypto community. The key is transparency and ensuring that all potential voters have a clear understanding of where conversations are taking place and how certain decisions are made, even if much of the dialogue occurs off-chain. In many cases, engaging with the community during the discussion phase is crucial. Candidates must be able to develop clear, data-driven proposals for or in response to specific governance proposals, while also possessing the skills to navigate and handle public rebuttals. Coordination Difficulties: Compared to traditional negotiations, crypto governance involves multiple stakeholders of different types and coordination across time zones, which can lead to decision fatigue or stagnant progress. Candidates need patience, organizational skills, and a keen eye for detail. Common mistakes: Bundle business development, growth, and marketing together over the long term, rather than allowing them to have separate focuses. Failure to separate functions promptly can lead to performance losses in some areas, as each function requires deeper skills and focus as it gains market traction. Prematurely specializing by vertical or geography before product-market fit is clear. Prematurely specializing before product-market fit is clear can lead to wasted resources chasing the wrong markets before understanding where the demand is greatest. Lack of technical support: For products that require extensive integration support, failure to provide technical support will limit the effectiveness of marketing. Interview Process: Best Practices Hiring for business development (BD), growth, or marketing talent requires more than just a resume; it's about assessing a candidate's thinking, communication, and practical skills through real-world scenarios. A good interview process should be structured enough to fairly compare candidates while also being flexible enough to accommodate exceptional candidates. When encountering a candidate with highly relevant experience or a unique perspective, it's worth adjusting the process to further explore their potential. Key steps in the interview process: Case Study Have candidates base their analysis on use cases related to your product, preferably based on real or anonymized transaction scenarios. Prioritize real cases over theoretical hypotheses. Ask candidates to share specific deals they led, go-to-market strategies they executed, or community initiatives they drove. Observe how they demonstrate responsibility and adaptability, and clearly communicate work results. Simulation Demonstration Have the candidate develop an outreach strategy or handle a complex inbound request. For example, provide a vague inbound message (e.g., an agreement seeking to “explore partnership opportunities”) and have the candidate explain how to evaluate the opportunity, build a pitch, and move forward with the partnership. Cross-functional interviews Depending on the company's stage, schedule cross-functional interviews with marketing, product, legal, and other teams that need to collaborate with BD. While some collaborations may seem great initially, they may fail if there's no product support or legal compliance. Meet the founders For early-stage BD hires, especially the first BD hire, it’s crucial to meet with the founders to ensure the candidate aligns with the company’s goals and values. As the team grows, the founders won’t need to meet with every candidate, but the hiring process still needs to ensure the new member can integrate and work effectively with the team. Why do these methods work? Test both strategic thinking and execution capabilities. Demonstrate the candidate's ability to communicate under pressure. Get key stakeholders on the same page ahead of time. Business development is all about learning quickly, focusing on what’s important, and digging deep when needed. During interviews, don’t expect candidates to fully understand your product. Instead, look for the ability to adapt, solve problems, and cope with a rapidly changing environment. Spend enough time carefully evaluating candidates and keep feedback coming in. Your hiring process reflects your company’s image, and even small details can cumulatively impact the reputation of your founders and team over time. The key theme here is timing: hiring the right person at the right time can quickly propel a company forward, while the wrong hire can set progress back. Before product-market fit (PMF), teams need hands-on candidates to test, learn, and close early deals. After PMF, the focus shifts to scaling replicable systems and teams. Clarity is crucial: Business development, growth, and marketing require distinct skill sets, and bundling these roles for extended periods is a common pitfall. Furthermore, the complexities of the crypto industry (e.g., tokens, governance, and open-source dynamics) make hiring targeted by product and stage even more crucial.