Gracy Chen

Gracy Chen is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bitget, a Seychelles-based centralized exchange (CEX) and "Universal Exchange" (UEX), and a former television host, startup founder, and angel investor. She is the founder of ReigVR, a tech startup, and co-founder of Accumulus, a PaaS provider.^[1][10]

Education

Gracy Chen earned a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Applied Mathematics from the National University of Singapore. She then completed a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at the MIT Sloan School of Management. While at MIT Sloan, Chen served as Co-president of the MIT Sloan Blockchain Club, where she deepened her exposure to blockchain technology, marketing, and entrepreneurship.^[2]

Career

Gracy Chen began her career as a host and producer at Phoenix TV from July 2014 to August 2015, where she reported on financial events, hosted programs, and interviewed prominent tech leaders.^[2]​

After Phoenix TV, Chen served as Co-founder and CMO at Accumulus from September 2015 to May 2017. Accumulus provided PaaS solutions for sharing economy firms and individuals in China, focusing on labor subcontracting, income settlement, automatic tax declaration, and insurance guarantee services.^[2]​

From June 2017 to September 2020, Chen was Founder and CEO of ReigVR, a tech startup based in Beijing, China. Under her leadership, the company secured angel investment of 3 million RMB and reached a valuation of 20 million RMB in 2017.^[2]​

She then became Chief Marketing Officer (CN) for XRSPACE from October 2020 to April 2022, leading the company’s marketing efforts in China, developing and executing marketing strategies, and managing various aspects of business development.^[2]​

Blockchain Career

Gracy Chen first developed an interest in crypto after meeting Tim Draper and his cryptocurrency-focused team. She was drawn to the industry by its potential for decentralization and for enabling cost-effective international money transfers, which addressed challenges she had faced in China.^[5]​

She began investing in cryptocurrencies such as BTC, ETH, and DOGE. Her involvement deepened when she invested in BitKeep, a portfolio company of Bitget. This connection led her to join Bitget as a marketing lead.^[5]​

“Initially, I mainly invested in the secondary market, such as BTC, ETH, and DOGE, gradually increasing my portfolio to include not only the secondary market, but also the primary market.”

Her career path was also shaped by her work as a television show host, particularly a 2015 interview with Ray Kurzweil that highlighted the transformative potential of AI.^[5]​

“Basically in our conversation and also in his book he had some very interesting predictions in terms of how AI may surpass the intelligence level of human beings. And now you see AI is really everywhere. It's really empowering and changing our life.”

The crypto-friendly regulatory environment of Hong Kong further strengthened her interest, making it an attractive hub for web3 businesses and startups. Chen's path into the crypto industry combined these experiences with the advantages she perceived in the blockchain space.^[5]​

Bitget

Gracy Chen first joined Bitget in June 2022 as Managing Director. In this role she oversaw global market growth and expansion, strategy and execution, and business and corporate development, and was responsible for elevating the exchange's presence in the crypto ecosystem and supporting its continued growth.^[2]​^[3]​

In May 2024, she was promoted to Chief Executive Officer, succeeding founder Sandra Lou.[10]^[8]​

As CEO, Chen has outlined an expanded strategic vision that emphasizes convergence across centralized and decentralized finance, broad tokenisation of traditional assets, AI-driven user tools, and payments-focused on-chain infrastructure. In interviews marking Bitget's seventh anniversary and in a subsequent profile, she set out several named initiatives and product positions: UEX (the "Universal Exchange") as the exchange’s positioning to converge CEX, DEX, and traditional finance and pursue "full asset coverage" once assets are tokenized on-chain; GetAgent, an AI trading and advisory agent designed to execute strategies and assist users; and Morph Chain, a public chain for payments and stablecoin use that will not issue a separate token but will use BGB as its native economic token.^[9][8]​ In her 2026 New Year letter, Chen described UEX, AI, and compliance as the three pillars guiding the company’s next phase of growth.^[11]​

Chen described GetAgent as an industry-leading AI tool capable of information gathering, diagnostics, and direct order execution, forecasting that "placing orders through AI agents will significantly change user trading habits over the next one to three years." She framed UEX as enabling "full asset coverage," allowing tokenized stocks, commodities, forex, and other asset classes to trade on a single platform once placed on-chain.^[9][8]​

Under Chen's stated roadmap, BGB is positioned as the core ecosystem token across the exchange, wallet, and Morph public chain; Morph will "not issue its own token; it will directly use BGB." Bitget has also promoted on-chain product offerings tied to its wallet and Morph infrastructure, and launched promotional programs such as the "God Mine" Launchpool, which has featured high APR staking campaigns for BGB and partner tokens.^[9]​

In 2026, Bitget expanded its UEX strategy by launching Reality, a platform for tokenized U.S. equities that allows users to trade selected U.S. stocks around the clock alongside crypto assets. Chen has said that about one-fifth of the exchange’s daily trading volume comes from non-crypto assets such as tokenized stocks and commodities, reflecting institutional demand for integrated collateral and multi-asset trading on a single venue.^[12]​

Chen has highlighted real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, stablecoins and payments, and AI as key growth engines. She described stablecoins and payments as potential "next killer application[s]" after trading, and pointed to Bitget's collaborations and historical support for major stablecoins (USDT, USDC) and early support for newer projects such as Ethena/USDe, alongside strategic investments in some stablecoin projects to drive payment and remittance use cases on Morph.^[9][8]​

In public remarks, Chen has also reiterated Bitget's market positioning and scale as it expands. She has used the UEX framing to describe the aim of offering tokenized access to "any asset the universe can offer," and interviews in late 2025 referenced the exchange as a Top 10 platform with a broad global user base.^[8]​

During her time at Bitget, the company announced on October 5, 2023, that Chen was appointed to the Forbes Business Council, an invitation-only interactive hub for entrepreneurs.^[4]​

"I am deeply honored by this appointment and look forward to collaborating with other visionary business leaders on the Forbes Council. This is a tremendous opportunity to help drive mainstream adoption of digital assets and further our mission of building an open and inclusive industry." - Gracy Chen

Volunteering

Gracy Chen’s volunteering began as a Global Shaper with the World Economic Forum, where she participated for six years from July 2015 to July 2021. As a Global Shaper, she joined a leadership initiative that brings together young individuals with leadership and innovation skills who are committed to social responsibility. The group focused on projects addressing a wide range of global challenges, including issues related to the economy, environment, education, gender equality, culture, and technology.^[13]​

Additionally, Chen has served as a bilingual moderator and hostess for the Global Mobile Internet Conference (GMIC) since 2015.^[13]​

In October 2020, Chen co-founded SheShapes, a social services project that evolved from her earlier initiative SheShapesSTEM. This volunteer effort focuses on empowering ambitious women by providing guidance and training to help them make informed life and career decisions. With an emphasis on promoting women’s growth, SheShapes has aimed to help women achieve their goals and aspirations, with Chen maintaining ongoing involvement in the project.^[13]​

In October 2025, it was announced that Chen, through Bitget, is formally supporting the first-ever global UNICEF Game Jam. This initiative, part of Bitget's partnership with UNICEF's Game Changers Coalition, is a virtual hackathon for young people across eight countries to create original video games. The project reflects her commitment to using blockchain as a tool for education and empowerment, and to giving youth, especially girls in emerging economies, access to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) skills.^[6][7]​

As part of her work on diversity and inclusion in the industry, Chen also created and champions Bitget's "Blockchain for her" program, an initiative aimed at fostering greater female participation and leadership in Web3.^[8]​

Chen also teaches a graduate-level course in crypto finance at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), where she is described as a lecturer and guest professor. The course covers Bitcoin, Ethereum, DeFi, stablecoins, RWAs, AI-driven protocols, and regulatory developments, and incorporates industry case studies and guest speakers.^[7][2]​

Market Views & Strategy

Gracy Chen has outlined a market outlook and product strategy focused on diversification, risk management, and user education. She has recommended defensive positioning for traders using high leverage and advised that investors without any exposure to major assets like BTC, ETH, or BGB consider adding a modest allocation over time while avoiding aggressive leverage.^[9]​ She has warned that aggressive long strategies with high leverage should be reconsidered in favor of more defensive approaches.^[9]​

Chen has promoted tokenised assets as a core part of portfolio diversification under UEX, including tokenised gold and other RWA products, and described tokenised gold and similar commodities as set to play a hedging role amid volatile 2026 markets. She has also emphasized that product diversification must be paired with user education, positioning AI tools such as GetAgent as both execution and educational assistants to help users navigate tokenized assets and manage risk.^[9]​^[8]​

In later comments on the 2026 market environment, Chen argued that weaker spot liquidity in crypto has pushed exchanges toward broader financial services, and that institutional clients increasingly want to trade stocks, commodities, and crypto in one place and to post tokenized equities as collateral. She has framed Bitget’s "everything exchange" approach as a way to navigate a more muted crypto-only cycle by diversifying volume into tokenized traditional assets.^[12]​