The Winning Mindset: Greatness in Sport and Crypto - TOKEN2049 Singapore 2025

Welcome to this uh fireside chat. I'm Paulo Monty. I work at BingX. So I'm pleased to welcome all here to the big X labs uh stage. The idea is to discuss a little bit about greatness, leadership, teamwork, and probably what's the best option to talk about this than a football legend and a global female leader.

I understand that probably I can introduce themselves but the interest thing for you is to listen from the cell. So since you are in my left please introduce yourself job ladies first. Okay ladies first.

Okay. Okay. Um my name is Ving. I'm the chief product officer at Bax and also head of BX Labs. This is the um we launched BXLab for one year and finally we have our own stage in P token 2049 this year.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for John.

Hi guys. Good morning or good afternoon should I say. Um thank you for having me and a big thank you to being ex I'm John Terry exchelsea and England captain and hopefully I can share some insight into my time at Chelsea today.

Okay. He missed that he won many Premier Hicks the Champions League. He played two world cups but that it's okay. H one one thing that I wanted to to start. Did you watch last night match at 3:00 a.

m. here? Chelsea Benfica.

I didn't watch it. I was fast asleep and jetlagged last night.

But the light was the result. Yeah. Win last night. It's good.

Very good. I'm happy today.

And you had Jose Mourinho back at Stanford Bridge. Nice.

Very good. The best manager I've ever experienced in my life.

That's a headlight. Some applause.

Perfect. H. So again, John the I will start with you, John. um for achieving what you achieved uh it's of course needed to have a a winning mindset. Is it something that you are born with or is something that you can train?

I mean we we say we use the the the moto train on greatness. Can it be trained or it's something that comes with you?

I think it can be both. I've I've seen from both sides as well. I think your upbringing as a child has a lot to do with that. personally for me. Um, but also I think you have a fixed mindset of believing in what you're doing.

But on the flip side of that, there's a growth mindset and understanding that when you surround yourself with better people, better players in my in in my sport, you can only learn and improve in in that space as well. So I I think on on all levels, I think you can certainly learn. Um, but I do think your upbringing as a child has a big part to play in that.

Okay, fair enough. And in your case, VB, I mean, you are mo one of the most influential women in in web 3, honestly. And what do you what do you think it it it takes in terms of uh this always changing industry to have that winning mindset and to achieve success in web3 space?

Okay. Well, uh I'm trying to work very hard to be influence more people. Okay. So uh winning mindset um talking about this I think since we're are doing products so it's always our motivation for every product manager to build something really really cool and really really like helpful to present to our user our community that is I think the driver and the ultimate motivator for um like people like us making a product. So um unlike football game or unlike the sports you have a very particular winning moment that can decide or define uh whether you did good job.

For us it takes a relatively little time to have your product produced and go live on online for people to use and collect feedback and so on. So during the process we celebrate every almost every small wins to like encourage ourselves say hey you did very good job continue doing until one day we finally find okay wow we made something really really fantastic I would like to raise uh our copy trading as a very good example at that time uh we are thinking about it's back in 2000 uh 2019 roughly around that time uh we are thinking about um the industry is so hard to enter because of the jargon, terminologies, technical barriers. So our very motivation is that hey we want to do something really really cool to embrace to welcome the normal people to to trade to get to know more about blockchain technology. That is uh the the uh I mean inspiration or the spark of how we start our business. We do a lot of research and then we find out okay maybe copy trading is a good business model and then we try step by step and after I think roughly six months in the beginning we have no feedbacks nobody knows what we are doing but we continue doing it doing to uh to a level that we feel well it's a it's a good feature that I want to use our team want to use then after six months all of a sudden the entire uh crypto trading world knows Bing X is making something fantastic and we see a lot of um uh user inflow, money inflow, capital inflow to our platform that is you know this is the moment is fantastic very beautiful that we feel okay all those hard work all those like over time or worth it

and you mentioned something that I'm going to add a question to John because what you said and something we discussed yesterday because in football everyone sticks to the trophy, the final winning moment. But you played and trained your whole life. I mean, you started at Chelsea with 14, you started before playing and it takes years of preparation and training to get that final winning moment. That's something that you can in in some situation compared with this industry. I mean, it's the winning moment had a lot of years of preparation and training.

Yeah, mine started from the age of 14 actually. obviously the hard work. A lot of people don't see that. They see the trophy being lifted for for us in in the football world at the end of the season. They don't see the kind of the injuries, the ups and downs that goes along with that as well.

There's there's a lot of roles that play an important part in that as well. And I referenced yesterday when we spoke about this, the importance of the staff as well. And it's the players, it's the 11 players on the pitch that a lot of people see, but there's staff that play a huge part in that as well to to the to the kitmen, to the kitchen staff, to the guys cleaning the building, to Roman right at the very top, making sure that we've got the best facilities and the best possibility to go and win the league or win the Champions League and all of that. So, it's an it's an important role um for for me as captain of the football club to make sure that that the players are first and foremost the most important. So, when they're going on the pitch, we're in the right space and we know exactly what we're doing.

But it's also rewarding the people around you as well. And I say that in terms of the staff and the canteen staff, like everyone loves to be told when they're doing well, but also like we need to be honest in this space as well to to lead teams or to lead people. You have to sometimes upset people and you have to push and drive people to be better as well. Now how how you do that and how you understand that is very important and a role I had as a leader and a captain at Chelsea was to understand those players that really liked being told when they were good and also when they were bad but in a in a positive way as well. So understanding the team around you is very important.

So there's a lot of hard work that goes in that many many years and uh a long time on the training field um that are very important in my success as well.

And I mean sports is usually used for business and and and and management because you can see some similities and you mentioned about being a captain. I mean you are the captain and and here are a lot of sea level or people that managing their companies and what it takes from a leader to be followed from their teammates or the the the the team that they have h mostly on during tough times.

I I think the most important thing for a leader in in sport or in football is to be the person that that is doing all of the the correct stuff. So for me, the real basics in life, so I'm working in the academy with the younger players at the moment. Like being on time is really important to me. And if you're in at 10:00, get in at 9:00. Make sure you're doing all the gym work, all the preparation you can.

So when 10:00 arrives or 10:30 arrives that you're training, you're ready to go for training. And and it's all of those real basics that that I think are really important in the in the world of sport, but also transfer over to the business side as well. And I think you in football you have to stay fully fit because when you're demanding from the group of players that are surrounding you, you need to make sure that you're robust. You're in a physical condition that you're the you're the one on the training field every day. And also we had numerous players year after year arrive at Chelsea.

Now I stayed at Chelsea for over 20 years. Now when people arrived at Chelsea, understanding the business or what Chelsea Football Club means to me and the supporters was very important. So day one, if you arrive Pablo, tomorrow at Chelsea and I'm the captain, I'm going to make sure you understand what those London derbies mean against Tottenham, against Arsenal, against West Ham, the rivalry with Man United and Arsenal and how much it means to our supporters. And also I was the one with the armband and the cap and was the captain at Chelsea, but I had Frank, who was a fantastic leader in a different way. So we have different ways of leading as well.

Frank was very vocal and very well spoken in the dressing room. I was the person on the pitch driving the training ground, driving the tempo of the training sessions. And then above that, you have the manager. I spoke about Mourinho. He was the one really pushing us in a in a good way.

Sometimes, not always good, but in a in a positive way. And above him, you have the owner making sure that we're we're bringing the elite players in to raise everyone's level as well. And I spoke about it earlier, when you surround yourself with bigger and better people, you can only learn and get better. H I'm sure if I were in that team, it's impossible not to follow U3 because it's complicated. I would be afraid a little bit of U3.

By you, you are also a a leader of what you do. I mean, you are the chief product officer at PX. You are the head of BigX Labs. If you have to define your leadership and and and tell the the audience what it takes for for for you to be followed from your team to achieve what you achieved. Um well I totally agree with what John just said like my style is like I lead with u example like I will trying to do to do like I set an example for the team for example um yeah I I trying to uh have a better estimate of what exactly workload uh what exactly the skill need to put into the put on the table for a product or for for the process to go smoothly.

So in order to have that uh understanding and that knowledge to have a precise judgment I have to like always learning new things be very open-minded um that is first thing and second after a lead with example I think I want to build a very supportive uh working environment for my team uh so they feel they'll be empowered just as the BX lo uh uh logo says uh we want to be um empower our user, empower our trader, but internally we want to empower our staff, our colleague to let them to give them a full authorization and let them own their decision and be responsible for the consequence for the results then feel motivated by uh having the authorization having the ownership uh and also at the same time I need to create a environment that they feel be they feel connected they know they will have the uh relevant resources from me or at least I can guide them through uh some sometimes the darkness sometimes the uncertainties they feel supported very important uh so but I think at Bingax we have a very very good culture uh in terms of teamwork in terms of how we uh can work together we have a very disciplined but welcoming and very friendly culture to make to allow all those teamwork partnership happen. This is also why um partners internal external really really likes to work with bin X.

Nice. And you mentioned the word discipline and and and I understand discipline is is really crucial. I mean you have hobbies outside crypto and AI and and and for those that are managing companies I also want you to take some some things but h do you take that discipline into the other things that you do and and you believe that having other activities besides your work help you to be disciplined and achieve on the job? Uh yes um I'm pursuing my first master degree of course part-time my uh bachelor in finance and I got computer science I got uh English literature then I got uh applied psychology now I'm pursuing arts art business um I like to approach a new area by taking a degrees because I I deeply believe that we have to develop uh we have to grab have uh like better big picture such that we can broaden our widths, deepen our understanding and in a day we can connect all the dots all the all those information to make it a structural way. is more like a coding.

You need a uh top-down architecture to allow high performance and to allow scal uh scap scalability and uh I think all this other knowledge structural knowledge will make like turn my brain into a kind of um things that when information coming I know how to understand them. I know how to evaluate them and eventually I know how to use them in practice. This is very important and I this I told my team too learn things outside the work learn the advanced technology get to know what the new generation think about because like in crypto site um Jen Z they uh have 45% of total BTC like outstanding the volume so be able to understand what the new generation think about beyond be able to understand what institutional traders think about is really really important to divide something useful, helpful and really bring value to the table.

In in crypto we we say that for investors discipline is really crucial and in sports is even even more. You mentioned about those moments in where you you as a captain kept the discipline or help everyone to to be disciplined and I wanted to ask you about those moments maybe tough moments in at Chelsea in which discipline was the key to get off that bad moment and achieve and and and and how you did it.

Yeah, the discipline I refer to uh the Champions League in 2012. So if there's any Chelsea fans or football fans here would understand what what that means to be in the football club. So looking at the Champions League, I think it's firstly the most difficult trophy to win in football. And in 20056 we beat Barcelona in the quarterfinal. We should have gone through and and maybe won it that year.

In 2008 I missed a penalty in the final in Moscow. 200910 when we played Barcelona at Stanford Bridge. We should have had five penalties. We won't go there. We'll leave that for another time.

Um, and yes, the scores in the last minute. And as a player, you're getting older. You're realizing that at the age of 36, 37, your body's got kind of going to say no at some point. We had probably the worst group of players, and I say that in terms of the worst group of players we had at Chelsea. We're still an unbelievable team, don't get me wrong, but we really had to stay disciplined in that.

So we was a little bit older so we had to manage oursel in the right and correct way. But that desire to to win the Champions League never left us and those those moments of hurt which I just spoke about it kind of stayed with us right till the very end. So in 2012 we beat Bayern Munich in the final with players that were 35 34 36. We had a player that made his debut in the final in the Champions League in Ryan Bertrand by Bay by Bay by Bay by Bay by Bay by Bay by Bay by Bay by Bay by Bay by Bayern Munich were by far the favorites going in, but that discipline going into that and the buildup to that as a group of players was and the experience we had in the group was was key to that. So I think discipline in in sport or business is is vital.

I I think you touched on something a minute ago. I think you have to be obsessed with what you do with football. I was obsessed with winning. Like even now I'm picturing Man United win the league in 09 uh in 0809. It leaves me really frustrated as a footballer.

I know my my lifespan is going to be 36 37 years of age. My career is finished. So you have to be obsessed with what you're doing. And the players that we had at Chelsea were obsessed with winning. And like I said, when people arrive at Chelsea or whether it's being X, when you come into that company, you really have to have to understand what it means and be obsessed by that.

Perfect. Then and I will connect with some what you you said about the the final moments of your of your career. I mean you led a team on the pitch. Now you lead teams off the pitch. What's the importance of uh teamwork?

Because we talk about leadership, we talk about many things, but teamwork is important from the leader side to achieve success. Also

teamwork is vital. And like I say, I was the one with the armband. So you see me a lot of the time with the trophy at the front of all of that. Behind that there's a layer and behind that there's another layer and behind that there's a further layer which is the staff that I spoke about. So teamwork is vital.

Football is a sport where you can't do it on your own unless you have Lionel Messi in your team and maybe um but football you have to surround yourself with with players and leaders and you spoke about it Vivian as well where I was the captain but also Frank and Ddier and Peter Czech had their voice as well and as captain you you need to understand as well when to allow that and when to give your voice and opinion as well but also to feel what's in the room. So just because people are 19 and 20 doesn't mean to say they haven't got a voice or haven't got an opinion. They're going to have an an intelligent insight into into the world and how they look at because they're seeing it from a younger generation which is important for us to take on board as well. So teamwork is key in all aspects and I think the biggest thing in in sport or in business that when the team win for me on the football pitch as captain I made sure that we all won. And I say that because when the players received the bonus, I made sure that the kitchen staff, the guys cleaning the kit, we all got a little bonus.

So when we won, you all felt that winning feeling. When we lost, you have to feel that pain as well for the shirt and the badge. But when you win, I think it's important you all win together. Now, if that's a big party and everyone goes out and celebrates together, fantastic. We've done that many of times.

Um, if it's a financial bonus, that's also fine as well. Um, and we had a really good balance of how we done things at Chelsea.

I will ask for my bonus later if I she's there. And Bi also the same for you. I mean, h in business is practically the same and and we talked about leadership before. We talked about the the the discipline that you need as a leader to have with your team. But the teamwork is crucial.

I mean in your case mostly what's the importance of of that teamwork to achieve what you are a achieving in X?

Well teamwork uh in my work it's about um having a very supportive environment to welcome the talent from different aspects to work together to sit together to discuss a difficult difficult problem together. For example, in our team, the oldest guy was uh is about like 40 40 something. The youngest one is only 21.

That's not old. 40 is not old. You know that.

Yeah. I'm so sorry.

You're true. Please.

Sorry. Sorry. Sincere apolog. But yeah, I mean I mean uh the most experienced one is 40 something.

That's better aspect.

Sorry. uh they bring totally different aspects for the like myself I'm uh I'm 30 something I spent almost 10 years in financial industry treatify uh what I see a product I always say if it is scalable whether it is high performance uh whether it is suitable for um institutional adoption but someone 21 little boy come to say hey VB you you just p it that way because our generation we just don't look at that you need do some something else. We need something pop out. We need to quick react very very quick those kind of feature. We see uh the spark of the idea or or this kind of discussion every day.

Everyone trying to bring their own aspect of the word um their perspective of what define a good product on the table. Then we have the material to discuss what exactly the feature we want. what exactly our target group target audience is. That is super important. And also this is why we um try every effort to introduce our AI technology into play is because we find it's almost impossible to process like that much volume of datas from the user to help us decide what what are the feature we want.

We have to use a nuclear weapon. we have to uh use AI to assist in the decision process and product designing process. So there's uh one guy in my team say hey Vivian we we really need to deploy AI and that was where GPT launched uh I I think the second day or third day hey Viv we really need to do that and you know at that time it's a really difficult decision because we calculate all the se extra server we need to deploy for the for employ uh employee AI uh kind of strategy and we uh think about what kind of talent we need to hire in order to uh deploy our AI strategy. actually that that is a hard decision but uh I'm really grateful that we made that decision that early such that we are quite ahead of the game like stand stand at this moment say hey we are the first platform that provide AI related solution in crypto yeah

I don't know if you try it I I recommend you to do it because being X AI is really nice I I use it a lot to to check and to h gain time because it's a a game changer in terms of time consumption for for the user and and Vivie to to start closing up um again the in the audience there are people that is managing companies and and and might find it interesting h what's your take on all that we or your advice for them on all everything that we touch I mean leadership discipline greatness h what would you say to them to recommend them to apply on their job Um, be always open-minded as you're getting more senior. Actually, it's very difficult for senior guys to be really open-minded and learn something new. Not every day, maybe every year at least. Then you will find you have the right conversation with the younger generation. You will be at the front of the industry you are you are working in.

And John, same to you. But I I mean you've been on the pitch many years now. you're not on the other side on a different side but you lived with that many years with your your coach. H what's your uh recommendation your suggestion for the the leaders here to apply having in mind all this you know greatness uh teamwork and and discipline

well I think taken into account I I'm working in the academy at Chelsea with the 16 to 21 year old so different generations to myself I see that there's probably not as many leaders w within the within the academy they like direction they like to be told again it I I think when you're when you're the senior guy or you're leading or the manager in that group, it's important to understand the the the people in the room. So sometimes you're going to be in a room with people that want to be told what to do and and then you have to show by example of how to do that. There's other times in the room as well where there's, you know, a lot of experience in the room and you have to tap into that as well. And I think the best leaders understand when to dip into that or when to then stand at the front and take full responsibility and lead right from the very top. And I think understanding what's in the room is the most important for me.

Nice. And about that the new generations that's probably another topic leading new generations and VB he's mentioning this of lacking of new leaders that that the young generations like to be told. Um do you experience the same uh when you face your team and the young coders and young fellas?

Uh like in my job because our our company is really really flat. So people just very free to talk about what they are really interested and uh they they actually I think the younger generation they have a quite clear goal about what they want to get out of the job what kind of experience or knowledge they want to achieve for every job. Um I still because we have a very high standard of when we hire people. So we're trying to hide the ambitious people and they are have the they can bear the responsibility as well. Um so I feel I'm very thankful to my team that they are very self-motivated person and they lead themselves.

I I have a I have uh quite confident that uh they will in later of their career they will become great leader in the industry.

Nice. Well, we are coming to an end. It's been an absolute pleasure to be here. A privilege. So, please a round of applause.