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Today we’re joined by Sergey Maslov — a crypto expert and tech professional with over 20 years of experience in IT and 8 years in the crypto industry. Sergey previously worked at Binance and has collaborated with multiple projects as a CTO, technical lead, and consultant.In this interview, we discuss the real side of crypto — the part that rarely makes it into people’s feeds: how centralized exchange infrastructure actually works, why flash crashes and liquidation cascades happen, what ADL is, and which habits help you avoid chasing “lucky x’s” — and instead survive and grow in crypto over the long term.— Sergey, hi! You didn’t enter crypto through trading — you came from the technical side. How did you end up at Binance, and how did your journey in crypto begin?My first entry into crypto was through mining — I tried mining at home on GPUs back when it was still possible and profitable. What’s important is that I didn’t get into it “by accident”: like many people, I was brought in by the hype. The hype made me want to understand how blockchain works and how you can make money with it. Back then, you could earn quite a lot, especially on ETH-compatible coins.Later I realized that you can’t go far with mining alone: profitability was dropping, while people around me were making more money through trading and arbitrage. That pushed me to dive deeper into blockchains, bridges, and DeFi, and then I got heavily involved in ICOs — I invested almost everything I had earned from mining. That was when I first faced a scam — not an instant one, but a “long scam,” where a project feeds you promises for months while doing absolutely nothing.I joined Binance specifically as a tech specialist: they found me themselves through GitHub. They invited me to talk about mobile development. I had strong experience — over 8 years of iOS development. I went through a series of technical interviews and joined the team.And when I first joined, Binance was completely different in scale: there was one shared employee chat with about 1,300 people. By the time I left three years later, the company had grown so much that the chat was dissolved — and the total number of employees had reached roughly 7,000–8,000.— What exactly was your job at Binance? What did you do day to day, and which projects or systems would you highlight as the most significant? What were the main challenges?The hardest part for me at the beginning was the Chinese/Asian corporate culture: people were prone to overtime, and communication was often indirect and unfamiliar. To adapt faster, I even hired an English tutor who had lived in China for years — he helped me understand the cultural mindset and how to communicate properly with Chinese colleagues, including how to interpret expectations.As for the work itself: Binance was growing extremely fast, and I watched approaches and processes evolve in real time. My division handled everything related to the Fiat direction — fiat on-ramps and off-ramps: card top-ups, card payouts, and payment operations globally. We worked across regions and integrated local payment providers.One of the key areas was the helpdesk/support track, where we handled real user cases at the intersection of fiat and crypto — for example, when a payment got stuck: money had left a bank account (say, in Brazil), but crypto hadn’t arrived yet. The job was to identify where exactly the failure happened, where the funds were “stuck,” and how to complete the transaction correctly end-to-end.— You understand the internal mechanics of centralized exchanges — how their systems work, risk modules, liquidations. Honestly: can an average person earn steadily on a CEX, or is it a game where the exchange and big players are always one step ahead?It is possible to earn steadily on a CEX, but it’s rare. The exchange and large players are always closer to the infrastructure, and the details of the matching engine and risk modules are kept private specifically to prevent abuse. Statistically, most traders lose money. So success in trading isn’t “x100” — it’s risk management and math, where your wins outweigh your losses over time.— Sergey, as a CTO: what would you recommend to regular users — CEX or DEX? In terms of security, risks, and convenience.This is exactly the right question. As a tech person, I’ve seen many systems — both built by “the best minds” and by average teams. In practice, everything breaks: from known vulnerabilities to 0-days and very specific attack scenarios. For example, Bybit was hacked a year ago — it was a targeted attack involving insiders and a very specific exploit path. So the conclusion is simple: there is no perfectly safe solution today. The right approach is diversification (don’t keep everything in one place, try different solutions, and don’t rely on “perfect security”).At the same time, convenience has improved dramatically: modern products have become much more user-friendly, UI is being standardized, and new features (futures, grid bots, etc.) can be understood in just minutes thanks to strong product and design work.The correct approach is diversification — don’t keep everything in one place, use different tools, and don’t expect “ideal security.”— Let’s talk about the flash crash on October 11, 2025 — which many people называют one of the harshest. You wrote that it could have looked like a targeted economic attack on exchange architecture. Why do you think so? What signals in market behavior/exchanges/liquidations support it? And what truly changed in the market after October 11?Binance has long become a central player — many exchanges and protocols effectively use it as their primary price source (a kind of “oracle” with unlimited trust). So if someone can move the price on Binance, it pulls the entire market with it and triggers a chain reaction of liquidations.Futures and derivatives amplified the effect: when market makers step aside and liquidity drops, a sharp move turns into an avalanche — liquidations push the price even further, which causes even more liquidations. Unlike traditional markets, crypto historically lacked proper “circuit breakers” like trading halts.After October 11, many people experienced (and many learned about) ADL (Auto Deleveraging) for the first time: an exchange can forcibly close positions — even profitable ones — to cover obligations. As a result, the market started thinking more about diversification and infrastructure risks, rather than simply “guessing the price.”— What are three skills/habits a person needs to avoid becoming a victim of the market and infrastructure (exchanges, wallets, bridges) — and actually win long-term?If someone came to crypto “for x’s” but truly wants to win long-term, they need three things:1) DYOR / do your own research Don’t enter based on blind faith in influencers and hype. Start with your own analysis, test with a small amount, observe market behavior, collect pros and cons — and only then increase exposure.2) Diversification The most common mistake is keeping everything in one place. Crypto gives you the ability to diversify across platforms (CEX/DEX), protocols, blockchains, and even wallets (hot/cold). This drastically reduces infrastructure risks.3) Security and discipline You need to stay alert: understand hacks and attack patterns, social engineering schemes, use different wallets for different purposes, maintain basic hygiene (2FA, seed phrase safety, limits, separate devices/accounts).The most practical tip that really reduces risk is to separate storage and activity. Large sums should stay on cold wallets, while daily activity should be done through separate hot wallets. And a portion of funds can be distributed across different centralized platforms.<blockquote>The key strategy is diversifying storage and financial management: don’t keep everything in one place and don’t use the same wallet for everything.</blockquote>— Do you personally invest? What assets do you hold?I invest — and I’m very bad at it. I don’t have BTC: it was stolen, so I hate it and I don’t touch it. I have ETH and exchange coins.I believe CEX tokens will grow, because this is infrastructure — exchanges are accountable for their product with their reputation. In the future, exchange tokens could effectively become similar to equities. Investing in CEX today is like investing in exchanges in the 1990s during the boom.I also believe in DEX coins, but only if they’re not overheated. These are infrastructure leaders — they’re not going anywhere.— Beyond the media side, do you continue working with projects? In what capacity now — CTO, consultant, advisor, or tech lead? What exactly do you help teams with?Over the last few years, I’ve mainly worked as a CTO/technical lead. In parallel, I’ve worked as an advisor, consulting around 30 projects in DeFi and CeFi.Usually I help teams with key technical and product decisions: choosing architecture, choosing the blockchain and tech stack, how to “stitch together” components properly, which solutions are the industry gold standard — and which ones are just hype and not worth the time.I also often support go-to-market: how to build the launch properly, user flow / user stories, and what helps a product reach users faster. And one more thing — I always emphasize ethics and standards: what I believe is acceptable in a product and in how teams treat users.— Final question: if you could give one piece of advice to someone who wants to stay in crypto long-term — not to “catch x’s,” but to survive and grow over the years — what would it be?I’ll give a perhaps unusual piece of advice: if you want to stay in crypto for the long run, don’t focus on “x’s.” Focus on what value you can bring to the world and to people — and build your crypto career around that.The crypto industry constantly needs strong professionals:— developers to build systems and protocols, — designers to create great UX/UI, — marketers and content creators to explain complex things and bring users in.When you find your role and fill real gaps in the industry, you stay, you grow, and you earn in the long run. That’s the most reliable path.

Sergey Maslov on Why 90% Lose Money on Exchanges — and How to Survive Crypto in the Long Run

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