As the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry rises, the need for Crypto Product Managers is increasing. The world’s largest companies are looking for Crypto Product Managers to personally manage the product and process at the head of marketing, product, and technical teams, but there are not enough in the sector.

It is getting harder and harder to shift from the traditional Product Management and Product Owner culture to this heavier and more detailed sector. For more than 8 years, as a person who has developed cryptocurrency and blockchain products for companies with digital banking, fintech and e-wallet-centred products and personally managed all the processes.

I wrote this article with 5 different titles to share all my experiences and to help more people become Crypto Product Managers.

What Does a Crypto Product Manager Do?

The role and people who are directly responsible for products, websites, and projects that use technologies related to cryptocurrency, blockchain, and digital assets are called Crypto Product Managers. The main feature of this role is to set a strategy and manage all product processes. It also includes setting a strategy at every stage of the product.

There are some fundamental and critical issues in the success of a product in the Crypto sector. These issues mainly include managing the technical infrastructure, improving the user experience, regulatory compliance, and of course building highly secure infrastructures. The Crypto Product Manager working in the blockchain industry is at the centre of all of these processes and is responsible for maintaining balance.

The day-to-day tasks include analysing user needs, liaising with technical teams, supporting the marketing operation and determining the main roadmap of the product. One of the main tasks is to follow the market trends to make the product more competitive and maximise the user experience. Since the most important issue in cryptocurrency and blockchain projects is security, it also prioritises the establishment of the necessary technical team.

It is very important to conduct strict audits and analyses in this area because a vulnerability in the cryptocurrency industry can cause irreversible losses. The Crypto Product Manager is at the centre of both technical, marketing and product teams and is involved in all of these processes. In particular, it provides information to other managers about these processes and manages investor relations.

How to Become a Crypto Product Manager?

If you want to become a Crypto Product Manager, there are basically some steps you need to follow. As a first step, you should have a solid foundation in traditional product management.

Basic product management skills, researching the user experience, analysing the market well, creating the right roadmap and team management should be well known.

If you have the basic knowledge of this product management, the next step should be completed with the most detailed knowledge about cryptocurrencies and blockchain. There is very good content on Youtube and similar channels on this subject. I personally highly recommend channels and content such as the following Youtube channel:

It is necessary to be particularly knowledgeable about the topics that are currently trending in blockchain technology:
– Cryptocurrencies
– Smart Contracts
– Decentralised Finance (DeFi)
– Tokenomics
– Difference of Decentralise and Centralise Products

It may be useful to take training and certificates on this subject, but the most important awareness will be to examine other brands by attending exhibitions and conferences and cooperating with these brands.

While trying to cooperate with competitors or brands in similar sectors, you can get information about what those brands have developed and all their operations. I recommend that you communicate closely with people in roles such as business development and sales manager. Since these roles are roles aimed at selling their own products, these people will give you the most detailed information and will lead your development.

Agile and Scrum are among the most successful methodologies in the basic product management culture. Applying them will be useful in product development, but methodologies such as Waterfall are still actively used today. For this reason, I do not think it is right to have conditions or high walls to use Agile and Scrum in product development. More importantly, you should have a successful roadmap.

Key Skills for a Crypto Product Manager

To be a successful Crypto Product Manager, you need to have both technical and managerial skills. First of all, you need to have a comprehensive knowledge of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Technologies. Especially today, when there are brand new developments in smart contracts, decentralised applications (dApps) and cryptography, you need to keep your knowledge up-to-date.

These technical topics will provide you with a comprehensive understanding of how a cryptocurrency-centric product works and will enable you to manage your technical teams on these issues comfortably.

In addition to your traditional product management knowledge, when your knowledge of cryptocurrency and blockchain is combined, there is only one thing missing, Communication. Communication, which should be one of the most important skills of a product manager, is very important both in managing your team and in communicating the current situation to your investors and senior managers.

In addition to these, the ability to think strategically and develop innovative solutions is one of the most critical characteristics that will make you stand out in this role because you will be working in a very competitive industry. In general, finance is a competitive enough industry. When cryptocurrencies are included in this, the competition has become much higher, as issues such as trading very quickly or finding funds are involved.

Thinking innovatively and creating strategies that will make your product competitive will make your project and product successful. By bringing all these achievements together, you can become a strategically successful Crypto Product Manager.

Common Challenges for a Crypto Product Manager

A Crypto Product Manager faces many challenges throughout their career. One of the most important challenges is the dynamic nature of the crypto world, which is constantly changing and evolving.

Cryptocurrency markets are highly volatile, meaning they move up and down. Therefore, it is not always possible to predict how users will adapt to your products and how your users will react. Therefore, it will be critical to plan flexibly and quickly, and to update your plan and strategy as challenges arise.

The second major challenge is regulation. The crypto ecosystem prepares regulations at different paces and in different ways in each country. You have to follow the current regulations very actively. Since cryptocurrencies can be bought and managed from all over the world, Crypto Product Managers have to follow the regulations not only in the countries where they are located, but also in foreign countries.

You have to ensure that your product complies with the regulations. But in this process, while developing a product that complies with the regulations, you should not give up the user experience. Finding a balance between the two is really difficult, but it will be a game changer. Therefore, you need to work very closely with Risk, Compliance and Legal teams.

The third challenge is that setting up your technical infrastructure is not easy. Blockhain technology is more complex than traditional systems. You can solve the complexity with very strong technical teams, but you will face a more serious problem, experience.

The banking industry has been around for hundreds of years, fintech for tens of years, but blockchain is much younger than these industries, so your technical team will be less experienced and slower to respond to challenges. Nevertheless, we should not forget that your competitors have the same situation.

How Does a Crypto Product Manager Work with Developers?

One of the most important tasks of a Crypto Product Manager is the management of technical teams. This is because blockchain is a completely technology-driven infrastructure. There is no way to physically manage it like legacy banking systems.

Even though the Product Owner and Product Manager are the most important role in the existence of the product and its utilisation by the users, it is always important to manage and balance the relationships with the people in technical roles.

The only way to manage a successful process with software development teams is to have a good understanding of technical infrastructures and systems. Experience is the thing that will develop you the fastest in this process. Researching how you yourself can produce similar products as a solo entrepreneur or experimenting with small budgets will help you gain experience.

Usually, if your existing technical teams are made up of responsible people, they will take the initiative to develop the product themselves and build the technical infrastructure in the right way. But even then, you will need to learn how each part of the infrastructure works and ensure that you have the information.

I am Kerem Karadag, I have been in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry for 10 years. For 8 years, I have been developing Fintech, Digital Banking, cryptocurrency and blockchain-centred products and leading teams. I am writing this article for people who want to develop themselves with me. We will develop together and change the world. To contact me for free, you can use my linkedin address on keremkaradag.com. I will continue to share the latest news and information about the cryptocurrency industry from there. And don’t forget to follow my Instagram and Twitter accounts, where more than 100 thousand followers follow me and share up-to-date information! @keremkaradagcom