Ivan Paskar: Binance's Staunch Believer in Humanity
Ivan carries many labels - a linguistics graduate, a Ukrainian, a fluent speaker of four to five languages, an early user in the cryptocurrency industry, a new father, and an owner of a French Bulldog named Shnaps. He is also an employee at Binance.
Ivan's young face is adorned with a pair of big eyes that are filled with passion, curiosity, and also some confusion - about the market volatility in recent years, the turmoil in his homeland, the divisions among people. The whole world seems to be displaying an unusually high degree of absurdity to him.
Still, he maintains a stubborn goodwill towards the world. At work, his colleagues describe him as intelligent, enthusiastic, and open-minded. He has always been like a sponge, absorbing knowledge quickly, and he still does – even though he has been working at Binance for nearly five years now.
Starting Off Strong
Ivan joined Binance in 2019 as a community manager intern, but he didn't limit himself to that role. He did a little bit of everything – market analysis, SEO, offline events – as long as it served the growth of the company. His superiors encouraged him to try and provided feedback. He has been awarded the Binance Star of the Year twice and has been promoted steadily. Currently, he is responsible for the marketing team in the CEE & CIS region (Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States).
But this is not just a story about a talented employee leveling up in his career. It's about how a staunch globalist navigates his daily work and life in the midst of a seemingly never-ending global crisis.
Ivan is Ukrainian. He grew up in Moldova and later moved to Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, for education and to live there until the eve of the war.
During a Binance team-building event before the pandemic in early 2020, he had a conversation with his colleagues about the situation in Ukraine. At that time, he was optimistic and did not expect the tragic turn the country’s history would take two years later. He remembers not liking the artificial snow at the ski resort in South Korea because it hurt when he fell. But the joy of meeting his colleagues overshadowed the skiing itself. It was the first time he met colleagues from different continents, and many of them seemed particularly surprised that he was already married at the age of 23. He heard that out of several hundred colleagues, only seven had children. Everyone must be too busy with work, he thought back then. At that time, the size of the Binance team was around 600 people, with an average age of 28.
When Ivan joined Binance during a bear market, he had five rounds of interviews, including one with co-founder Yi He. He was impressed by the diverse social and ethnic backgrounds of the people he met. Recognizing it as a "life-changing opportunity," Ivan decided to work with these intelligent individuals and joined the company. One of the interviewers later mentioned that there was another exceptional candidate, but Ivan's Ukrainian background had been a tie-breaker due to its potential as an important market in the future.
A Rising Star
Soon, this potential began to materialize. Ivan quickly became involved in many newsworthy moments. In April 2020, the Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation signed a memorandum of understanding with Binance, aiming to jointly develop cryptocurrency regulations. After that, Binance Ukraine was established, and the country became one of Binance’s fastest-growing markets. Ivan followed the rapid development of the company and the local market, organizing the first regional offline event.
Language is the key to unlocking a culture. Besides Ukrainian and English, Ivan is also fluent in Romanian, Arabic, and Russian, which aids him in his daily work. He explains that different language communities may have varying perspectives on the same topic. For instance, when it comes to Bitcoin ETF, the English-speaking world may have an equal number of optimists and skeptics. However, when Ivan engages with the Romanian-speaking community, he notices a more optimistic outlook. This enables him to tailor growth strategies for different regional markets.
When asked about being named Binance’s Star of the Year, Ivan sees it as a reward for his passion and dedication to his work. He describes it as "getting paid for your hobbies and interests." During times of market volatility, such as in May 2020, he stayed up during late hours with other Binance team members - constantly communicating in the community and reassuring users. He felt that he and the community were in it together.
Torn Away From Home
In early 2022, the looming war was in the air. The hints in the news made Ivan's wife particularly uneasy. At that time, they were planning to have a child. One day, he saw his wife searching for "how to make fire and live in the forest." He thought maybe it was time to move away.
Binance's HR and administration approached Ivan and asked if he and his family would be willing to relocate to Dubai or Turkey. Considering the desire to be closer to home, they ultimately chose Poland.
As the conflict broke out, Binance provided relocation assistance for Ukrainian and Russian employees and their families who were willing to move, including visas, three months of accommodation and meals, and relocation allowances. This seemingly intuitive move actually required a lot of human and material resources to implement, and Binance spent millions of dollars on relocating employees affected by the war.
Ivan recalls that more than half of the Ukrainian employees around him chose to move. "At that time, the company was saving lives." But the longing for his homeland has always haunted him. He even returned to Ukraine shortly before the start of the hostilities to get his dog, Shnaps. The war disrupted the lives of millions. Not only Ivan makes private donations to support refugees, but he and his team also spearheaded Binance’s relief efforts: the launch of a 10-million charity fund and the Ukrainian Refugee Card program.
Ivan is also torn about where he will be tomorrow. Is Poland his second home? Sure enough, as a true global citizen, he does not define himself by a single country or nationality. But on the other hand, he is still attached to his homeland – his family, friends, and countless little things and places so dear to his heart are still there.
We Are All Human
No one can ignore the elephant in the room. Binance employees come from all over the world, including Ukraine and Russia. At the tensest moment, Binance made a lot of effort to proactively bridge any potential divide that could arise at the company level. The principle is not to promote any political stance but to provide assistance to individuals in need – and it worked well.
Ivan's team also includes Russian employees. He has friends in life who question how he can work with Russians. But what Ivan chooses to see is that everyone is professional, doing their best, and helping each other. “We are all ordinary people and haven't done anything wrong,” he says.
The cover of Ivan's social media profile is a world map with "hello" written in various languages. Even after experiencing war, he has not changed that image. Ivan is still determined to learn different languages. He hopes that in the future, when he meets people from different countries, he can greet them in their own language.
He still believes in the idea of a global village.
Now, whenever a new employee joins the company, he still takes the time to greet and chat with them. He explains his philosophy of interpersonal relationships: if you want others to treat you a certain way, you have to take the first step. Binance provides such an environment - you have the opportunity to work and communicate with people from different cultural backgrounds, as long as you are willing.
This is also related to his upbringing. He comes from an international family, and throughout his childhood and youth, his friends and classmates came from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds. He realized at a young age that the world is not just about his own "country." He is genuinely curious about the lives of people in this world and their actions and motivations.
The Adventure Continues
In terms of lifestyle, Ivan appears to be more conservative but a sports addict. He loves pilates, plays football and works out at the gym. However, there is still a detail that reflects Ivan's penchant for diversity. Every morning, he wakes up at 7 o'clock to make his wife her favorite traditional breakfast like egg, salmon, and salad, and then starts work around 8 o'clock. But he also arranges to have food delivered on time for himself, with different options each day of the week. He explains that he doesn't like eating the same food all the time and doesn't want to spend mental energy thinking about what to eat while working.
A story like Ivan’s may not have come together in any other company. Binance encourages and protects Ivan's curiosity and cosmopolitanism, providing him with space and freedom to grow, and offering practical support during difficult times. The convenience of working from home, support for free exploration, and the ability to help people through charity have all shaped who he is now. And in his own position, he has witnessed and contributed to the ups and downs of his company.
During the meeting, Ivan is in his apartment in Poland. His wrinkled little dog, Shnaps, looks up at him, and in the room is his few-month-old child wearing a light yellow shirt with the words: let the adventure begin.
