How did Topp Jirayut Srupsrisopa become one of Asia&rsquo;s foremost crypto tycoons and the entrepreneur responsible for creating one of Thailand&rsquo;s most dramatic FinTech unicorns? Find inspiration in a life story that begins with Topp at school and concludes when he has turned 31 years old and completed an eight year marathon, piqued with peaks and troughs, to successfully lead Bitkub to officially become a FinTech Unicorn in Thailand by 2021, just four years post launch.
Topp Jirayut Srupsrisopa is the Founder and CEO of Bitkub, Thailand's leading regulated cryptocurrency exchange which, in 2021, accounted for 95% of all cryptocurrency transactions in the country. He is also the co-founder of Thailand&rsquo;s first and largest Bitcoin Wallet company. However, prior to 2021, Topp&rsquo;s parents had pleaded with him to shut down his cryptocurrency business (coins.co.th), fearful that the company was going to land him in jail and prior to 2015 nobody had heard of him.
<h2>Topp Jirayut&rsquo;s Early Years</h2>
At school Topp was not a good student. He didn&rsquo;t like studying and, like many of his peers, dreamed of becoming a professional footballer. His favorite team was Manchester United and his idol, Cristiano Ronaldo. Topp frequently got into fights and even broke his friend&rsquo;s arm, a deed that very nearly got him expelled from school by the Headmaster.
His grades at school were not good and it dawned on him that unless he instigated change he would not be offered a place at university. The University of Manchester, UK eventually accepted him and he remembers this chapter of his life well; the relief of being offered a second chance because when you are given a second chance in life, that is when you are willing to sacrifice anything to make sure you fix your regrets and redress past wrongs.
<h2>University: Manchester and Oxford</h2>
On arrival at Manchester University, Topp found the library and proceeded to spend from four to six hours a day there studying and revising. Meanwhile, his undergraduate peers were out partying, having relationships and generally living the lifestyle that a typical university student has in the UK.
He forfeited all of that lifestyle and worked progressively harder through his second and third years to graduate first in his year from Manchester University with a Bachelor of Science in Economics.
Wasting no time, Topp went straight to Oxford University to complete his Masters Degree. On arrival he was by far the youngest in a class of fifty students.
&ldquo;If you really want something you need to sacrifice other things.&rdquo;
His absolute, unwavering dedication to study whilst at Oxford University continued unabated and he graduated with a Master of Philosophy in Economics.
By his own admission, he had no life whilst at either university but he did learn a valuable lesson. It taught him that if you really want something you need to sacrifice other things.
<h2>Early Career</h2>
After graduating from Oxford he found himself completely lost and had no idea what to do with his life. He dabbled with investment banking in Shanghai, a not so illustrious career path which lasted a few months. He tried his hand working for a financial consulting firm in San Francisco, and that was the same. He wanted to get a job at Facebook or Google in Silicon Valley but neither accepted his application. The best job he could get, related to economics, was consulting.
Whilst working in San Francisco, Topp spent his weekends visiting Silicon Valley where he took photos in front of Facebook&rsquo;s headquarters. He visited the Intel museum and wrote Google bytes. This was the best he could do.
<blockquote>Can anyone arrange a meeting?</blockquote>
He decided to ask around and to see if anyone he knew working in Silicon Valley could set up a meeting. A colleague responded saying he knew Dan Shatt who, at the time, was General Manager of Financial Innovations at PayPal. The meeting was scheduled and the venue confirmed at a local pancake shop.
<h3>Meeting Dan Schatt (Former) General Manager of Financial Innovations at PayPal</h3>
Topp asked Dan Schatt what he thought of Bitcoin and the latter confessed that PayPal&rsquo;s original mission was to create a digital currency, not for it to be a payment gateway. Dan said to Topp that Topp represented the luckier generation, a generation that had 4G internet, cloud computing, bitcoin and smartphones. Dan declared that Bitcoin would change the world.
This meeting reinforced Topp&rsquo;s belief about Bitcoin and after a few more weeks he came to the conclusion that he was wasting time and decided to book a ticket back to Thailand and start a Bitcoin company.
<h2>FINTECH ENTREPRENEUR: Launching Thailand&rsquo;s First Bitcoin Company</h2>
Returning to Bangkok, Topp was conscious that his parents had already spent a lot of money on his education and he was reluctant to ask them for more. He decided to bootstrap his Bitcoin startup. His parents ran a small clothing shop in Pratunam and he asked his mother if he could use the spare room there to set up his office. His aunt donated a table and chair and it was from here that he launched Thailand&rsquo;s very first Bitcoin Wallet company.
He remained in the little spare room above the clothing shop for almost a year. He had no money, could not socialise and relied on his parents for food each day. There were times when he felt like a complete failure and loser during that year. His parents, after having invested so much in his education, were disappointed. The high expectations they had for him seemed lost.
To keep the startup momentum going and expenses at a bare minimum, Topp undertook all business functions himself during those initial months; operations, customer support, website design, accounting and legal. During that initial year, Topp has said that he learned an incredible amount about how to start a startup. In his own words it was the best education.
<h3>The Anti-Money Laundering Office Come Knocking</h3>
One of the happiest days of his life was when he was able to move out of the spare room above the clothing shop and into co-working space to be joined by a newly recruited team of 13 people.
Things were going very well. Imagine what it would have been like getting into Bitcoin back in 2013, 2014. This was blue ocean territory, rich with opportunity. Then Topp received a letter from the Anti-Money Laundering Office and he was under investigation.
Topp called friends who he had been with at Oxford University and who were now working in Bangkok&rsquo;s top international law firms. Their response was unanimous: &ldquo;Topp, good luck!&rdquo;. Even though he could now easily afford to pay their legal fees, no-one would help as they were not prepared to risk their reputation.
Topp started a new work regime. From 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM he ran the company and managed his team. From 10:00 PM to 3:00 AM he learned all he could about Thailand&rsquo;s anti money laundering laws and set about preparing to defend himself. Topp has admitted that this was one of the most stressful times of his life.
Topp&rsquo;s father drove him to the hearing at the Anti Money Laundering offices in Bangkok. Returning to his office afterwards, Topp learned that half of his staff had packed up and left the company for good after they learned that the company was being investigated.
<h3>Rebuild, Rehire &hellip; Reinvestigated.</h3>
Stress levels remained high as Topp set about rebuilding his company, Coins.co.th, and rehiring. Crisis apparently solved, he was ready to move into bigger offices in Chidlom and the team expanded to thirty people. Then another letter arrived, this time from the Bank of Thailand. Topp and his company were back under investigation.
<blockquote>My Father Told Me to Shut the Company Down Now!</blockquote>
Topp showed this new letter to his father who said that he thought his son would have had enough after his experience with the Anti-Money Laundering Office. His father told Topp, in no uncertain terms, to shut the company down, and all operations within, now!
<h3>Company Rebuild #3 and the Happiest Day of My Life</h3>
April 1, 2017 is a date indelibly imprinted on Topp&rsquo;s brain. It was the day that Japan officially announced that Bitcoin was a legal tender and method of payment. Consumers could now use Bitcoin to buy flight tickets, pay for hotel reservations, use it to buy products and more.
BITCOIN SPIKES AFTER JAPAN SAYS IT'S A LEGAL PAYMENT METHOD Bitcoin trades up 2.8% at $1,133 a coin as of 7:08 a.m. ET on Monday. The cryptocurrency's gains come after Japan announced on Friday that bitcoin would be accepted as a legal payment method beginning on April 1, 2017. Source: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/Bitcoin-spikes-after-Japan-says-its-a-legal-payment-method/articleshow/57990540.cms">Business Insider</a>
Friends began to emerge from the woodwork saying "Hey Topp, I can't believe you were the minority who was right about this Bitcoin thing while the majority has been completely wrong about it&rdquo;.
After almost five tough years, Topp decided to exit his company. In &ldquo;Coins.co.th&rdquo;, he had created Thailand&rsquo;s largest Bitcoin wallet company and it was duly sold to Indonesian tech company, Gojek.
<h3>SEC FinTech Challenge</h3>
Later in 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Thailand launched the country&rsquo;s first FinTech Challenge program. Topp applied.
An in-depth look at the Thai Fin-Tech Club: An incubator for Entrepreneurs July 16, 2018 | Source: <a href="https://techsauce.co/tech-and-biz/an-in-depth-look-at-the-thai-fin-tech-club-an-incubator-for-entrepreneurs">Techsauce</a>
He created a team and together they designed and produced a hypothetical but functional &ldquo;Stock Exchange 2.0&rdquo; where people could trade stocks and tokens. His team won the challenge but now Topp had been re-inspired.
He went to SEC Thai and announced to them that he intended to turn this project into a real business. Slightly stunned, SEC Thai responded saying that he couldn&rsquo;t turn the project into a business because of the current regulations; you can&rsquo;t create an exchange that competes with the Thai stock exchange.
Thailand: Central Bank asks all banks to avoid crypto, Pending regulations. The central bank of Thailand tells all banks in the country to stay away from cryptocurrencies until a regulatory framework is implemented. Molly Jane Zuckerman | Feb 13 2018 Source: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/thailand-central-bank-asks-all-banks-to-avoid-crypto-pending-regulations">COINTELEGRAPH: The Future of Money</a>
Topp continued to work with SEC Thai for the remainder of 2017, further developing his sandboxed &ldquo;Stock Exchange 2.0&rdquo; for Thailand. As the year drew to a close though, Topp realized that digital asset exchange licenses were on the brink of being made available.
<h3>Record Breaking Seed Round</h3>
Topp had been pitching to the Board of SEC Thai about the benefits of making changes to the heavily regulated FinTech space. When it became apparent that licenses were to become available he switched into overdrive to raise funding for a new company.
Approaching Siamrath Group, DTAC Accelerate, and SeaX Ventures, Topp received seed funding of approximately 67 million baht (US$2.1 million). The amount was the largest seed investment round ever to have been achieved among Thai startups.
Having secured both a licence from the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission in 2018 and remarkable seed funding, Topp continued to move quickly, taking over an IT company with a team of 20 people. That company became Bitkub which was to experience a phenomenal annual growth rate of 1000% over the ensuing three consecutive years.
<h3>Thailand&rsquo;s Most Dramatic FinTech Unicorn</h3>
In Year One, Bitkub recorded revenues of Bt. 3 million. In year two, revenues grew to Bt. 30 million and in year three, revenues exceeded Bt. 300 million. During the first quarter of 2021, Bitkub achieved revenues of Bt. 800 million and, during the same year, clinched a deal with SCB which officially cemented its status as Thailand&rsquo;s newest fintech unicorn.
&ldquo;To be honest, I really enjoy my life right now.&rdquo; Topp Jirayut Srupsrisopa, 2022
<h2>One Simple Secret of Life</h2>
In 1994, during a <a href="https://youtu.be/kYfNvmF0Bqw">video interview</a> with Santa Clara Valley Historical Association, Steve Jobs delivered a statement that had a profound impact on Topp:
&ldquo;Life can be so much broader, once you discover one simple fact, and that is that everything around you that you call &lsquo;life&rsquo; was made up by people who were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you&rsquo;ll never be the same again.&rdquo; Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)
Topp&rsquo;s journey from teen to crypto tycoon and creator of a FinTech Unicorn in Thailand, has been one filled with doubt and spiked with challenges and obstacles. He has had to fight to prove his business's legitimacy to family members and Thai regulators.
From the outset though, since graduating from Oxford University, Topp remained passionate, dedicated to and focused on driving a Cryptocurrency ecosystem forward in Thailand. He continued to take action and pursue his quest to spark change every single day for eight years to get to where he is today.
Throughout his journey though, this crypto tycoon has said that he could not have achieved what he has today without committing to take small, measured steps every single day in his quest to make an impact and spark change.
This is the real life story of Topp Jirayut Srupsrisopa who sparked change in himself, Thailand&rsquo;s FinTech business and the regional cryptocurrency business landscape in Southeast Asia.

Get to know Topp Jirayut, the Crypto Wizard of Thailand, on CI Talks. Find inspiration from his quest to create a cryptocurrency fintech unicorn.

Topp Jirayut the Crypto Wizard of Thailand | CI Talks

Topp Jirayut the Crypto Wizard of Thailand

Deep down, I'm an ambitious person. I have big dreams. I want to make a big impact while I still can and be the first to create something new for the country, making the impossible possible.
Hello, I am Topp Jirayut. Founder and Group CEO of Bitkub.
At the start, I had arguments with my parents. Well, if you look back 8 years ago, the Bank of Thailand warned that Bitcoin could be like a Ponzi scheme. The warning letter to not get involved in Bitcoin was sent to commercial banks across Thailand.
Who would my parents believe? Their newly graduated son or the Bank of Thailand? I argued because I didn't like losing. I wanted to show to everyone that I was part of the minority who were right about this, whereas the majority were so wrong about Bitcoin.
After a while, I was summoned by the Anti-Money Laundering Office. When my dad received the letter, we had big arguments. My dad wanted me to close down the company but I refused. I didn't like losing.
I wanted to make a bigger impact than providing knowledge. I wanted to show the regulator how much blockchain technology could do. So I joined the FinTech Challenge hosted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). That was the first of its kind. My team was called "Private Chain" and we created "Stock Exchange 2.0".
At the time, stock transactions would be done at the T+3 day. Our exchange was open 24/7 with transactions done at T+3 seconds with blockchain technology.
We cruised through all the rounds, and won the SEC's FinTech Challenge. Then we pitched to the SEC that we wanted to make this a real business since we were the winner of the program.
The company reflects the average of its personnel. If the majority of the company are not very good or toxic, the company won't be very good. On the other hand, if we have good people, the company will perform well.
Hence having a high turnover is not necessarily bad. We have to hire slow and fire fast during peacetime.
When we become famous, we want to develop the company from good to great. There is a philosophy. We need to lead with the right context. We cannot say that we are a family. Instead we're a professional sports team. We can love each other like professional sports teams.
Our goal as a sports team is to win championships. Forwards need to score goals. That's their job. But defenders get injured and get red cards. Ultimately, forward players must also be defenders. Otherwise, you won't win the championship.
Going above and beyond your tasks is important. What is crucial in peacetime, therefore, is organisational design.
As a founder, I design the company. I don't design the product. It isn't my job. During wartime we have to deliver Product Market Fit, the founder has to design the Product, and identify Product Market Fit. But after finding Product Market Fit, the question is how we scale to grow exponentially whilst keeping the company sustainable.
Another context in which we need to lead correctly, we don't say the word "department". If you keep saying the word "department", walls are created in your head and embedded in everyone's head. This is my department, that's your department; blame, blame. Then there is no teamwork.
Teams must adopt the words "Ownership and Beyond". What is Ownership? For instance, strikers are hired to score goals. This is the Ownership.
So as a Leader, we need to lead in the context of a team, and indoctrinate this context into employees. Put your best people in front of the bus. Don't use your best people to solve organisational problems.
<h2>5 Skills for the Future Workplace</h2>
Today I have 5 important skills for the new generation that will be required in the future workplace. I want to share these with everyone.
<h3>Be Quick to Adapt</h3>
Number 1, people who will be successful in the future won't be those with the highest IQ, or the highest EQ, but people who have the highest AQ.
What is AQ? It's an Adaptive Quotient. What does that mean? It means people who can unlearn old rules and be the first to learn the new rules and become the winner of the next game.
It's the same in the real world. The rules of the business world have changed. Therefore, your most important skill is AQ; Adaptive Quotient.
<h3>Be Patient &amp; Persevere</h3>
The second is patience and perseverance.
Today, many people, especially the new generation, lack patience. Because, with technology, we expect things instantly. But the most important skill set for success is patience.
What accumulates or compounds is not confined to money in the form of interest. Einstein said it was the eighth miracle of the world. In fact, if we do something that we do for a long time, everything is compounded.
Therefore, those who are more patient and can persevere for a long period of time, will likely succeed.
Many people looked at me as if I stood in the shade of a tree but didn't see that I was sowing seeds and watering them under the sun for a long time.
There is no such thing as overnight success because nothing comes easily. If there was, then everyone would get the same.
<h3>Be Committed &amp; Passionate About What You Do</h3>
The 3rd people trait for success in the future is Commitment and Passion.
There's one quote I really like by Mark Twain. He said we have 2 most important days in our lives. The first is the day we were born. The 2nd is the day we know why we were born.
Those who know the answer to number 2, are not overwhelmed by challenges. They know why they born, and they will work with passion every day to achieve their goals.
Therefore, the 3rd quality of a successful person, they must be passionate about what they do and must persevere and stay at it for a long time.
<h3>Embrace Lifelong Learning</h3>
The fourth skill is lifelong learning and learning to learn by yourself.
Most people have graduated from university, and thrown their caps in the air. But 3-4 years spent at university cannot guide your through 30-40 years of working life. It's just a tenth of our working life.
A more important skill set is to keep teaching yourself and learn all the time, especially in this era where the rate of change is fast. It doesn't matter what we learn.
Those who will succeed are those who understand the world's new rules. The rules of this new game are constantly changing.
Keep teaching and developing yourself all the time.
<h3>Don't Fear Failure</h3>
The fifth skill, we must learn to fail.
Does anyone read a manual and then expect to ride a bicycle? To ride a bicycle, you need to fall and get back on.
So failure is a good thing. It signals that we're on the right track. When we do hard things, we often fail but we will be better people.
Those who fear failure, will never be able to ride bicycles.
We are born with only one life. We should make the most of our time on this planet. Don't give up. We can get discouraged, but never give up.
I am living proof for all to see that from a child who didn't study well, we can learn to try and take action every day.
Don't care about the people around you. Ignore everyone throwing stones at you. Don't care what other people think. Have your own goals and go for it. Do not give up. Take action every day.
Ultimately, a single, ordinary person can change the world.
We can have a great company in Thailand as well, no different from Apple or Google, no different from Facebook, that is Thai owned.
I want Bitkub to be Thailand's National Champion, to put Thailand on the world map and show that Thais can build on a Global Scale. I want it to be a company that everyone can be proud of.
<h2>CI Talks | Stories That Spark Change</h2>
Download the CI Talks App and be inspired to take action and grow anywhere, anytime: CI Talks <a href="https://apps.apple.com/th/app/ci-talks/id1596461283">App Store (iOS)</a> CI Talks <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.citalks">Play Store (Android)</a>

Read The Future of Money Script from Topp Jirayut Srupsrisopa's video talk on CI Talks. Find inspiration from 5 future work skills that will help you succeed.

Future of Money Script - Topp Jirayut Srupsrisopa | CI Talks

The Future of Money Script

Watch The Future of Money video talk with Topp Jirayut Srupsrisopa, the founder and CEO of Bitkub and entrepreneur behind Thailand's first FinTech unicorn. Find inspiration and get 5 important skills from a crypto tycoon to help you climb the ladder to success in future work.

Topp Jirayut Srupsrisopa is an ambitious person. He has dreams and is motivated to make a big impact. He wants to create something new for Thailand and, to do that, he intends to make the impossible possible.
In The Future of Money, Topp Jirayut Srupsrisopa shares lessons he has learned over the last 8 years and provides you with 5 important skills that you will need in the future workplace to achieve your goals and climb the ladder to success.
Founder and Group CEO of Bitkub, Topp is the entrepreneur behind Thailand&rsquo;s latest and arguably most dramatic FinTech unicorn which surpassed a valuation of US$1 billion in 2001, just four years after he launched the company in Bangkok and at the tender age of 31.
Four years before that he had launched a bitcoin wallet company called Coins Thailand which was investigated by both the Bank of Thailand and the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO). His father had pleaded with him to shut the company and move well away from anything related to cryptocurrency, bitcoin and blockchain.
In his video talk, Topp shares several business management strategies that have helped to drive success in the two companies he has founded to-date; his policy on recruiting, hiring and firing and leadership in context. Passionate about football, Topp uses a professional sports team as an analogy to help explain &ldquo;leadership in context&rdquo; and its relationship with organizational design both in peacetime and in war.
The crypto tycoon also shares 5 essential skills that will be necessary for the new generation to excel and achieve success in the future workplace, where the rate of change will be fast and frequent:
<ol>
<ol>
<li>Be Quick to Adapt</li>
<li>Be Patient &amp; Persevere</li>
<li>Be Committed &amp; Passionate About What You Do</li>
<li>Embrace Lifelong Learning</li>
<li>Don't Fear Failure</li>
</ol>
</ol>
In Topp&rsquo;s words, we are born with just one life and each of us has a duty to make the most of our time on this planet. Have your own goals, take action every single day and never give up because ultimately a single, ordinary person really does have the power to change the world.
Topp Jirayut Srupsrisopa has achieved extraordinary success in a comparatively short space of time and against all odds. As stories of successful people go, his story has barely begun.

Watch The Future of Money video with Topp Jirayut Srupsrisopa on CI Talks. Get 5 vital skills from the founder & CEO of Bitkub to drive your future success.

Talks

The Future of Money

The Future of Money

Articles

Topp Jirayut the Crypto Wizard of Thaila…

The Future of Money Script

Talks

The Future of Money

The Future of Money

Articles

Topp Jirayut the Crypto Wizard of Thaila…

The Future of Money Script

Newsletter

Stories that spark change