Former Bitget Executive Vugar Usi Zade Joins MEXC as Chief Operating Officer

Vugar Usi Zade, previously charged with leading Bitget’s international expansion, is joining MEXC as its COO, aiming to guide and scale the exchange into key markets.

Zade brings to the role more than 15 years of experience overseeing growth and operations at major companies, including Facebook, Coca-Cola and Sony, as well as a marketing-technology startup he co-founded. During his tenure at Bitget, the platform grew from a mid-tier exchange into one of the world’s top four by user base, reportedly reaching over 120 million registered users. In his joining letter, Zade stated he had “worked with institutions, regulators, builders, creators, and millions of retail users across six continents.”

The appointment comes at a time of MEXC’s fundamental operational shift. In November, the exchange signed several structural partnerships with industry players, such as Hacken, to accelerate global expansion and strengthen compliance and transparency. Vugar Usi Zade’s appointment is part of this strategy. The newly appointed COO will lead MEXC’s international expansion efforts, focusing on regions such as Eastern Europe, Turkey, the CIS and Latin America — markets that the company has identified as high-potential growth corridors. In his new role, he will oversee market launches, compliance, regulation readiness and strategic go-to-market execution.

“Vugar brings the rare combination of scale-building experience, transformation leadership, and regulatory discipline needed to help realize that mission,” said Cecilia Hush, Chief Strategy Officer at MEXC.”

MEXC currently serves more than 40 million users across 170 markets. The company has positioned itself as a “user-first” exchange offering zero-fee spot trading and rapid token listings. With growing competition and tightening global crypto regulations, the platform’s next phase will likely require more robust compliance, institutional-grade operational discipline, and geographically diversified growth — factors that likely influenced the decision to bring in Usi.

In a statement, Usi said he believes the next chapter for global exchanges lies in combining retail-friendly access with institutional-grade standards:

“My focus is on fundamentally raising the standard for what a global, retail-first exchange should represent. My role is to help scale that mission globally through operational excellence, responsible market expansion, and a regulatory-first approach that strengthens trust across the entire ecosystem.”

With this leadership upgrade, MEXC aims to redefine what a global retail-first exchange should look like: not just fast-growing but fully compliant, resilient, and capable of operating across diverse regulatory regimes.