Applicant / Nominee Information
- Full Name: Belmin Kalkan
- Alias: 0xRecruiter
Contact Information: Recruiter@0xRecruiter.com | LinkedIn | Twitter
Current Occupation: Founder, 0xRecruiter | Technical Talent Strategist
Country of Residence / Time Zone: United States / EST
Applicant / Nominee Qualifications and Experience
Identify one of the domains described within the Desired Qualifications section in the OpCo - Oversight and Transparency Committee (OAT) Application Process Overview forum post in which you have the most experience and describe that experience:
Human Resources & Talent Management
I bring over five years of recruiting experience, with the last four focused on building technical and strategic teams in the blockchain and crypto space. At Offchain Labs (Arbitrum), I led hiring across five departments—Product, Engineering, Research, Partnerships, and Marketing—resulting in 39 hires and supporting growth from 42 to 102 employees.
My work included recruitment operations, compensation structuring, global compliance coordination, and candidate onboarding. I also led the creation and launch of the Arbitrum Ecosystem Jobs Board, which has supported 110+ ecosystem hires and currently lists 250+ roles from DAO-aligned projects.
Prior to Offchain Labs, I worked at Binance.US, where I supported institutional-grade hiring across departments including Compliance, Legal, Risk, Token Listings, and Research. This experience taught me how to build structured, compliant hiring systems in high-volume, high-risk environments—skills that continue to inform my work in decentralized organizations today.
Describe your network and reputation within the blockchain/technology industry. Have you previously represented a crypto brand and/or navigated DAO governance:
Yes. I’ve represented both centralized and decentralized crypto organizations publicly, including Binance.US and Offchain Labs. Since 2022, I’ve actively supported DAO-native hiring, talent marketing, and contributor coordination in the Arbitrum ecosystem.
Through my public initiative, 0xRecruiter, I surface jobs, talent insights, and educational content around Arbitrum hiring needs. My posts have reached over 11.5 million impressions since October 2024, helping developers and contributors discover Arbitrum-aligned roles and projects.
I’ve represented Arbitrum at major industry conferences including ETHDenver, EDCON, SmartCon, Consensus, and Harvard Blockchain, often serving as the only dedicated recruitment presence. These events allowed me to connect talent with the ecosystem while ensuring messaging remained aligned with the DAO’s long-term goals.
Detail your experience in advisory, governance, and/or oversight roles:
At Offchain Labs, I helped implement hiring infrastructure that supported core protocol growth and ecosystem expansion. I worked directly with department leads, co-founders, and product managers to scope roles, define responsibilities, and guide compensation structures. I was also responsible for documenting and managing feedback loops across interviewers and stakeholders.
At Binance.US, I managed a high-volume recruitment pipeline that included oversight of sensitive roles requiring collaboration with Partnerships(Token Listings, Research and Post Listing Audit), legal, compliance, and finance teams. I supported over 40 stakeholders across 8 recruiters, improved interview throughput, and helped reduce candidate time-to-hire from 4 weeks to 1.5 weeks.
These combined experiences have taught me how to balance operational transparency, cross-functional alignment, and the need for scalable systems in both centralized and decentralized organizations.
Have you previously contributed to the Arbitrum DAO? Describe any relevant experiences through which you’ve gained an understanding of the DAO’s current structure, contributors, and programs:
Yes. My contributions to the Arbitrum DAO include:
- Ecosystem Jobs Board: Created and maintained the Arbitrum Ecosystem Jobs Board, listing over 300 open roles and supporting 110+ hires across Orbit chains and DAO-aligned projects.
- Orbit & Stylus Recruitment: Led hiring for Product Manager - Ecosystem roles that support 60+ Orbit chains, as well as researchers and engineers aligned with Stylus, BoLD, and Nitro development.
- Cross-Entity Coordination: Worked directly with Offchain Labs, Entropy, the Arbitrum Foundation, and other key stakeholders to support hiring and contributor onboarding.
- Conference Representation & Messaging: Represented the DAO and ecosystem at major conferences, acting as a recruitment advisor and ecosystem advocate.
- Recruitment Marketing & Mentorship: Built public content pipelines to promote ecosystem roles, mentored DAO contributors, and supported decentralized teams in onboarding talent.
These contributions gave me a strong understanding of how Arbitrum’s DAO operates in practice—across contributors, delegates, service providers, and foundation-led programs.
Given the scope of OpCo is relatively broad in its current form, describe how you view OpCo’s role within the DAO and what it should accomplish to deem the entity a success over the next 3-5 years:
OpCo’s role is to help the DAO move from consensus to execution, while maintaining transparency, contributor trust, and mission alignment. It should enable scalable coordination without centralization and serve as a source of operational clarity for the broader community.
If selected to serve on the OAT, I would advocate for:
- Transparent contributor and budget tracking
- Clear, context-aware KPI frameworks to measure OpCo performance
- Structured onboarding and offboarding processes for contributors and vendors
- Reliable operational tooling and documentation practices
- Open communication between delegates, contributors, and OpCo staff
In the long term, I believe these practices will support the development of a DAO-native talent support function—not to centralize hiring, but to equip the DAO with better contributor visibility, scalable onboarding practices, and continuity across programs and initiatives. I believe OpCo can lay the foundation for that future and serve as a model for responsible decentralized operations.
Additional Information
- 8,500+ interviews conducted across Web3/crypto
- Over 10,000 sourced candidates across Ethereum Layer 2s, DeFi, infra, and gaming verticals
- Publicly building 0xRecruiter to support hiring and messaging for DAOs
- Passionate about aligning contributor experience with DAO mission and operational clarity
References
Available upon request. References include Offchain Labs team members, Former Binance.US leads, and Arbitrum ecosystem stakeholders.
Disclosures
- Conflicts of Interest: None.
- Active Roles or Funding: I am not currently employed by or compensated by any DAO-aligned service provider.
- Past Affiliations: Former full-time employee at Binance.US and Offchain Labs (most recently in August 2024). Currently operate independently under 0xRecruiter.
Declaration
I confirm that I meet all eligibility requirements and understand the responsibilities outlined in the OpCo OAT proposal. I am aligned with the Arbitrum DAO’s values and committed to operating in good faith, with transparency and integrity.
- The applicant/nominator confirms that they have read and understood all the content within this form and that the information submitted is accurate and complete: Yes