- Insta360 gave gold keys worth $45,000 each to top employees
- More than fifty golden keys have been awarded since 2019
- Employees once received gold bars, coins and stickers as party favors
Popular webcam maker Insta360 has turned workplace rewards into a spectacle with another round of giveaways.
The Shenzhen-based imaging company recently handed out gold keys worth up to $45,000 each to selected employees during China’s ‘Programmer’s Day’.
The move marks a continuation of a tradition that began four years ago and has seen more than fifty such awards presented.
A gilded workplace tradition
As the price of gold has risen, so has the value of the gifts, making each year’s celebration a talking point across China’s tech industry.
What might sound like a marketing stunt has actually developed into part of what observers now call an established gold culture at the company.
Previous celebrations included a 50-gram pure gold bar given to a winner of the competition and a gold coin presented to a newly married employee couple.
Even interns received gold stickers during the company’s tenth anniversary in July 2025.
The pattern has earned Insta360 the local nickname “gold factory,” a title that veils admiration with disbelief, and founder Liu Jingkang insists the symbolism is deliberate, not exaggerated.
He says that each golden keyboard represents the idea that each keystroke “turns the stone into gold,” linking the reward to creative effort and innovation.
Liu believes that gold conveys reliability and stability, qualities he considers essential in both employees and technology.
But to outsiders, the line between genuine appreciation and calculated branding seems increasingly thin.
Lavish gestures like these can spark loyalty, but also invite scrutiny of whether such displays distract from the company’s long-term business focus.
Away from the glamor of precious metals, Insta360’s real strength lies in imaging technology.
Its Insta360 Link is one of the best webcams for content creators with strong performance in video conferencing and online collaboration environments.
The company continues to push updates with AI-enhanced features that improve the user experience for professionals and hobbyists alike.
Despite these technological advances, its gilded corporate image now risks overshadowing the very innovation that made it successful.
Via Toms hardware
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