OKEx is known for its constant innovation and introduction of new features. One of the latest developments is the listing of the Compound project’s COMP token which is also available for Spot trading, Margin Trading and Savings and Perpetual Swap Trading.
In a recent interview, CEO of OKEx Jay Hao explained how the Compound protocol is revolutionizing DeFi, and what it might mean to OKEx’s vision of ensuring access to financial services for all with the help of blockchain technology.
Q: OKEx has been adding new tokens at an accelerated pace, with the recent one being COMP. Can you tell us more about the selection criteria for listing new tokens on the platform?
A: OKEx has been following the growth of the DeFi space for a long time and listing tokens that we believe offer high-quality solutions and provide value and liquidity to our users, such as Maker DAO, and COMP. We conduct a full evaluation beforehand to assess a project’s user base and community, its potential, past performance, development activity, legal status, etc. Now that we have integrated FCAS onto our platform, our users can also benefit from checking the health of the crypto assets we list before making trading decisions. Due diligence is vital before investing.
Q: What made OKEx decide on listing Compound’s governance token COMP?
A: We’re excited about our COMP listing as our users had been asking for it and it’s definitely showing a lot of promise right now as the largest platform in the DeFi space. We believe that DeFi will continue to be a key area for the rest of 2020 and we always want our product offering to reflect what users want and that we’re keeping the pace with the best innovations in the space.
Q: The Compound protocol seems to be a forerunner in the DeFi space. Is OKEx planning to leverage it to enable DeFi for masses?
A: Although some people believe that centralized exchanges and DeFi are incompatible, we believe that there is definitely a place for both. We are happy to support Compound’s growth and list its governance token. OKEx already has a footprint of our own in the DeFi area which is continually expanding. We have OKChain which allows developers to build decentralized apps, we have OKEx DEX, and C2C trading and loaning. We believe that all the players in the space can help each other and collaborate to be better.
DeFi infrastructure is still not quite there yet and they need centralized exchanges to help them. DForce, for example, known as the Chinese version of COMP, was hacked in April and around USD $25 million of cryptocurrency was stolen by hackers, and the users’ assets on the platform were instantly reset to zero. DForce was able to block the hackers and restore the funds, thanks to the help of mainstream exchanges.
Q: How is OKEx going to achieve its vision to #FinanceAll?
A: We are constantly working toward that goal. We believe that one large way will be through DeFi products and services, such as our C2C trading feature, our collaborations with Paxful, the leading peer-to-peer Bitcoin market place which has over 300 payment methods available for people to buy BTC, and the launch of our P2P platform in India. These will provide an important fiat on-ramp for OKEx and allow users to enter the cryptocurrency ecosystem more easily and gain access to sophisticated trading tools, staking, and earning.
It will take some time, but we are already seeing the trend and the need for people who are underserviced by the traditional financial system to gain access to services that allow them to participate in their local economies. We are constantly innovating at OKEx and through collaboration and innovation, we will reach our goals. OKChain will also be a large enabler for wide-scale commercial dapps and DeFi products further enhancing adoption and we also fully support Ethereum’s transition to ETH 2.0 with OKPool. We believe all these things will lead the next wave of crypto adoption.
Q: What are the other projects that OKEx is planning to collaborate with to promote DeFi?
A: We will continue to list the tokens that show the most potential and collaborate with more partners on the Topaz network. We are also constantly expanding our network of strategic partners and will continue to do so to ensure that we are at the forefront of the space.
Q: Do you have any thoughts on the timeframe for the widespread adoption of DeFi across the world?
A: I believe that the pandemic will accelerate the move toward DeFi to a certain extent. Although, we have to remember not to run before we can walk. PoW blockchains simply are not fast enough to handle mass transactions and we expect ETH 2.0 to happen this year but that will also be a gradual rollout. There is still more education needed on the space in general, an improvement in technology, oracles, smart contracts, TPS, interoperability… I don’t have a crystal ball, but I wouldn’t expect to see widespread adoption probably for at least another five to 10 years.
It should be noted, as well, that just as I see a place for centralized exchanges, I also believe that DeFi can co-exist with the traditional financial system. I believe that it will force it to be better and remove many of its inefficiencies, but I don’t think that DeFi will overthrow the current system.
Q: On a slightly different topic, OKEx has updated its skewAnalytics dashboard with new charts. Are there any new feature additions to the dashboard we can expect in the coming days?
A: There are more charts and features to be added soon and we are putting together a guide that explains to traders how to interpret and analyze the charts so that they can make better trading decisions. We feel that, often, the charts are designed for pro traders but that actually if people understand how to interpret them, they can be useful for everyday traders as well.
Q: Please feel free to express any other thoughts you might have on OKEx, blockchain and DeFi.
OKEx firmly believes that we will help grow the space through collaboration. Oftentimes, projects, companies, tokens, ideas, are pitted against each other as a competition. But, in reality, we all want to reach the masses and onboard more people to crypto. Instead of fighting against each other, we should be helping to make the space a serious contender on the global stage. There is a place for CeFi, DeFi, public blockchains, permissioned blockchains, retail traders, institutions, we need all of that to truly reach our full potential and #FinanceAll.