Bitcoinist just recently had the opportunity to catch up with Adam Todd, Founder & CEO of Digitex Futures. Matters pertaining to progress on the development of the futures trading platform and many more things were discussed. Here’s the complete interview.
Digitex is launching at a time when the futures markets have become a lot more crowded. What makes it different from other futures trading platforms?
Zero fees allow manual scalpers to trade a lot which will create a new breed of very active futures traders on Digitex who cant trade like that anywhere else without getting killed by commissions. UI is also set up to facilitate quick, manual trading which will create a large group of engaged users.
How did you come up with the idea for Digitex?
I’d been a futures trader for years, both in the open outcry pits and on screens and commissions had always held me back and a commission-free futures exchange was always something I thought would be cool. When I discovered Ethereum and the ability to create tokens I got the idea of revenue generation through token issuance instead of charging volume-based transaction fees, thus not penalizing the most active traders which creates liquid markets.
You’ve had a few false starts on the road to launch, with two previous launches having failed to get off the ground. Why is this time different?
Better development team and better organized. I made many mistakes regarding the development due to inexperience in developing such a complex software application, but I was determined to succeed and have learned from those mistakes. I’m hiring smart people all the time and continually get better at what I’m doing. It may take us a few months to get Digitex properly firing on all cylinders with all of our waitlist onboarded and the new signups flowing in and good liquidity but when we do the marketing machine will kick in and Digitex will become a well-known brand throughout the cryptocurrency and blockchain world. Because of the development delays, I got very very good at internet marketing as a means of maintaining people’s interest in the project through those delays so that we could survive. Now the 21 strong internet marketing team we’ve built and trained during that time are raring to go and capable of turning Digitex into a beast. Anyone can build an exchange, we’re going to build a brand. A strong, powerful, well-known brand.
How has the test net been progressing?
Very positive user feedback from the test net.
How do you plan to compensate users who lose their funds during a system failure or downtime? Would you do it from a dedicated insurance fund?
We have an insurance fund equal to 10% of the entire supply of DGTX
Digitex recently decided to do away with KYC. What was the driver for this decision and what does it mean for which markets you’ll be able to target?
KYC has no place in crypto and it severely limits our ability to onboard new users which in turn threatens whether we even survive as a project. The worldwide costs of KYC in terms of stifled innovation and lost opportunities is unfathomable. KYC goes against the founding principles of cryptocurrency by knobbling the very things that are great about it, such as instant, trustless transactions without the need for third parties that can empower billions of people around the world by connecting them to a fully functional, trustless system of money that does not require a government-issued ID.
What do you think has been behind the massive growth seen in the crypto futures markets over the last year or two? What would be your forecast for further growth?
Fast-paced and exciting way to spend your time online. I think online trading is online entertainment for most traders, a good way to spend an hour or two with some thrills along the way. Futures trading volumes online will skyrocket in the coming years, especially as the world shifts more online now for ways to make money and to be entertained.
What can users look forward to after the main net launch? Any other new developments in the pipeline?
Spot markets, social platform tournaments, more futures instruments, effective marketing campaigns leading to lots of users signing up and liquidity.
How are you thinking about getting the price of Digitex Futures token back up (after the drastic fall around this time last year)?
Simple, we need to create demand for the token. We do this by creating a great exchange that has no built-in edge working against its users and that is not being run to extract maximum value from each trader in the form of trading fees. We then spend a few months fine-tuning it and then we market the hell out of it. There is no quick fix or scheme for raising a token price other than creating genuine demand for that token and we have a grand plan up our sleeve for doing exactly that.
You launched the 100-Day Trading Battle in January this year? What was the response? Did it generate a substantial brand image and potential user interest for Digitex?
Very good response, its main use was showing our matching engine was capable of handling 22 billion traded contracts (worth $146 billion) in a 24 hour period on its peak day. Our zero-fee model and one-click ladder interface is firmly aimed at high-frequency manual traders so its important that we built a high quality, robust platform that can handle this high load of active users, and the test net and trading battles showed that our platform is up to the job from a technical perspective.
Why did you choose to register the company in the Republic of Seychelles? Any plans to take on BitMEX at their home?
Few other exchanges there too. Seemed like a hub
In this already crowded futures market, what would you do to ensure the loyalty of your users? What would you do to keep new users engaged so that they don’t drop out?
Continually give them a solid, fair platform with liquidity where they can trade futures without getting fleeced by high commissions and internal trading teams trading against them. I want Digitex to be a place where anyone with some patience and discipline and a determination to succeed can spend 40 or 50 hours a week trading and actually make a living and be able to live the life of his dreams, where anything is possible.
Any plans to educate novice traders about crypto markets and crypto futures trading in specific?
Yes, we will be launching the Digitex Academy which will be a high-quality collection of information and tips on everything to do with cryptocurrency and the blockchain.
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