Preparing for 2024: What plans have the leading players in the crypto industry made?

The renewed prosperity of the Bitcoin ecosystem has allowed us to see the fruits of institutional layout. 2023 is just the prologue, and 2024 will be the new battlefield.

The most obvious example is that OKX built infrastructure for Inscription in the first half of this year, and finally reaped the rewards at the end of the year. The early bird catches the worm, and as the new year is approaching, let's take a look at what the top players in the crypto industry have done in advance for next year.

Some institutions have not clearly listed their overall plans for the new year, but from past clues we can still find their layout actions for next year.

1. CEX: Actively exploring under supervision

In order to maintain their market competitiveness, mainstream CEXs are actively improving their products and services, while continuing to expand their global business and build a brand ecosystem. However, these CEXs increasingly need to consider regulatory compliance issues.

1. OKX

In May this year, OKX founder Star said that OKX and its partner, Bitcoin Inscription Wallet UniSat Wallet, are jointly committed to building infrastructure for BRC-20 and ORC-20, including wallets, markets, liquidity exchanges and browsers. It can be said that they have made a comprehensive layout of the Bitcoin ecosystem ahead of other exchanges.

In the second half of the year, the Bitcoin ecosystem experienced a full-scale explosion, especially the inscription track, which ignited the enthusiasm of major public chain projects. Keywords such as discussion, funding, and traffic were all hyped. OKX also made a lot of money in this inscription feast, which shows that it is a golden saying to focus on construction in a bear market.

As 2024 approaches, OKX has not stopped its platform advancement.

In order to meet the diversified needs of the growing number of crypto users around the world, OKX has currently launched 14 advanced strategies including contract martingale.

In November, OKX launched over-the-counter derivatives trading, but there will be no counterparty risk associated with assets held on the platform. In addition, OKX and Polygon jointly launched the zKEVM Layer2 network X1 and officially launched the test network. The network is an upgrade of OKBC.

X1 is a high-performance, high-security Ethereum Layer2 network built on Polygon CDK. It uses ZK zero-knowledge proof technology to help users achieve lower transaction costs. OKB will be its native token.

It is reported that X1 will become a bridge connecting OKX's more than 50 million global users with Polygon and the Ethereum ecosystem, allowing developers to seamlessly and securely deploy EVM-based DApps and connect more smart contracts, wallets and tools.

In addition, OKX's first new structured product Seagull was officially launched and opened for subscription on November 8. In addition to Seagull, OKX has also launched diversified structured products such as Shark Fin and Dual Currency Win.

In order to better carry out global business, OKCoin CEO Fang Hong announced the decision to rename Okcoin to OKX globally in the next few months.

“We recently retired the ‘Okcoin’ brand and products in several regions (Latin America, MENA, South Asia, Hong Kong, etc.) - we will be rebranding ‘Okcoin’ to ‘OKX’ sequentially over the next few months, starting with Singapore, then the EU, and finally in the US, our headquarters,” Fang Hong said.

We also cannot see from this where OKX will focus its efforts in the future, and the crypto projects in these regions are naturally worthy of attention.

Among them, the development of Web3 in Hong Kong is a clear trend, and OKX will naturally not miss this opportunity. OKX Global Chief Commercial Officer Jimmy Lai said that the preparation for OKX HK's application for a compliance license in Hong Kong has entered the final stage, and it is hoped that the license will be obtained in June next year. In the first year thereafter, it may attract 100,000 to 200,000 Hong Kong retail investors.

In August, OKX Hong Kong announced that it would launch a Bitcoin rewards program for local users.

In terms of international business, OKX Chief Marketing Officer Haider Rafique said the company is planning to enter the Indian market and recruit local employees to explore potential Web3 use cases.

OKX does not have a global headquarters but has regional centers in Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai and the Bahamas. Rafique said the company plans to expand its wallet services "exponentially" by leveraging India's high-profile developer community. Currently, OKX has about 200,000 wallet users in India, which accounts for only 5% of the country's Web3 users.

In June, OKX Middle East branch obtained the MVP preparatory license issued by the Dubai Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA). OKX Middle East has moved into a new office in the Dubai World Trade Center and said it plans to increase its staff to 30, with a focus on local employees and senior management.

OKX said that once the minimum viable product (MVP) license is fully operational, OKX Middle East will provide spot, derivatives and fiat services, including deposits, withdrawals and spot pair trading in US dollars and United Arab Emirates dirham (AED).

2. Binance

Binance's year-end report summarizes the platform's full year, mentioning that Binance welcomed more than 40 million new users in 2023, an increase of almost 30%. At the end of 2023, Binance reached a milestone of 170 million registered users, offering 431 tradable assets across 1,785 trading pairs.

Additionally, Binance has seen tremendous growth in crypto payments, peer-to-peer trading, and earning services. The number of people using Binance Pay or Card grew by 54%, and more than 3,500 new Pay merchants and partners were added around the world accepting cryptocurrencies in exchange for goods and services.

Additionally, Binance continues to invest in its compliance technology, processes, and talent, with spending reaching $213 million in 2023, a 35% increase from last year. By the end of the year, Binance held licenses, registrations, and authorizations in 18 jurisdictions around the world, more than ever before.

Especially after Binance reached a settlement with US regulators this year, the platform has paid more attention to business compliance. However, in view of the progress of its competitors' products and services, Binance is also working hard to compete with them.

On December 28, according to a Binance employee, the next new version of the Binance App will add an account switching function, which "allows you to add multiple accounts in the Binance App and easily switch between these accounts. The switching entrance is in the upper right corner of the account center."

Binance co-founder He Yi also said in December that Binance plans to support Web3 entrepreneurs by incubating more projects. She also said that the platform has a dedicated team responsible for iteration in product development, such as the often-mentioned Web3 wallet issue. In terms of project interaction and the inscription market, Binance has not yet optimized the user experience and scenarios. In the future, it will be further iterated to make up for the lack of CEX in the wallet field.

Richard Teng, the new CEO of Binance, said that the platform already has 166 million users and will continue to grow in the future. He looks forward to further driving this number and supporting the next billion.

Additionally, they will continue to improve the platform’s compliance program to build a sustainable future as a user-led organization that meets all global compliance standards.

In terms of payment business, on November 30, Binance announced the successful implementation of the world's first cryptocurrency bank tripartite arrangement pilot project. This solution allows institutional investors to keep trading collateral under the custody of third-party banking partners instead of within the trading platform.

I believe that in the coming year, this project will be popularized from one point to more areas.

3. Bitget

At the end of this year, Bitget's platform currency BGB broke through the historical high, reaching a maximum of $0.7. Judging from the intensity of the exchange's publicity this year, it is believed that the platform has a more ambitious goal.

The platform started out as a copy trading platform, so it attaches great importance to the user's trading experience.

Products and services:

In November, Bitget announced the launch of the Tiandi Grid trading strategy. Currently, Bitget already supports the Tiandi Grid for spot and the Tiandi Grid for contracts, and provides geometric/equal-difference mode and forward/reverse trading mode to meet the needs of various trading scenarios. The Tiandi Grid trading strategy effectively obtains profits by taking advantage of the ups and downs of the market, and is suitable for medium and long-term investment. In addition, a comprehensive set of parameter instructions is provided for users to maximize the optimization of their trading strategies.

In the previous month, the platform launched an innovative smart investment product "Contract Quantitative Robot" to provide users with convenient and efficient investment strategies. Previously, Bitget has launched a variety of smart products, such as: artificial intelligence Martingale strategy, grid robot, smart investment robot, CTA-AI strategy, etc.

In addition, Bitget has also launched the Signal Bot trading function, which is a multi-functional trading tool that enables users to trade instantly based on signals. In addition, Bitget has launched the principal-guaranteed structured product "Snowball".

Business development:

In October, Bitget launched a spot market maker incentive program, which provides partners with benefits such as Maker fee rebates, expansion of the number of sub-accounts, increase in API frequency limits, one-on-one technical support, subsidies, and monthly rewards.

In September, Bitget announced the launch of the VIP experience plan in the official Space, aiming to comprehensively improve the user experience. Former VIP users, VIP users of other platforms, and users who invite friends and meet the official regulations can enjoy multiple benefits such as a 31-day VIP experience period, interest rate coupons, experience money, cold wallets, and JD gift cards.

In addition, Bitget launched the Coin Listing Recommender Program to encourage community users and high-quality projects to empower each other.

In terms of global layout:

Bitget participated in the Dubai "Future Blockchain Summit" and announced the launch of the Bitget Card plan at the summit. It is a high-limit, US dollar-denominated Visa credit card that will support use in 180 countries and regions, providing users with a comprehensive cryptocurrency payment solution.

And in September, Bitget Managing Director Gracy Chen announced the launch of the $100 million EmpowerX Fund at the Singapore Web3 Summit "Bitget EmpowerX" to build a complete ecosystem.

In August, Bitget’s “Blockchain4Youth” project launched the Builders program, which will recruit 100 young talents from around the world.

The Bitget Builders program was officially launched in the third quarter of this year, recruiting 100 young talents worldwide, with a focus on Kenya, Egypt, Morocco, Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Romania, Kazakhstan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Saudi Arabia.

In addition, in July, Bitget plans to expand its business into the Middle East, focusing on Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

Bitget's compliance department has now begun exploring local compliance applications and providing local services in compliance with regulations. The expansion will plan to set up a regional headquarters locally and recruit 30-60 new team members for the middle and back-end functional departments.

The latest statistics on cryptocurrency penetration show that the Middle East and North Africa are the fastest growing regions for cryptocurrency, accounting for 9.2% of global transactions in 2021-2022. From 2020 to 2022, the number of registrations in the United Arab Emirates increased by 400%. In addition, the region's blockchain-related educational programs increased by 300%.

In June, Bitget launched the Turkish trading platform Bitget TR.

4. Coinbase

Coinbase Wallet, Layer 2 Base, Coinbase International Station, etc. are the cornerstones of Coinbase becoming a global crypto ecosystem.

Coinbase has long been adhering to the concept of "deeper and wider", and its main international expansion strategy is accelerating the adoption of cryptocurrencies around the world. Recently, it has obtained licenses or expanded in key markets such as Canada, Spain and Bermuda, and has identified Ireland as the location of their EU MiCA entity.

In December, Coinbase plans to launch spot trading business on international sites as part of its global expansion strategy. In addition, Coinbase launched a fund transfer service by sending links on WhatsApp, TikTok and Instagram.

In November, Coinbase developed an open-source on-chain payment protocol to improve its business products. The protocol currently supports the Ethereum, Polygon, and Base blockchain ecosystems. And the protocol provides instant settlement, low fees, and a wide range of asset support to improve the payment experience for merchants and their customers.

Also that month, Coinbase Financial Markets (CFM) announced that Coinbase Advanced users in the United States can now access regulated cryptocurrency futures contracts. These futures contracts are designed for retail traders and are sized at 1/100 Bitcoin and 1/10 Ethereum. This move provides traders with the ability to hedge risk, diversify portfolios, trade with leverage, and predict market trends.

Coinbase received approval in August to offer federally regulated cryptocurrency futures trading in the United States to qualified customers.

On September 14, according to The Block, Coinbase launched a one-month zero transaction fee campaign in Advanced Trade for UK customers.

On September 12, according to official news, Coinbase announced that its prime brokerage platform Coinbase Prime has launched an institutional-grade Web3 wallet. Institutional and corporate customers can use the MPC technology of this non-custodial wallet to store any token from the supported network.

2. Enterprises and investment institutions: not afraid of the bear market, optimistic about the future

The crypto market has been in a bear market for most of this year, and many investment institutions have been cautious, but there are still large companies and investment banks that have invested in popular tracks. In particular, the expected Bitcoin spot ETF next year, BTC halving, and the potential benefits of the US interest rate cut have made institutions willing to invest more.

1. a16z

In December, a16z released some views of crypto partners on upcoming trends in 2024: the rise of modular technology stacks, the combination of AI and blockchain, the "Play and Earn" model, AI becoming a game maker, NFTs becoming ubiquitous brand assets, and SNARKs going mainstream.

In early November, a16z opened a London office, its first outside the United States.

On October 31, a16z plans to raise about $3.4 billion for its next core early and seed-stage fund. Fundraising will start around the end of this year, with an expected final closing date in the first half of 2024.

In September, a coalition formed by a16z crypto, Bain Capital Crypto, Blockchain Capital, Coinbase, Ledger, and Paradigm advocated for transparent and uniform regulations around digital assets in Texas.

On August 10, a16z crypto launched two new SNARK-based technologies, Lasso and Jolt, which provide a more efficient approach to SNARKs design that may make it faster and easier for developers to understand, and may promote the development of ZK-rollups in Layer 2.

2. DWF Labs

On December 22, Andrei Grachev, co-founder of DWF Labs, wrote that it seems that each L1/L2 should have its own MEME coin, because Meme is a driving factor for on-chain activity, new wallets, attention, and end-user engagement.

On December 21, TurtSat, the infrastructure platform on Ordinals, announced a strategic partnership with DWF Labs. Both parties will provide comprehensive support to Ordinals open source projects and ecosystem builders in the development of Ordinals infrastructure.

On the same day, DWF Labs co-founder Andrei Grachev posted that the institutional-grade OTC trading platform DWF Liquid Markets will be launched in January 2024. DWF Liquid Markets is an institutional-grade OTC/RFQ (over-the-counter trading/request for quotation) platform with no counterparty/platform risk and supports instant settlement.

On December 14, DWF Labs co-founder Andrei Grachev posted: “DWF Labs is building two more MM (market maker) products for large ecosystems and layer 1/2. Our goal is to win three-quarters of the transactions in the market and provide more funding and venture capital. There are also three other secret projects.”

On December 4, DWF Labs announced the launch of two validator nodes on the TON blockchain. DWF Labs said it launched these validator nodes.

On November 29, DWF Labs said it would launch the first 2024 Web3 incubation program with DWF Ventures, inviting early founders and startups, including Socialfi, ZK, decentralized applications (Dapps) in areas such as trading and derivatives, and infrastructure for the EVM and BTC ecosystem.

On October 8, DWF Labs co-founder Andrei Grachev announced on the X platform that DWF Labs has partnered with the Dubai Commodities Center (DMCC) to become a financial partner in its ecosystem.

3. Animoca Brands

In December, OKX Ventures announced that it had invested in Mocaverse, a Web3 ecosystem project developed by Animoca Brands, to jointly build the Mocaverse project on OKX’s newly launched zkEVM Layer 2 network “X1”.

Animoca Brands made frequent moves in November. First, it announced that it had made a strategic investment in the TON ecosystem and became the largest validator of the TON blockchain, providing funding, research and analysis platforms for third-party TON ecosystem mini-applications.

TON Play, a TON-based gaming infrastructure project, provides the infrastructure and solutions needed to launch new gaming projects on TON and enables Animoca Brands’ portfolio of more than 400 Web3 projects to be smoothly ported directly into Telegram.

The platform then stated that it “plans to purchase additional EDU tokens from the open market. We believe that EDU and the work of OpenCampus and its partners have great potential to incentivize the creation of educational content and promote the use of blockchain technology among educators.”

At the same time, Animoca Brands, AWS and Polygon Labs announced the joint launch of MoonRealm Express Accelerator. The MoonRealm Express Accelerator Program will empower global developers to develop in emerging fields such as decentralized identity authentication, SocialFi, and GameFi.

In addition, sports and entertainment public chain Chiliz announced that Animoca Brands has joined the Chiliz chain as a new verification node to jointly promote Chiliz's SportFi (sports finance) program.

And in October, according to official news, Animoca Brands established a strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia's NEOM (NEOM Tech & Digital, the technology subsidiary of the "Neom" new city construction project led by Saudi Crown Prince Salman).

NEOM also plans to invest $50 million in Animoca Brands, of which $25 million will be made through the issuance of convertible notes and the remaining $25 million will be used to purchase company shares in the secondary market.

In June, Animoca Brands announced a partnership with Mitsui & Co., one of Japan’s largest trading companies, through a strategic investment, aiming to leverage Mitsui & Co.’s extensive network of investment partners and customers from industrial to consumer sectors.

4. HashKey Group

On December 20, HashKey Capital’s Singapore subsidiary has obtained a license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) allowing it to provide fund management services in the country.

On December 18, HashQuark announced that it would upgrade its brand to HashKey Cloud to celebrate its fifth anniversary. As a core member of the HashKey Group, HashKey Cloud aims to provide more upgraded and innovative infrastructure services to global blockchain users.

On December 12, HashKey Exchange announced that it had formally reached a strategic cooperation with New Fire Technology Holdings Co., Ltd. and signed an MOU agreement. The two parties will cooperate in the areas of virtual asset security storage, custody, OpenLoop clearing and settlement network, and virtual asset compliance funds.

On December 5, HashKey Exchange announced that it will officially launch the market maker project from December 28, 2023 to reward and incentivize users to provide liquidity to the platform.

The program is open to enterprises or individual PI users. Applicants need to submit detailed information to HashKey and pass the review. HashKey provides market makers with different levels of negative order rate incentives, which are determined based on the monthly average weighted depth ranking and the monthly Maker transaction volume share.

On November 20, China Asset Management (Hong Kong)’s official account announced that it had signed a memorandum of cooperation with HashKey Exchange and Hamsa, and would bring high-quality innovative products to the Hong Kong market.

On November 16, HashKey Exchange was approved by the Securities and Futures Commission to launch Hong Kong’s first licensed trading platform application. Currently, retail investors can only invest in Bitcoin and Ethereum on the platform.

HashKey Group Chief Operating Officer Weng Xiaoqi said that next year the platform will focus on exploring assets such as RWA (real world assets) related assets, and expects the platform's total transaction volume to reach US$3 billion.

On November 15, HashKey Exchange announced its token listing fee policy: it is expected to be between US$50,000 and US$300,000.

On November 11, according to the official update document, HashKey Exchange's individual professional investors refer to high-net-worth individuals with a minimum portfolio valuation of HK$8 million. Individual retail investors who apply for upgrades need to upload asset documents, including bank statements, securities statements, and trust certificates issued by custodians. In addition to accessing fiat currency trading pairs of mainstream cryptocurrencies such as BTC and ETH, individual professional investors can also conduct stablecoin transactions and access all cryptocurrency pairs.

On November 1, HashKey Exchange launched a mobile app for retail investors.

5. Paradigm

This year, Paradigm led the investment in the encrypted data platform Shadow, helping it complete a $9 million seed round of financing. It also led the investment in the data privacy solution Privy, helping it complete an $18 million Series A financing. In addition, the Layer 2 network Blast based on Optimistic Rollup completed a $20 million financing, with Paradigm participating in the investment.

On October 28, Paradigm and SignalPlus reached a cooperation.

On September 14, Paradigm partner Matt Huang said that Paradigm will raise a $1 billion fund by the end of this year or early next year.

On September 12, a coalition formed by a16z crypto, Bain Capital Crypto, Blockchain Capital, Coinbase, Ledger, and Paradigm advocated for transparent and unified regulations around digital assets in Texas.

At the same time, Paradigm launched what they call a "first-of-its-kind" policy lab that will serve as a "gathering place" for academics, policy experts, lawyers, and technologists.

Summarize

There are multiple favorable expectations for the crypto industry in 2024, and the overall environment is significantly better than in the past two years. In particular, US regulators are gradually communicating more frequently with crypto companies, which also allows both sides to understand each other better.

Therefore, the leading players in the crypto industry have made corresponding preparations for the new year. The above is just the tip of the iceberg. I believe that there will be new dark horses in 2024. But in the unknown, we might as well pay more attention to the known events to help investors make better decisions.