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Dear AscendEX Users, Community Members, and Supporters,

 

Happy New Year!

 

In the past year, AscendEX has grown rapidly alongside the blockchain ecosystem. Ariel and I strongly believe that strategic differentiation is key to AscendEX’s pursuit of challenging the status quo within this highly competitive and fast-moving industry – especially as many of the larger incumbent platforms expand their product offerings. 

 

Throughout the year, the AscendEX team has worked tirelessly to establish the platform as an emerging industry leader by exemplifying client-centric team spirit, delivering innovative products, and optimizing system architecture. With our effective implementation, the platform has achieved remarkable progress in the past year. Some key milestones from 2019 are as follows:   
 

January:

  • Introduced Airdrop Multiple Cards for platform users with 3x standard airdrop rewards associated with select project listing activities.

     

February:

  • Launched an innovative margin trading with key differentiations: cross-asset collateral for funding flexibility, borrow & repay directly through trading, and 0% interest on margin borrow with 8-hour repayment for potential higher profitability. Since the launch, margin trading coverage has expanded for a broad range of assets including ALGO, CKB, ATOM, MATIC, ONE, XTZ, LINK, and BTT as well as many popular platform tokens, and stablecoins.

     

March:

  • Conducted first auction on the platform to purchase BOLT at a discounted price.
  • Implemented accelerated ASD release function for private sale participants.
  • Enabled ASD margin trading under the trading pairs of ASD/USDT and ASD/BTC.

     

April:

  • Announced support of BNB mainnet swap.
  • Upgraded BTC wallet system with new deposit address.
  • Optimized margin trading functionality and adjusted ASD max leverage for margin trading.

     

May:

  • Strengthened global management bench with Shane Molidor joining as Global Head of Business Development to further drive and catalyze institutional market penetration.
  • Hosted the world’s first Global Digital Impact Night in New York City with over 200 participants including top-tier investors, project teams, industry influencers, journalists, and community members / leaders.
  • Announced permanent lock-up of three billion ASD Tokens.
  • Enabled trading for private sale portion of ASD (ASDP) under the trading pairs of ASDP/USDT and ASDP/BTC.
     

June:

  • Introduced industry-first Volatility Cards to predict short-term price movements on various digital assets. The design of volatility cards is derived from traditional Wall Street volatility products with quasi-option structures.

     

August:

  • Announced a strategic partnership with UltrAlpha, a professional digital asset management service platform and launched a new blockchain-focused incubator fund, B-Tech, to drive expansion beyond transaction facilitation and further round up the AscendEX comprehensive ecosystem.
     

September:

  • Discontinued Transaction Mining & Reverse-Mining modes and successfully transitioned into the next phase of business expansion and platform growth.
     

October:

  • Hosted AscendEX’s one-year anniversary ceremony.
  • Launched ASD investment product.
  • Implemented a new tiered VIP Fee & Rebate structure for enhanced trading efficiency on the platform. The new structure allows users to receive up to a 2.5 bps (0.025%) rebate for providing liquidity on the platform (“maker) while charging as little as a 1.5 bps (0.015%) fee for taking liquidity (“taker).

     

November:

  • Announced strategic investment in ChainDream to support the blockchain education.
  • io’s Canadian business entity received approval from Canadian regulatory agency FINTRAC (Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada) for its application for Money Services Business (“MSB”) license. This indicates AscendEX’s keen focus on compliance in the critical North American demographic.
  • Partnered with Prime Trust, US regulated trust entity, to offer over-the-counter (“OTC”) trading solution for users to execute large fiat-to-digital asset transactions through Prime Trust platform.
  • Introduced a credit/debit card payment offering through a partnership with Simplex.

     

December:

  • Completed system testing of new derivatives platform with initial offering of perpetual contracts to expand AscendEX’s trading products from cash and margin trading to more sophisticated leveraged trading.

     

Currently, AscendEX supports margin trading for 46 assets and offers spot trading across 191 trading pairs. The platform has over 500,000 registered users across the globe with an average daily trade volume in excess of $70 million. None of those would be possible without the continued support of the dedicated AscendEX communities, users, and supporters like you!

 

With the new year around corner, Ariel and I are as enthusiastic and as committed as ever to continue executing on our strategic vision in building an institutional-grade financial platform with an innovative suite of trading products and best-in-class client services. Here’s a high-level preview of the platform’s 2020 strategic plan:   

                                                                            

Comprehensive Product Offering:

Launch of staking & validation services, derivatives trading, and other value-added offerings to expand current spot and margin trading.

 

Improvement of OTC Services:

Enhancement of over-the-counter (“OTC”) trading services with personalized customer support, tighter spreads, and more efficient settlement process for a seamless fiat on-ramp experience for global users.
 

Institutional Client Acquisition:

Accelerate institutional client penetration and onboarding for greater marketplace efficiency with deeper liquidity and tighter spreads from a globally diverse range of trading counterparties. 

 

Relentless Global Compliance Effort:

Continue our global compliance program implementation with strong risk-control mindset and stay current close eye on the ongoing evolvement and development of global regulatory framework in preparation of new market entry.

 

Continued Strategic Collaboration:

Form strategic partnerships with more existing and emerging industry players to further expand the BitMax ecosystem on a global scale.

 

In the past year, we laid down a solid foundation and built a sustainable path for growth. Now, we are even more optimistic and excited about what the future holds for AscendEX. Of course, there will be challenges, but our AscendEX team are confident we will sail through them and continue putting clients first and driving innovation to maximize our potential. Our dedicated team, Ariel, and I love our jobs and will continue our pursuit of excellence. 2020 will be a breakout year for AscendEX!
 

We sincerely wish you and your families a happy, healthy, and productive 2020.
 

George Cao, CEO, along with Ariel Ling, COO, and entire AscendEX team