HTX: A Look Back at 2023 and Preparing for a Bright 2024

The crypto market kicked off 2024 with an impressive start. The approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs drove the currency's price to repeatedly reach new highs; Crypto+AI emerged as the top crypto gainer; the Layer 2 sector is poised to surge as the Ethereum Dencun Upgrade nears...Combined with halving and rate cuts, the market is ushering in a new chapter.

As a leading crypto exchange, HTX has witnessed and participated in the transformations unfolding in the crypto market. At the beginning of 2024, the exchange became one of the HTX DAO builders, dedicated to establishing a people-centered exchange. This initiative aims to break the traditional order of CEXs and pioneer a new era in the industry. In a review of 2023, HTX experienced similar instances of innovation and breakthroughs, marking significant milestones along the way.

I. Platform Data

1. User Base

HTX has accumulated over 46 million registered users, with 5 million new registrations in 2023 alone and nearly 54.3 billion dual-end accesses (app and website).

2. Trading Volume

HTX's total annual trading volume approached $1.3 trillion, with spot trades contributing nearly 46.1%, approximately $600 billion. According to The Block, by the end of 2023, HTX's monthly spot trading volume increased by about 324.4% from the beginning of the year, showing a generally increasing trend month by month.

3. Deposit/Withdrawal

HTX's P2P business has shown robust growth, with a trading volume of nearly $7.2 billion and 6.43 million orders in 2023. By the end of 2023, HTX's monthly P2P trading volume surged by 278% compared to the beginning of the year, demonstrating a consistent monthly growth trend.

II. New Listings

1. New Assets

* The data presented in the image reflects information as of December 25, 2023, and may vary slightly from the current data at the time of writing.

In 2023, HTX added 123 cryptocurrencies and listed 134 spot trading pairs, covering popular sectors like new public chains, BRC20, Meme, Solana, and AI. This move not only led the crypto trend but also catered to the investment needs of different users.

HTX's listing of many large market cap projects in terms of new public chains, including SUI, SEI, and TIA, attracted a significant influx of new users. Moreover, the participation of market makers substantially boosted the platform's trading volume. Related tokens experienced remarkable surges, with SUI and SEI skyrocketing by 206 times and 178 times, respectively, while TIA witnessed a sixfold growth after listing for trading, attributed to the concept of modularization.

In terms of memecoins, HTX adopted a rapid and efficient strategy to enhance users' wealth. For example, by pioneering the listing of PEPE and BONK – resulting in PEPE soaring nearly 2,000 times – HTX gained recognition from numerous new traders.

As Bitcoin inscriptions emerged as a focal point in the second half of 2023, HTX promptly ventured into the BRC-20 sector, listing SATS ahead of Binance and OKX. Notably, ORDI, one of HTX's first inscription listings, saw a 53-fold increase, contributing to a new high in user growth.

Other popular sectors also witnessed impressive growth: WLD in the AI sector led with a 54-fold rise; HTX's exclusive debut token UNIBOT soared to $240 from $16, making a 15-fold gain.

2. PrimeVote

In 2023, HTX launched nine rounds of PrimeVote, attracting over 500 projects to sign up. Among the 100-some enrolled projects, users voted for nine to be listed on HTX. Furthermore, the platform issued rewards totaling more than 2.3 million USDT to participants.

The 10th round saw a record-breaking participation of over 10,000 users. Additionally, as the first CEX to pay attention to the BRC community, HTX spearheaded the inscription wave by listing ORDI through the 5th round of PrimeVote. Furthermore, projects like TOMI and CA demonstrated consistent performance, registering notable gains within a week after listing compared to the closing price on the first day.

3. PrimePool

In 2023, HTX conducted 11 rounds of PrimePool, distributing rewards exceeding 2.2 million USDT to users. Notably, the November session, allowing users to lock their TRX for rewards, attracted over 10,000 participants.

III. Derivatives

◆ Futures

1. Trading Volume

(1) In 2023, HTX's futures trading volume reached $650 billion, with an increase of over 40% in Q4 compared to Q3. As of February 2024, HTX offers more than 140 pairs, experiencing a consistent monthly growth trend in both volume and asset size.

(2) In 2023, HTX, by tracking market trends and topics in real-time, introduced 75 new assets. Impressively, 68 of them, or over 90%, exhibited an increase of 200%.

2. Product Optimization

(1) Copy trading is a user-friendly strategy trading tool that allows users to effortlessly earn profits by automatically following professional traders. As of February 2024, HTX experienced a 500% surge in the number of high-quality lead traders compared to early 2023, and the number of followers also grew steadily each month throughout 2023.

(2) In 2023, HTX completed more than 20 upgrades to its futures services, including real-time settlement of funding rates and uninterrupted settlement of USDT-M futures.

◆ HTX Earn

In 2023, HTX Earn helped millions of users across over 200 countries earn interest income exceeding 10 million USDT. This section comprises three types of products: Simple Earn, Structured Products, and On-chain Earn. Additionally, it provides features such as Auto-Invest Your Balance and Regular Invest, catering to different market cycles and risk preferences.

Users seeking stable returns can choose products from Simple Earn, including Flexible, Flexi Max, and Fixed, to achieve substantial returns with ease and lower risks. Currently, these products support over 50 cryptocurrencies.

HTX Structured Products is an innovative financial instrument that includes assets linked to fixed income and derivatives to meet the higher return expectations of advanced users. This category encompasses two products: Dual Investment and Shark Fin. In sideways markets, Dual Investment enables users to earn attractive returns by buying low or selling high at the target price. In directional conditions, users can increase their yield by choosing the rise/fall of a token in Shark Fin.

It's noteworthy that the innovative Shark Fin became a star product shortly after its launch in 2023. Each Shark Fin product's quota was quickly snapped up, exceeding expectations, with the GMV of the seven-day product surpassing 100 million soon after its launch.

For those interested in on-chain ecosystems, On-chain Earn products offer viable options. These products include ETH 2.0, over 20 popular network nodes staking, and various on-chain staking options, meeting different needs of staking for interests. In 2024, HTX launched Liquid Restaking, providing users with the opportunity to share $50 million airdrop quota.

IV. Product Upgrades

1. App Enhancement to Improve User Experience

(1) Optimized registration and login scenarios:

Numerous optimizations have been made for registration and login, the most frequently used scenarios. These include the integration of passkeys, the addition of third-party account registration, and the implementation of verification code login, enabling quicker and easier registration and login. Consequently, login efficiency improved by 14% compared to the beginning of the year.

(2) Simplified homepage:

Previous versions of the homepage were criticized for their excessive buttons and modules and redundant information. To address these issues, HTX reduced the bottom navigation tabs from six to five, streamlined the modules, and displayed customized modules. These optimizations significantly enhanced user experience and satisfaction, leading to a 27% rise in distribution efficiency compared to the previous version.

2. Content Upgrades to Support KOL Growth

KOL exposure and recommendation strategies have been added across various content scenarios to bolster page traffic and foster community growth. Exclusive functionalities, such as external sharing and invitation, components for copy trading in live streams, and community copy trading cards, have been introduced to facilitate traffic growth and enhance user retention.

3. Product Upgrades to Satisfy Different Users

◆ Futures

(1) By launching uninterrupted settlement of futures, HTX eliminates the risk of interruptions to ensure 24/7 trading for futures.

(2) HTX upgraded its futures funding rate mechanism by using the original predicted funding rate as the settlement rate. This adjustment makes funding rates more sensitive to market changes and helps anchor perpetual futures prices to the spot market faster, comprehensively improving the mechanism for perpetual products. Additionally, this new mechanism aligns HTX's funding rates more closely with other mainstream exchanges, significantly reducing disparities for arbitrage traders.

(3) In version 2.0 for copy trading, several important features, including isolated margin addition and reduction, limit orders, and trailing stop orders, were introduced to improve the experience for lead traders. To enhance convenience and flexibility for followers, HTX added features like customized copy trading pairs and risk limits.

◆ HTX Earn

(1) HTX launched Auto-Invest Your Balance to enhance product usability and convenience. This feature, allowing users to automatically earn from their spot balances, has served over 100,000 users.

(2) HTX pioneered Flexi Max, the industry's first large-amount flexible products, catering to high-net-worth users and expanding the range of Earn products for large, long-term investments.

(3) For frequent traders, HTX introduced Regular Invest to enable automatic regular, fixed investments, facilitating more convenient asset growth.

(4) Upgrades to the Earn homepage include a native design, simplified product categories, and optimized product recommendation strategies, reducing homepage loading time to 150 milliseconds and enhancing user experience.

4. Website Event Upgrades to Optimize Platform-wide Functionality

To accommodate users who prefer website participation, the platform aligned event functionalities across its app and website, improving the overall product experience. Users can now access all HTX events through its website, including PrimeVote, PrimePool, trading contests, deposit contests, and Rewards Hub.

V. Security and Compliance

1. Risk Management

HTX's security team always prioritizes user asset security. It persistently strengthens the security system, in terms of information security, business risk control, and on-chain security, to enhance operation security. The team handled 85 on-chain cases, involving 19 public chains, and conducted systematic analysis and established security strategies for two types of on-chain security risks. Currently, HTX's security system operates effectively to protect user asset security.

2. License Application

HTX has complied with regulations across different regions, providing users with a secure, transparent trading environment. It has obtained business qualifications or licenses in countries including Australia, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Furthermore, to provide more global users with compliant virtual assets services, HTX has expanded its footprint to a broader scope:

(1) Europe: To explore the European market, HTX will align with and apply to MiCA, as part of its efforts to expand its global operations in a compliant way.

(2) Dubai's FMP License: HTX Dubai is applying for the Full Market Product (FMP) license from the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA). This is the first independent, iconic, and valuable virtual asset license in the Middle East. HTX Dubai has obtained VARA's Approval in Principle (AIP) and is filing for the official licenses of Advisory and Broker-Dealer. Currently, the process is in the final stage where policy documents will be submitted and is expected to be completed in six months. With these licenses, HTX Dubai can provide consulting services for stablecoin, fiat currency, and virtual assets.

(3) BVI's VASP-related licenses: The British Virgin Islands (BVI) introduced the Virtual Assets Service Providers (VASP) Act in early 2023. In the same year, HTX applied for relevant licenses, positioning itself as one of the first potential VASP-approved entities. Upon approval, HTX can broaden its services beyond futures to include wallet custody, fiat channels, and spot trading. Notably, HTX became a sandbox member of the BVI virtual asset derivatives trading platform in 2021 and obtained the world's first BVI virtual asset derivatives trading platform license in 2022, enabling it to provide compliant futures services.

3. Asset Security

In 2023, HTX maintained a reserve ratio above 100%. This indicates that its wallet assets surpassed the assets held by users, demonstrating sufficient asset reserves.

As of February 2024, HTX has completed 16 asset audits. The latest Merkle tree-based proof of reserves data is as follows: 101% for USDT (HTX wallet balance: 550,800,308), 100% for BTC (HTX wallet balance: 21,651), 102% for ETH (HTX wallet balance: 112,173), and 103% for TRX (HTX wallet balance: 9,684,177,652). The data for USDT and ETH includes stUSDT, USDT-T-Bills assets, BETH, and stETH.

HTX will regularly conduct Proof of Reserves audits to assure users via website or app that their assets are safeguarded with abundant reserves.

VI. Community Development

1. Growth

(1) By mid-February 2024, the HTX Community has more than 10 million active members. Among them, nearly 2 million consume crypto news and share trading experiences through the community in the HTX App.

(2) Nearly 100 communities have been established through various online social tools, drawing in over 1 million users, a 48% rise compared to early 2023.

(3) Almost 300 trading discussion groups have been created within the HTX App, boasting nearly 1 million active traders, a 29% increase year-on-year.

(4) HTX has an English official Twitter (X) account with over 1.55 million followers. When factoring in all official language accounts, the combined follower base exceeds 2.7 million.

(5) HTX collaborated with over 200 renowned KOLs, including Justin Sun, reaching over 10 million followers. These collaborations facilitated brand promotion and engagement, with key campaigns garnering viewership of hundreds of millions.

2. Experience

(1) The HTX Community provided full coverage of trending topics through various forms of content operations, with core trading KOLs achieving an 80% accuracy rate in market predictions.

(2) Officials accounts on Twitter (X) and Telegram delivered about 10 posts of important messages and user events daily, yielding about a 5% interaction rate for official messages.

(3) Community KOLs and users contribute nearly 5,000 HTX-related posts each day, driving an overall interaction rate exceeding 7%.

4. Blockchain and crypto influencers like Justin Sun were invited to livestream industry updates, with a daily average of 80 sessions, each attracting over 1,000 viewership.

VII. Ecosystem Development

1. HTX DAO

Established on January 18, 2024, HTX DAO held its launch ceremony in Singapore on February 2. It is a leading decentralized autonomous organization in the blockchain ecosystem that focuses on open finance and tokenized economy.

Its governance token, $HTX, empowers holders with rights like vote-to-list, inquiry, and decision-making in governance. Additionally, the governance framework reflects a commitment to ecosystem transparency and community participation, attracting many renowned entities as ecosystem builders. A growing number of partners are increasing their participation in building HTX DAO by staking.

Currently, the HTX DAO ecosystem has enlisted the support of 19 major industrial players, including HTX, TRON, Poloniex, BitTorrent, Spark Digital Capital, APENFT, Stratified Capital, JustLend DAO, OIG Group, Double Peak, stUSDT, Zebec, USDD, ANKR, Sun.io, Merkle 3s Capital, WINkLink, TUSD, and Owlit Finance. Particularly, HTX and Poloniex will contribute a portion of their revenue to support the liquidity of the HTX DAO.

2. HTX Ventures

In 2023, HTX Ventures adopted a strategy of direct investment and fund investment, having invested in over 200 projects spanning fields such as infrastructure, DeFi, RWA, L1 & L2 public chain ecosystems, SocialFi, NFTs, and education. These projects facilitate the development of deep ecosystems like Bitcoin, Ethereum, TRON, Arbitrum, Cosmos, Solana, Polygon, and Polkadot, support multi-chain infrastructure tools and products, and explore use cases in Web2 and Web3 in multi-chain ecosystems.

Furthermore, HTX Ventures, in collaboration with Princeton Blockchain Club (PBC) and TRON, organized the first hackathon, fostering the integration of blockchain academia, enterprises, and innovation, while continuously advancing investment and project incubation to nurture the next generation of Web3 enterprises.

3. Strategic Partnerships

In 2023, HTX signed strategic partnership agreements with over a dozen institutions in security, trading experience, technology enhancement, and payment methods. Notably, partnerships in trading experience were the most extensive. These include deep cooperation with AICoin to integrate API trading, deep cooperation with TradingView to offer efficient, convenient digital asset trading experience, and collaboration with CertiK to integrate Skynet security rating into the platform.

VIII. Brand Events

1. Rebranding to HTX at the 10th Anniversary Afterparty at TOKEN2049

In September 2023, TOKEN2049, a top crypto event in Asia, took place in Singapore. HTX, as a platinum sponsor, was invited to the event and launched an afterparty co-hosted by Web3 giants like TRON, Enjin, SINOHOPE, and Meta Era at the island country's premier venue Marquee. The evening's most exciting moment came when Justin Sun, a member of HTX's Global Advisory Board, announced the exchange's new name HTX and unveiled the "X Prize" for its 10th anniversary.

There is also a brand new slogan for HTX - "Trade Crypto Only on HTX". With the rebranding to HTX, the exchange will strategically push for globalization, ecosystem development, wealth creation, and security, actively promote regulatory compliance and product innovation, and embark on its ambitious plan for the next decade.

2. HTX Awarded for Best Crypto Trading Platform at Blockchain Life 2023

In October 2023, the prominent crypto summit Blockchain Life 2023 was held in Dubai, seeing HTX assume the prestigious role of a platinum sponsor and exclusive registration sponsor. KOL with over 1 million followers shared HTX's event videos on Instagram, attracting widespread attention.

During the summit, HTX was honored as the "Crypto Exchange Of The Year", and Justin Sun, a distinguished member of HTX's Global Advisory Board and the Founder of TRON, received the esteemed title of "Crypto Entrepreneur of the Year". Since its rebranding, HTX has once again left a significant imprint on the global crypto arena, securing a crucial industry award. This underscores its strengthening foothold in the crypto market worldwide and its dedication to becoming a major player driving crypto's global development and adoption.

3. Justin Sun's Digital Persona Debut at Australian Crypto Convention 2023

In November 2023, Justin Sun's virtual digital persona made its debut at the Australian Crypto Convention. This image aligns seamlessly with HTX's commitment to technological innovation and will collaborate on a range of brand promotion campaigns. The debut marked HTX's comprehensive efforts in its globalization strategy. By bridging the virtual and real worlds through innovation, HTX works with Justin Sun to create a Web3 portal and pioneer cross-sectoral approaches to promote a healthier crypto world.

4. Nearly 380,000 Participants in Six Rounds of Mars Program

As of now, HTX hosted six rounds of its Mars Program, selecting six candidates for the space trip. These events attracted nearly 380,000 participants, with over 237,000 NFTs minted on-chain and over 200,000 USDT distributed as rewards.

The program's influence within the industry has steadily increased as it forges ahead, attracting participation from Web3 organizations such as DWF Labs, Dogelon Mars (ELON), and HTX DAO. Currently, preparations are underway for the seventh round. HTX plans to collaborate with more partners to further explore the integration of cryptocurrency and space ventures, unlocking the infinite possibilities for crypto applications.

5. Paying Tribute to the Transformative Forces at the 2024 HTX Crypto Ecosystem Annual Gala

On January 24, 2024, the Award Ceremony for the 2024 HTX Crypto Ecosystem Annual Gala took place to honor the most influential individuals, projects, and events that made a lasting impact on the crypto industry throughout the year 2023. At the ceremony, a total prize amount equivalent to nearly 35,000 USDT in $HTX was distributed, and nine major awards were presented. These awards include the Most Influential Event Award (Top 10), Concepts with the Greatest Market Potential Award (Top 10), the Most Influential Web3 Media Award (Top 10), the Most Popular Content Creator (Affiliate) Award (Top 100), the Most Popular Web 3 Social Media Influencer Award (Top 200), the Best Community Partner Collaboration Award, the Best Partner Award, Top Client Excellence Award, and the Top Trending Crypto Among Users Award (Top 10).

Outlook for 2024: Breaking the Shackles of Centralization for a People-Centered Exchange

As 2024 begins, the crypto market continues to surge ahead. There has been an observed enhancement in the overall economic situation and emerging innovations within the crypto sphere. These trends suggest an anticipation for the imminent arrival of a new bullish market cycle.

As HTX joins HTX DAO ecosystem builders and the crypto market picks up steam, in this new competitive cycle, HTX is set for a revival and to reintroduce itself to the market with a focus on liberating from constraints through "community governance" and "decentralization". It has demonstrated a stronger competitive edge.

HTX's anticipated strategies include:

Meanwhile, HTX continues to be optimistic about Web3 projects combined with AI, as well as new models where purely AI projects incentivize data contribution through tokens. Integration AI with DeFi, storage solutions, and DePin is poised to introduce novel project concepts to the market. This not only attracts funds from the technology sector but also injects new vitality and potential into the crypto market.

Additionally, the Dencun Upgrade will bring revolutionary improvements to Ethereum, significantly reducing gas fees and further enhancing network processing capacity. This will profoundly impact the entire ETH ecosystem. Progresses such as Layer 2 sorters, parallel EVM development, and the application of ZK technology also make Ethereum more efficient and scalable. These advancements, while strengthening Ethereum, create new opportunities for investors and developers. Therefore, HTX will closely follow the market developments after the Dencun Upgrade and monitor the innovation and growth it brings to the ETH ecosystem.

In summary, in 2024, HTX will follow market trends, focus on popular sectors, and select high-quality projects to provide users with a diverse options for wealth creation.

In 2024, HTX will maintain an open mindset to learn and adapt to market changes and make every effort to build a people-centered exchange. By doing so, it can create greater value for users and foster the crypto industry to flourish.