I had the great opportunity to discuss various topics with Seihyun, CEO of EOSDAQ one of the true DEXes in Crypto-World. The following abstract covers the largest parts of our discussion.
Seihyun, we have had the first contact in the very early days of EOSDAQ, how has life been to you? Who did you survive the crypto-winter?
Hello, I remember the good memories having chats with you last November when EOSDAQ was on the launching period. From the successful launching, I had to develop EOSDAQ platform to be stable. In the same time, teammates in EOSDAQ struggled to find values to deliver and express with the form of the product. A couple of months participating on several system updates, I believe we are now managing one of the most evolving platforms in EOS ecosystem.
Could you please tell us a little about you? What is your background, which projects have you been working on so far?
Currently I’m a CEO and software engineer at EOSDAQ. When I was attending graduate school at the University of Southern California majoring computer science, I always had an interest in bitcoin. While I was in charge of developing S/W for Head-up display product in Hyundai motor group, I used to invest in crypto just like many others. Lucky for me at 2017, I had a chance to deep dive into crypto world investing on ICO fund, mining firm and coin trading firm.
You started to use EOS over other Blockchains, which are the main reasons?
Speed, community and the quality of the source code. EOS is the fastest blockchain. EOS has the most powerful community. Developers can learn easily by EOSIO document and play with the codes. So simple but the most important reasons.
You are based in Korea, are people at other locations also working for EOSDAQ? How big is your team today?
We have 7 people in our team. We have a very strong tech team in Korea and English, Chinese marketers. We hope to expand globally with diverse cultures and various partners
How hard is it to operate an exchange for crypto in Korea these days, are there specific rules to obey?
Like most other countries, there is no direct guideline for blockchain. However, EOSDAQ tries to follow the regulatory law in conservative position.
EOSDAQ is a real “DEX” from what I understand. There is no fixed definition, however. What is your interpretation of it and which models would do you not see as a DEX?
Yes, you’re right.
There is no fixed definition for “DEX” but I would rather suggest the definition as “P2P exchange protocol which don’t have right controlling user’s asset”. In respect of this definition, DEXs in EOS ecosystem are all DEX. However, all DEXs have different characteristics. For example, EOSDAQ is onchain DEX which contains orderbook inside the EOS blockchain. All orders are executed by pre-defined rules(smart contract) and all histories are written in Blockchain(transparency). Not only exchanging the tokens but also interacting transactions via numerous types of smart contract would be the next key to make a real sophisticated DEX.
Based on today’s DAPPRADAR statistics on Volume, EOSDAQ is ranked at 13 of all listed exchanges. Are you happy with this position within all Exchanges for EOS, TRX, and ETH?
Not happy at all. The figures don’t lie. EOSDAQ need to boost more. Very soon, I’m sure EOSDAQ is going to be one of top in the list.
Volume is key for all of the DEXchanges. There are generally no market makers, so which concepts can bring volume to EOSDAQ? Returning Bulls will obviously help, too.
I agree with your point. Market making companies don’t have experience in DEX. A DEX is slower than a CEX. Configuration RAM, CPU, NET in EOS accounts is also a barrier. They have little motivation to run their business. Therefore, we instead focus on the community. For example, we are communicating with Befull community which has 200,000 users and help them to dive on EOSDAQ and EOS ecosystem. We guide the concepts of EOS and make them activate easily. Community groups can be a big Bull.
Comparing the user to transaction ratio for EOSDAQ, there is not much bot trading happening? There are always complaints stating that volume and transactions of many exchanges are manipulated. What is your position on this Seihyun?
This is like a chicken and egg problem. Users are willing to use exchange where a high degree of liquidity is provided. Exchanges desire to gather users. In respect of the marketing view, providing liquidity seems to be very efficient method. However, manipulating is different. Some exchanges fake the volume with no asset. This is a fraud. I’m very negative about this point. Instead, EOSDAQ recommend users to trade with our open api. Smart contract from EOSDAQ provides open api in nature. We also provide user’s order status api. In our statistics, the number of EOSDAQ users who use open api and trade is growing steadily.
Which are your favorite EOS Tokens, which do you think have real-world potential? Are there any you would like to mention?
EOSDT and KARMA are the two promising DApps. EOSDT is a stable coin pegged to USD and collateralized by EOS. Generally, the most important factor of a stable coin is to have enough reserve (collateral). In this sense, EOSDT (Equilibrium project, on-chain) deems sustainable, supported by its high level of collateral (170%) and strong team members.
KARMA is also a project with good prospects as it provides people with the opportunities to share their good deeds and get rewarded for it, regardless of its scale. The project does not only have a good cause but also a strong team of EOS activists. Also, leveraging its aggressive marketing capacity, KARMA seems to be able to expand its global footprints.
EOS and TRON have become large playgrounds with hundreds of gaming sites, while you decided to delist all gambling tokens from the exchange. I have great respect for this decision since it keeps away a lot of volumes. Why did you take this decision?
We are highly confident that there will be increasingly more liquidity for gaming (non-gambling) DApps. EOSDAQ would rather focus on these. In addition, listing gambling tokens is legally unsafe as there is no clear legal guideline.
A cool initiative was recently launched, Initial Exchange Offerings (IEO). The projects on EOSDAQ were sold out in minutes. What is your experience with this concept?
Through those successes, we confirmed that there is a strong market demand for IEO. At the same time, we feel responsible in screening for solid projects.
Will there be further IEO´s soon?
Several projects have expressed interest in conducting an IEO on EOSDAQ. Once our REX market (to be launched along with REX’s main net release) stabilizes, we will focus on collaborating with more projects on IEO.
Have you seen an impact on general trading during the IEO projects?
Yes. During IEOs, both visitors and transaction increased. We hope this trend continues with future IEOs.
Which are the most significant features to come? You mentioned that REX implementation is very close, and I even had a chance to take a first look. Great usability by the way! When can we expect to see the functionality?
We truly appreciate your compliment! EOSDAQ is still very open to your precious feedbacks. At the moment, EOSDAQ’s REX only functions on the Jungle Testnet. As soon as REX becomes available on the main net, it will be fully functional on EOSDAQ.
Here are some of the very early screenshots from EOSDAQ REX:
EOSDAQ is available via TokenPoket and Meet.One are you aiming to also create your own native app? How many percent of your users are accessing the exchange via Website and PB-Apps?
Since the percentage of users coming from a mobile device which is 65%, we have a plan to initiate a native app. But first, we are seeking to concentrate on decentralized and centralized wallets. We will find the best way to provide users with a comfortable experience.
You are running an exchange, when will the Bulls return? 😉
Soon? lol
Anything else you would like to share with us?
We are now preparing to open REX (Resource Exchange) market within EOSDAQ. The UI will be similar to our exchange page, something that users are already familiar with. We have done thorough research to enhance the level of user experience. You can now test it our in the Jungle Testnet at https://dev.eosdaq.com/ If you have feedback, please let us know via Telegram or Email. Wrapping up, EOSDAQ always cares about the users. We consider good design, concrete system, and channel to introduce good projects.
Keep track our path and when the bull market initiates, you will find EOSDAQ as one of the first movers in the entire blockchain scene.
Decentralized exchanges are a key component of the EOS Ecosystem. My passion is to follow and test all exchanges available, very focussed on EOS and TRON.
If you are interested, too, please also join my Telegram discussion group: DEXchangeNews