Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency financial service provider Crypto.com announced the launch of its cryptocurrency exchange on November 14. The announcement of the new exchange, which will be accessible through Crypto.com’s web interface, trading API, and mobile app, was shared in an email with Finance Magnates.
The exchange is the latest addition to the Crypto.com ecosystem, which so far includes a mobile wallet with a connected Visa card, a crypto lending service, a Venmo-like crypto Payments services, automated quant trading, a fundraising platform (“The Syndicate”), and a staking service.
”It’s about closing the loop”
Kris Marszalek, CEO of Crypto.com, said that the launch of the exchange would put in the final piece to complete its product offering: “launching an exchange is the natural next step that allows us to complete our ecosystem play,” he said in a statement.
Indeed, “for us, it’s about closing the loop,” Marszalek said in a call with Finance Magnates. “We’ve got a lot of customers right now who use us for purchasing and storing crypto and [gaining] interest, but whenever they needed to trade in a professional environment, they would go somewhere else.”
Marszalek said that at first, the exchange would primarily be marketed toward Crypto.com’s existing user base, which is currently over 1 million people; however, the exchange will eventually be marketed to new users, and thus, will act as an opportunity to bring new faces into the ecosystem.
Trading, security, and fees
At first, the exchange will offer trading in Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), XRP, Litecoin (LTC), EOS, Stellar Lumens (XLM), Tether Dollars (USDT), MCO, and Crypto.com’s native token, CRO.
CRO will be used in addition to BTC and USDT as one of the exchange’s three core trading pairs. Additionally, the announcement says that users who stake CRO will have access to discounts on trading fees “up to 100%”, and that CRO staked on Crypto.com will yield 20% per annum.
Thanks for tuning in ? looking forward to November!!! ? https://t.co/amfq7nZkei
— Kris | Crypto.com (@Kris_HK) October 25, 2019
The exchange promises “deep and global Liquidity ” provided by its proprietary Vortex Liquid Engine, as well as “very competitive trading fees,” with “typical API trading account fees at 0.008% maker and 0.02% taker, high volume accounts trade for free (after Volume & CRO Staking discounts).”
Additionally, in terms of security measures, the exchange has achieved ISO Certification 27001:2013, PCI DSS Level 1 Certification, CCSS Level 3 Compliance. Crypto.com has also formed a partnership with Ledger Vault, Ledger’s institutional custody solution.
”There is no silver bullet here.”
When Finance Magnates interviewed Marszalek earlier this year, he said that when it comes to building a product or platform that users will be loyal to, “there are always two things to think about here...one is the user experience and how you design it–it needs to be really smooth and effortless. The second one is the financial incentives.”
Check out this interview and podcast with our CEO, @Kris_HK and Rachel McIntosh from @financemagnates covering branding, product development, and our vision. https://t.co/cGH97vpYkF
— Crypto.com (@cryptocom) October 2, 2019
Marszalek said earlier this week to FM that, therefore, the creation of the Crypto.com exchange “improves the stickiness of our product.”
“I believe very firmly that in the next bull run, the companies that have an entire ecosystem of products will be those that are going to thrive--[users will] just have absolutely no need to go anywhere else.”
Marszalek acknowledged that Crypto.com isn’t the only company vying for user attention: “obviously, exchanges are a very competitive market,” he said to Finance Magnates. “But if you take an in-depth look, [there are] probably less than ten exchanges [that] make any sense whatsoever in terms of how they operate, and their security standards.”
“I think it’s going to be fairly easy for us to break into this top-ten list,” he continued boldly. “And then it’s all about simply doing a good job for your customers, both corporate and retail...there is no silver bullet here.”
Yesterday, Crypto.com announced a partnership with Xfers, a Singapore-based payment processing gateway, to enable digital currency buying and selling services in the Singapore dollar. Previously, in October, Crypto.com announced that its Visa card program would be coming to Europe.
