Highlights From the 2024 Blockchain Life in Dubai: Key Insights From Industry Leaders

On the question of how OKX is helping derivative traders execute successful trades, Lai says their first goal is to help minimize the persistent educational gap.

This gap is minimized by the introduction of easy-to-understand courses on trading. Lai says OKX understands derivatives are, by nature, relatively niche-oriented and are highly leveraged. This means that it is relatively riskier than other forms of trading.

Therefore, to minimize this risk, OKX puts extra effort into educating their users so their capital is protected against at least avoidable losses. Secondly, OKX also puts extra effort into simplifying the User Experience and Interface, thereby ensuring the process of executing trades is as simple as it can be.

When asked how OKX responds to the shifting nature of crypto regulations, Lai says it is challenging because all countries offer different types of regulations.

Therefore, it does not mean “one size fits all” when it comes to responding to regulations; you have to work with the authorities to come up with a solution. As a result, it is a very time-consuming process, but it's a process that OKX is prepared for and has a lot of data that it can share with regulators to come to a settlement.

So, regulations cannot speed up; they will take their course to be completed, and OKX is prepared to do whatever it takes to reach a successful dialogue between the stakeholders.

On the question of how big the altcoin options market is right now, Lai says that while the importance of Bitcoin cannot be overruled, the altcoin market is also becoming stronger.

In fact, at the current status, the liquidity market status of altcoins is sufficient, and as far as their trading on OKX is concerned, their trade execution comprises a fair number. But in the coming years, it is difficult to project because a lot of altcoin trading happens in a two-way bilateral agreement instead of trading on exchanges.

So, considering this, the current underlying altcoin options market is sufficient and has room for growth in the coming years.

During the discussion, Zhou was asked what his views were about the latest bull run, which started in February.

As per Zhou, one of the leading driving forces behind this bull market is institutional money, which started to flow once there was clarity from the regulators. As institutions started to enter, others followed and entered the space they previously did not.

Therefore, the main driving force is the institutions, and the second reason includes the development of financial infrastructure, which was completed after the fall of FTX because earlier, there simply was not any appropriate infrastructure for institutions to enter the space.

Good infrastructure means improvement not only in exchange improvement but also in risk management and system resilience. Considering this, the current bull run had all the reasons to come into effect, and so it did.

When asked about the upcoming MiCA regulations impact on Bybit, Zhou said it is going to be an industry thing which means not only Bybit will be impacted but all the other platforms as well. The MiCA regulations will start to effect at the end of this year.

To overcome this, Bybit's first step is to seek licenses in different parts of the world, which is why we have already applied for a license in Hong Kong.

Furthermore, Bybit's next step is to build web3 products, which is also something many other platforms are doing, including OKX and Binance.

This will allow European users to explore different options that Web3 offers in general, and for that, Bybit will offer a self-custody wallet. These self-custody wallets will offer a lot of things that are relevant to web3.

When asked how Bybit sees the derivatives market and its role as the leader in the coming two to three years, Zhou says the biggest challenge is liquidity.

This is because it is now not very difficult to build a product that is comparatively easy to use. However, the main problem starts with liquidity, and users only come to top exchanges because they provide liquidity to users, which means more security for their assets.

To become one of the top exchanges, Bybit is working on shortening the latency, which helps us to become more institutional grade and, therefore in return, helps us to grow our liquidity.

On the question of what role blockchain technology can play beyond trading, Vivien said there is a lot of room for blockchain technology or Web 3 as a whole in the entire space.

Vivien said blockchain technology should not be viewed as just Bitcoin or something that supports trading. There is a lot of technological advancement happening in the space of AI. Crypto can be a force of good as it can help to form more meaningful and real-life implementations.

Apart from this, the whole gaming sector, or GameFi, is another example of how blockchain technology is used in ways other than trading. With the help of blockchain technology, the world of gaming is not just for entertainment; it also provides real-life use cases in the form of NFTs.

When asked how BingX implements new Web 3 technology on its platform that has a growing user demand, Vivien said BingX is constantly looking at growing Web 3 projects that its users are enjoying.

BingX has an entire research team that focuses on what kind of Web 3 projects should be adopted that will complement the platform. BingX is working with a lot of developers and other project owners to increase its listing services.

So as a whole, depending on the user and community requirements, BingX sees itself as someone responsible for bringing those projects to the masses. From another angle, this also helps to improve the overall prosperity of the industry.

When asked how BingX ensures the user's safety in light of growing cyber threats, Vivien said BingX is adopting AI technology that monitors the platform against any suspicious activity.

The AI is trained in threat detection and before anything goes wrong, it will alert us, and from there, experts can take over. This is done because BingX is not a very big company; it has over 400 employees, so considering this it is nearly impossible to spread out all the resources.

Therefore, by adopting a third-party technology service solution, which in this case is a smart AI, that does the job really well for us and as the model is constantly learning from the entire industry, it will only improve.

Jeremy was asked about his role at the Cardano Foundation and what potential he believes Cardano has in the coming years, especially as its mission is to support developers.

As per Jeremy, his main job is to lead utility with the real-world industries and understand the underlying frameworks that help Web 2 to function. By monitoring their frameworks, Jeremy helps to understand and work towards how those frameworks can be included within the Web 3 applications and blockchain technology in general.

Jeremy believes that as more and more applications coincide between Web 2 and Web 3, the growth is likely to be incredible.

During the panel, regulatory space was discussed between Jeremy and other panelists, with the main question being where the space is headed in the coming years in terms of regulations.

One of the biggest reasons behind the US taking a strict stance over cryptocurrencies is that securities regulations are having a difficult time understanding the crypto world as a whole.

The main reason is the whole ICO mania way back in 2016, where no one knew where things fell and under whose jurisdiction.

While this is not the case anymore, as there is some clarity on what powers SEC has, however, the biggest issue is that the US Senator and Mr Gensler want to kill the technology altogether as they want to nationalize the financial supply.

So, at the moment, the main challenge is not the laws but the people who are making those laws. Which is also a reason why the future is bleak.

During the discussion, Charmaine was first asked which countries HTX is looking forward to growing its business while also remaining compliant with the local regulations.

According to Charmaine, HTX has already registered for an FMP license to operate in Dubai and is working to ensure it remains aligned with MiCA regulations in Europe. Both these initiatives guarantee that HTX continues to lead together with other exchanges while also ensuring it provides true secure services.

Furthermore, as per Charmaine, HTX is also constantly looking toward other potential markets; however, as regulations are not clear in most parts of the world, it is difficult to work with the regulators and be certain.

On the question of how HTX is ensuring the security of users' assets, Charmaine said the first thing is the development of our reserve, which acts as insurance in case things go sideways. Despite the fact that a breach has never happened before with HTX due to powerful and up-to-date security measures.

Having a reserve guarantees that if things somehow manage to go wrong, HTX will still have more funds to make sure that none of its customers suffer. Regardless, at the end of the day, this ensures peace of mind, which is very important to users.

For large volume traders of HTX who often decide to work with third-party custodial services, HTX has already integrated with fire blocks and is continuously working with partners alike to bring such services.

Also, HTX welcomes those who feel safer using third-party custodial services and want to integrate with HTX for trading, as we are happy to connect and meet the requirements.

When asked how a centralized exchange like HTX compares with Decentralized Finance (DeFi) in the future, Charmaine said it is not a competition between the two rather, there should be some form of partnership.

As opposed to what many think, centralized exchanges, in general, should coexist with decentralized finance because when both grow together, the potential is immense.

Therefore, there should not be any competition between the two rather, customers should be given these two choices and they should choose the best for themselves based on what suits them the most. Doing so will allow both sectors to grow together and help bridge the gap that exists between traditional and decentralized finance.

When asked how Web3 guarantees freedom, Sebastien said one of the biggest freedoms that Web3 brings is the freedom to do things that you want to.

Because at the end of the day, no person or entity is going to ask you why you send your $2k to someone because there is no one controlling Web3 other than the community.

According to Sebastien, this is perhaps one of the biggest reasons why, despite all of the reasons, Web3 is still here because there are genuine people who believe in its mission and power to change the world.

Sure, some people want to make money out of it, but there is indeed a good chunk of people who want freedom, which is why Web 3 is a force to reckon with.

On the question of what's the most important thing for the future development of Web 3's adoption, Sebastien said it's all about scalability and that is also something Ledger is working on.

It is important to note that scalability is the reason why assets can move incredibly fast and also cheaply. Without that, it is almost impossible for institutions to adopt cryptocurrencies. If that does not happen, there simply will be no more ETFs.

Therefore, the biggest challenge right now is to make sure the entire ecosystem is scalable so users from around the globe can truly feel they are part of the magic and the blockchain revolution.

On the question of how Sebastien views the growing adoption of ETFs, which does not give users power over their Bitcoin or Ethereum but rather gives them governmental security.

As per Sebastien, having ETFs is in itself a great way forward, however, it is unclear what the future holds. One can argue that there will come a time when exchanges will start to offer them, and their users will move towards self-custody.

So, there is a good chance that it will be a journey because people will realize the main power of an ETF is not that institutions offer them but rather the freedom of truly owning them yourself.

But at the moment, it is a bit complicated, and with time, perhaps things will move in a different direction because, eventually, you need hardware wallets to secure your funds.