Derivatives trading platform WCX has attracted traders from 170 countries since launching late last year, with notional trading volume exceeding $5 billion in the wake of Bitcoin’s recent jaw-dropping price rally.
The WCX platform, which was founded by ex-Apple engineers Amatsu Soyonobu and Tagawa Ha, lets people trade markets ranging from stocks to commodities to cryptos using just Bitcoin – no fiat required.
We recently caught up with Mr. Soyonobu, the CEO of the Swiss-based company.
“It’s simple – we’re a trading platform, except instead of depositing fiat, you deposit Bitcoin,” Mr. Soyonobu says. Traders can go long or short on more than 100 markets, with all profits and losses paid out in Bitcoin.
“We’re not an exchange, we’re derivatives trading platform. There are no order books. Rather, trades are backed by a common liquidity pool, which is a faster, more efficient, and cheaper way to trade. There’s nothing like it in the crypto industry.”
Indeed, the platform charges 0 fees on trades, deposits, and withdrawals, which, according to Mr. Soyonobu, results in a drastic decrease in trading costs.
“It’s 10x cheaper. On a crypto exchange, your cost is the spread, plus the fee, plus slippage you incur due to lack of liquidity. On WCX, we don’t charge any fees and there’s no slippage because trades are matched with our liquidity pool. So your cost is just the spread.”
The low trading costs are attracting thousands of traders who are flocking to the platform from crypto exchanges, particularly in crypto-forward countries like Turkey and Brazil.
“We’re starting to see crypto exchange traders migrate to WCX. Because there are zero fees. There’s access to leverage. You can go short, so you can make money when prices fall. And you can capitalize on trading opportunities around the world, not just in crypto. They tell us switching to WCX was a no-brainer.”
He claims that this is a good sign not just for the company, but for the industry as a whole, which he deems seems to be “maturing”.
Indeed, WCX complies with KYC laws and recently partnered with Chainalysis, the gold standard in crypto compliance, to cover anti-money laundering.
However, this doesn’t come without its own challenges, particularly with regards to security in an industry tormented by frequent hacks. “We have an exceptionally robust security apparatus. That includes keeping 98% of funds in cold storage, and hot wallets are insured against theft. Security is our top priority,” Mr Soyonobu says.
When asked about the future, the CEO was blunt.
next“Our vision for WCX is to become a globally available trading platform. Over the next year, we plan to add hundreds of more markets, all tradable with Bitcoin.”