2024 SX Roadmap
SX will become the first cross-chain betting platform, with the best odds in the world and most unique developer ecosystem
As the first sports betting-focused blockchain and first web3 betting platform to get meaningful scale, SX currently has a multi-year head start. However, as the market catches up to the massive opportunity in this rapidly growing sector, attention and competition will increasingly grow.
The goal of 2024 for SX is thus to is lean into its three core advantages — non-custodial control, better odds, and open-source development — to create the world’s best sports betting platform for our community, and accelerate our network effects at the same time.
To be specific, our main three goals for 2024 for each aspect are the following:
- First-ever Cross-Chain Betting Platform: SX Bet on +3 chains
- Best Odds in the world: SX pre-game vig consistently <2%
- Large Developer Community: +20 third-party projects on SX Network
The following article explains the big changes, features, and projects that are being launched in 2024 that will help us achieve these goals. We’re incredibly excited by everything that is being built both the SX core team and outside developers at the moment, and we think you will too!
🔒 Non-Custodial Control
Keeping constant control of your funds is the core tenet of SX. Traditional betting platforms have a nasty habit of doing whatever it takes to prevent bettors from accessing their funds. SX is built differently. As one of the worlds first non-custodial betting platforms, SX uses blockchain and smart contracts to enable users to keep constant control of their funds.
However, while this core tenet has never wavered, there are a number of UX headaches and limitations in the current iteration of SX. We’re excited to launch three core improvements in 2024 — cross-chain, new SX Network bridges, and native SX token withdrawals — that will significantly improve the non-custodial aspect of SX in dramatic fashion.
⛓️ Cross-Chain
Making SX fully cross-chain and enabling users to bet from any blockchain they want will massively improve the non-custodial advantages of SX. Users will no longer have to bridge onto SX Network in order to bet on SX; in 2024, users will be able to bet from whichever chain they want.
Onboarding bettors onto SX has been by far the most significant challenge; cross-chain solves this by bringing SX to the bettor. Users can now bet from whichever chain they want, without ever having to bridge onto SX Network (though there will be increased functionality and benefits to doing so). All bets will still hit the SX exchange on SX Network, making cross-chain truly a win-win for everyone.
We will be primarily targeting innovative, low cost chains (such as Monad & Berachain) in addition to a few large, established chains. We’re particularly excited by the idea of being a day one app on some of the highly innovative blockchains launching this year.
🌉 SX Network Bridging 2.0
In addition to bringing SX to more communities with cross-chain, we’re also focused on making the SX Network bridging experience much smoother (and cheaper). To do this, we will be significantly revamping the native canonical bridging experience of SX by migrating away from Celer to our own customized native bridge.
This bridge will be built by the SX core team, with the help of and integration of Socket on the backend. Additionally, will also be adding more relayer fast deposit and withdrawal bridges from new prominent chains such as Arbitrum, Optimism, and others.
🪙 Launch SX Token on Ethereum
Finally, we will also be launching a native SX Network token on Ethereum, which will also enable native SX token withdrawals from SX Network as well. In conjunction with this deployment, the SX Network token will be accessible on exchanges and DEXs on Ethereum for the first time.
💰 Better Odds
The core mission of SX has been simple: we aim to slash betting costs (i.e. the vig) by 90% from 4.8% to 0.5%. This represents a 10x improvement from the industry standard odds of -110/-110 (1.90/1.90) to industry-leading odds of -101/-101 (1.99/1.99).
In simple terms, this means a $100 bet on a 50–50 outcome pays you $99 in profit — not $90 like it does currently — a 10% higher payout for bettors.
The core team believes this mission is more achievable than ever with a couple changes to SX fee structure as well as the launch of a slew of new features and products in 2024.
💵 Cashout
We will also be launching the ability to Cashout bets before settlement in H1 of 2024. Cashout will enable far more betting activity and trading throughout games, as users won’t have to wait until the end of the game in order to access the liquidity of their unsettled bets. It will also enable for real-time mark-to-mark profit/loss tracking of all open bets for users.
Cashout on SX will be significantly better for bettors than the cashout offers one would receive on a sportsbook as there’s no extra “cashout” fee. When cashing out on SX, bettors are effectively betting the other side and receiving their stake back, without having to put up any additional capital.
With no cashout fees, SX should have the best cashout product in the world. No sportsbook (nor betting exchange) can compete with a zero-fee cashout product.
💳 Reduced Fees
This past year proved that SX can be a sustainable project that is profitable at the protocol-level; a milestone achieved by few projects in the crypto space. However, given the network effects inherent in this market and the corresponding winner-take-all dynamics that it entails, providing value to bettors and experiencing exponential growth that comes from doing so is the only thing that truly matters.
The SX core team will be posting twin governance proposals to reduce Taker and Maker fees, and additionally begin rewarding SX validators through supplemental SX rewards. This will make SX the lowest cost betting exchange in the world, and with some of the other initiatives listed below, should also make SX the lowest vig betting platform in the world as well.
🤝 New Market Makers
Finally, we’re to pleased to say that there’s been a large increase in new active market makers on SX over the last few months. There are number of others that are in the early stages of onboarding onto the exchange as well.
The SX BD team is particularly focused on onboarding live market makers to improve the in-play betting experience of SX. The radically open nature of SX’s API, in conjunction with the proposed fee reduction, will make SX one of the most attractive betting exchanges in the world for market makers.
💻 Development Platform
SX is the world’s first open-source, programmable betting platform. The permissionless nature of public blockchains should give SX huge advantages in attracting third-party developers to launch their own applications, tools, and protocols.
The last, big focus of 2024 will be leaning into this advantage by aggressively growing the SX Network developer ecosystem, with a particular focus on unique applications custom-built for the SX Network ecosystem.
By the end of 2024, SX should have the largest ecosystem of on-chain betting developers in the world by a large margin. There are three areas of focus — DeFi, betting tools, and SocialFi — that we’re particularly excited about, with a number of projects that are already being built.
🧰 Betting Tools
There are also a host of new betting tools launching on SX in 2024 that will give bettors tools in order to be more profitable on SX. They are split across many different verticals, from market-making, copy betting, and quantitative betting strategies.
- Titan Echo enables users to build their own no-code market making strategies on SX by leveraging the experience and intel of top market makers on SX.
- SX-Edge will automatically flag positive EV bets and are arbable offers on SX exchange, using data feeds from the largest sportsbooks to do so.
- SX Quantzone enables users to build their own quantitative betting strategies, that auto-execute on the SX exchange based on predefined rules.
These are just a few examples of some of the projects building betting tools in the SX ecosystem. Please reach out to us on discord if you have other ideas you’d like help to build!
🏦 DeFi
There are host of new DeFi platforms launching on SX Network in H1 of 2024, to complement the native SharkSwap DEX. LiquiStake is a native liquid staking protocol that will enable SX stakers to tokenize their staked SX.
Tokenized staked SX will enable users to circumvent the 30-day cool-down period on SX staking in order to access liquidity early. DegenLend is another project that will be a native lending protocol and dapp launching on SX Network that will enable users to leverage their SX and tokenized staked SX in order to borrow USDC to bet with.
🗣️ SocialFi
Finally, SX-Lab will be launching the world’s first tokenized tipster protocol in Q1. This will enable bettors to launch their own social tokens and token-gated telegram groups.
Winning bettors can cash in on their SX track record to launch their own tipster telegram group that requires users to own the native token in order to access. Every bettor on SX can launch their own tipster token in less than 2 minutes.
Conclusion
The introduction of cross-chain functionality, improved SX Network bridging, and the launch of the SX Token on Ethereum are key steps towards enhancing the non-custodial aspect of the platform.
SX’s focus on introducing features like cashout, reducing fees, and onboarding more market makers will make SX the most profitable betting experience there is.
Finally, SX’s focus on attracting a large developer community with initiatives in DeFi, betting tools, and SocialFi will enrich the ecosystem, making SX a hub for innovation in on-chain betting. With these advancements, SX is not only cementing its position as a leader in the web3 betting space but is also shaping a future where betting is more accessible, efficient, and user-friendly.
About SX Network
SX Bet strives to be the lowest vig sports betting platform in the world and offer bettors the best odds. All bets are peer-to-peer and settled on-chain, giving bettors both unparalleled control over their funds and flexibility to get the odds they want. SX lets you bet on sports, with crypto, all from the security of your own wallet. Since our launch in 2019, SX has processed +$400,000,000 in betting volume, making it the largest blockchain betting platform in the world. SX Bet is not available in the United States or other prohibited jurisdictions.
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