Interview between tehMoonwalkeR and Michael Gan, CEO of KuCoin
Giving promising Blockchain projects a Spotlight
Can you tell us more about KuCoin Exchange and what is the benefit of using it compared to another Cryptocurrency Exchange?
KuCoin is a global cryptocurrency exchange for numerous digital assets and cryptocurrencies. Also known as “The People’s Exchange”, KuCoin launched in September 2017. We have grown rapidly since launched and already have over 5 million registered users from 100 countries and regions. Our highest daily trading volume surpassed 320 million USD. According to Alexa traffic ranking, KuCoin’s monthly unique visit ranks top 5 globally. In November 2018, KuCoin announced $20 million USD round A funding from IDG Capital and Matrix Partners.
We know that there are currently lots of crypto exchanges out there and here are a couple of things that differentiate KuCoin from others:
- KuCoin is often known for a wide range of tradable digital assets. We have listed over 180 tokens including about 400 pairs. However, that does not mean we are listing every project approached us, actually, we have a strong project research team, consisting of over 20 professionals. Together with our big data analysis system and global partners, we are committed to finding the best blockchain projects and bring it to the world before anyone else. Many famous projects like Aergo, Metadium, QKC, LOOM, and PHX chose KuCoin to be their first exchange.
- KuCoin cares a lot about security, and we have introduced plenty of security mechanism to ensure the security of our users.
- We offer a very competitive trading fee. Compare to most major exchanges, the trading fee at KuCoin is about 30% lower on average.
- We care a lot about customer support and user experience. On our website, you could always reach out to our 24*7 online customer support. Also, we have established local communities in Vietnam, Spain, Russia, Turkey, India, and Italy to provide support in their native languages.
- Last but not least, we are trying our best to be regulated in every market, and that is why we could get investment from two top VCs, IDG and Matrix.
Many Decentralized Exchanges are coming up, what is your viewpoint on centralization/decentralization?
As the development of TPS and cross-chain transaction, I believe DEX will get increasingly popular but I don’t think it will replace centralized exchange. Users will have different requirements regarding convenience and security, so in the future, the centralized and decentralized exchange will have their own user base.
KuCoin has participated in the incubation of many decentralized exchanges and we have a special team to research into decentralized-related technologies. This April we partnered with Arwen to introduce a decentralized trading service, combining the advantages of the centralized and decentralized exchange, which means when users use this service to trade, their funds will be 100% safe and meanwhile, because the order book of KuCoin has been integrated into the service, the liquidity will be much better than most existing DEXs. We may also develop our DEX when we think the technology is ready.
What are the use cases of the KCS Token?
As the native token of KuCoin, KCS holders now can enjoy trading fee discount and daily KCS bonus on our platform. When our Mercantile Exchange platform KuMEX goes alive in Q2 this year, KCS will also play a significant role in it. Also, KCS has gradually been accepted by increasing industry partners. You can now user KCS to get a loan on ETHLend, transfer KCS to your friends on Adamant Messenger, pay private expenses with KCS through Aave pay. More use cases will be unveiled this quarter.
Please tell us about the KuCoin spotlight.
KuCoin has been persistent in its pursuit of finding and supporting blockchain projects with real potential. KuCoin’s vision brings Spotlight to the stage. KuCoin Spotlight aims to assist blockchain projects in raising the needed funds, attracting market attention and improving industrial influence.
We have finished the token sale of our first project — MultiVAC on 3rd of April and the second project, Trias will take place on May 14, 2019, and will follow a new lottery format. According to the new rules, each KuCoin user can obtain lottery tickets based on certain conditions. Up to 7 lottery tickets can be obtained per account and the more lottery tickets that are obtained, the greater the chance to win. Lottery tickets are non-transferable and each winning user can only purchase a fixed share of $500 worth of TRY.
Trias aims to define a new-generation all-platform-supported public chain system. Trustworthy and reliable intelligent autonomous systems make people trust in machines. It currently has a team of 22 scientists and engineers from Oxford, Gatech, Peking University and leading tech companies, including Alibaba, Microsoft, and Intel. It has also established in-depth academic collaborations with Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Oxford respectively. Early investors of the Trias Project include NGC, DHVC, Kosmos, and Reflexion.
Many projects are struggling to meet the rising listing fees, how can we enable community projects to get on major exchanges, how is KuCoin trying to be close to the community?
We are open to all promising blockchain projects. The community projects will also have the chance to be listed on KuCoin. For instance, we recently listed Turtle coin and our project research team is also researching into other community projects. If they need the listing requirements of KuCoin, we will be happy to list them as well.
KuCoin had a major system upgrade a while ago, please tell us about what’s new with KuCoin Platform 2.0?
KuCoin Platform 2.0 is a significant upgrade. Some of the key upgrades include:
Advanced Brand New API — KuCoin’s APIs are designed to offer an easy and efficient way to develop a secure and programmatic trading strategy. LEVEL 2 and LEVEL 3 data has also been added.
Various Order Types — KuCoin now offers users a suite of order types to give traders the tools they need for every scenario. These include Limit, Stop, Market, Post Only, Iceberg, etc.
Reliable Security Solutions — Multiple security mechanisms to protect users’ information and funds are our first priority. With the update, KuCoin now supports SMS authentication, a device trust system, and protective walls to reinforce user information and assets.
More Attractive Fee Program — KuCoin will now be launching a new Tiered Trading Fee Discount Program, developing separate trading fees for Takers and Makers, creating high liquidity, and effectively reducing trading fees, all while improving transaction efficiency.
More Convenient Self-service Management Features — Platform 2.0 has added support for internal transfers, self-service unbinding, self-service freezing/unfreezing of accounts, and other user self-service functionality to greatly improve service efficiency.
Efficient Notification Module — The KuCoin WebSocket feed, together with newly added App and SMS push notifications, will let you easily gain access to real-time market data.
Improved User Experience and Feature Optimizations:
The simplification of the KYC verification process helps you to quickly submit a KYC verification application.
Price warnings and internal notices to keep you updated on market trends.
The construction of savings accounts and trading accounts will better ensure the security of users’ assets.
The KuCoin referral rewards program has also been upgraded to distribute KCS.
A more intuitive user interface helps you better plan your trading behavior.
A more powerful trading matchmaking engine lets you easily apply your trading strategies.
Actually, after the 2.0 upgrade, our engineers are still working hard to optimize the experience. It is worth noting that our traffic increased 4 times after the upgrade with our trading volume doubled.
What is needed for crypto mass adoption, and what roles do you think will exchanges play?
They are multiple factors that could contribute to the mass adoption of crypto, regulation framework from major countries, killer applications powered by blockchain for instance. As an exchange, there are a lot of things we could do. We are always trying to find promising blockchain projects and by listing them, we could help them increase liquidity and get more public attention, these will help them develop better. Also, we know that many regulators are still learning and adapting to the blockchain and cryptos, we are more than happy to work with them to figure out a better way to regulate the industry.
Thinking about the future, where do you want to go with KuCoin, what more is planned and where do you see KuCoin and KCS in a few years?
My recent goal for KuCoin is to make it one of the top 10 exchanges in terms of the trading volume. And for KCS, we are hoping it could enter top 20 on CMC in the near future.
The bear market has been hard, and we have heard about some exchanges struggling with revenue, how much funds do the core team have in the budget for development and marketing? And how is the revenue situation?
KuCoin is quite financially healthy even in the bear market. Last November, we have secured our round A of funding from IDG and Matrix, raising 20M USD, and most of the funds have been used to support our technical development, expanding global communities and improving customer service.
You have recently been very active on social media like Twitter, is it necessary nowadays for a CEO to do that, or is it simply your passion to be close to the community?
Both, as the CEO at KuCoin, it is my responsibility to introduce KuCoin to more people. Also, I am very glad to be closer to our community and engage with our existing and prospective users. Happy to hear their feedbacks and deliver better services to serve our traders.
Synopsis
KuCoin Exchange is currently ranked 70 on Coinmarketcap with a daily volume of around 50m$.
The token KCS ranked 69 with a market cap of 92m$.
As their CEO said they aim for a much higher position on both, they have been working hard and totally revamping the UI and trading engine with KuCoin 2.0.
Their new initiative KuCoin Spotlight so far is a full success.
The token sale of the first project — MultiVAC on 3rd of April offered 600 million MultiVAC (MTV), which were priced at $0.006 each. Within less than an hour, the tokens were gone, giving the KuCoin Spotlight platform over 1.9 million KCS, translating to about $3.6 million USD.
The second Spotlight project Trias raised 1.6m$ and is currently trading at 3.5x IEO price.
Michael Gan appears to be close to the community while supporting solid projects before during and after the IEO on KuCoin Spotlight.
The KCS token is useful and clever designed, and the exchange is improving constantly.
I see a great future for KuCoin and it’s token and thinks their goals to make it one of the top 10 exchanges in terms of the trading volume And for KCS to enter top 20 on CMC is achievable.
Brought to you by:
tehMoonwalkeR
TG announcement channel: https://t.me/tehmoonwalkin
TG discussion channel: https://t.me/joinchat/FgncLw8SKo3w_nrlvmpeUA
