As CoinEx celebrates its sixth anniversary, Gigi Feng, the global crypto exchange’s Product Director, shares her journey into the crypto world and the distinct strategies that makes them stand out in this bustling sector. She dives into CoinEx’s user-first philosophy, their careful approach to product development, and the importance of asset security.
Q: Gigi, could you share with us how you first got into cryptocurrencies?
I first encountered cryptocurrencies back in 2013. At that time, the industry was still in its early stages and quite chaotic; everyone was in an exploratory and experimental phase. In 2017, due to a fortuitous opportunity, I had the chance to meet Haipo Yang, the founder of CoinEx. After conversing with him, I deeply sensed his genuine understanding and passion for crypto finance, along with his determination to have a long-term impact on this industry. Throughout this process, I also felt Haipo’s sincerity and grounded personality. I am pleased that we share common ground on certain issues. Influenced by the personal charisma of the founder and driven by my desire to contribute my expertise to the industry I am passionate about, I ultimately decided to join CoinEx.
Q: What do you think makes CoinEx different from other crypto exchanges out there?
I believe our greatest strength lies in our assets and our team. Assets constitute the most crucial cornerstone of this industry, and we have been dedicated to assisting users in discovering valuable and high-potential assets. Currently, we have provided support for over 200 public chains and more than 700 currencies, a notably high level within the entire industry. To be candid, the management of assets is super complex, and from a professional standpoint, supporting public chains proves more challenging than dealing with currencies due to various factors, including the maintenance of numerous nodes.
Another factor is the team. Why I believe the team is another major advantage for us is because when assessing the reliability of a financial product, we need to look at the team behind it. Our team is dedicated, with a single-minded focus on creating a high-quality product. We consistently uphold honest values, even in the midst of a volatile industry. We don’t choose the path of rapid expansion for short-term gains. Instead, we steadily progress forward. Furthermore, our initial goal in product development has remained unchanged—to provide more people with the opportunity to participate and enjoy the benefits of the cryptocurrency industry through simple and user-friendly products. I believe it is precisely because of this commitment that we can survive and thrive in the intense competitive environment.
Q: CoinEx seems more restrained than others when it comes to launching new products and features. What’s the thinking and values behind this approach?
“Restraint” is actually an embodiment of our care for users. Before developing any product, we always start from the perspective of user needs and experience, rather than maximizing company profits. When deciding whether to launch a product or feature, we first consider three factors: First, does it address users’ problems? Second, is the user’s learning curve high? Is there a significant level of risk? And third, does our team have the capability to excel in developing this product?
For instance, structured financial products may appear to offer attractive high returns, but the associated risks are also exceedingly high. This is because they necessitate the platform to possess the capability to manage assets internally or extend funds to a third-party platform for management. From the user’s perspective, not only may they fail to realize any profits in the end, but there’s also the risk of losing their principal amount. As a professional digital asset trading platform, we prioritize a thorough consideration of these risks before finalizing any product decisions.
On the other hand, recognizing that value storage, transfers, and transactions are the most fundamental needs of users, we will invest more time and effort in these areas, continually refining and optimizing them to ensure users can smoothly use our products. We maintain a high level of sensitivity and an open mindset toward market changes and new products. After thorough research and assessment, we comprehensively consider user needs, understanding capabilities, and risk tolerance before deciding whether to launch a particular product or feature.
Q: As the head of product at CoinEx, which one of your products excites you the most personally?
I find AMM to be the most exciting aspect of our platform. It stands as the inaugural product, primarily focused on addressing the challenge of asset liquidity. Adhering to the belief that “everyone can become a liquidity provider,” CoinEx’s AMM adopts the algorithm of the “Constant Product Market Maker (CPMM).” When users inject funds into the liquidity pool, they need to simultaneously contribute two types of assets. The quantity of these two assets will maintain a constant product. Its distinctive feature lies in its ability to provide liquidity to the market, regardless of the magnitude of the order book or the size of the liquidity pool.
The second noteworthy feature is our Swap product, facilitating the seamless exchange of one token for another. Users commonly express concerns in this regard, particularly about transaction speed and slippage. On this matter, we don’t burden users with configuring parameters; instead, our exchange feature, powered by a proprietary algorithm, achieves sub-second exchanges for any cryptocurrency. This not only eliminates cumbersome processes but also addresses users’ concerns about slippage, ultimately ensuring swift and efficient transactions.
Q: We all know how crucial asset security is for users. Can you tell us how CoinEx ensures their assets are safe?
Ensuring asset security is our top priority in our work. Our security team employs enhanced mechanisms holistically to strike a balance between convenience and security in crypto asset management within its hot wallets, including multi-signature protocols, trusted execution environments, independent infrastructure, and automated alert system. We also enhanced the underlying cold wallet architecture through multidimensional mechanisms such as proprietary cold storage systems, offline private keys, and dedicated hardware authentication.
Additionally, we have established a CoinEx shield fund and a Security Committee, and we have partnered with external leading security institutions such as SlowMist to safeguard user assets. In the future, we will continue to recruit seasoned experts to expand the security team and enhance measures, aiming to provide users with robust protection and assurances necessary to fully capitalize on the potential of crypto.
Another point worth mentioning is that we place great importance on user education regarding security issues. When it comes to fund security, how users manage their own accounts is crucial. We recommend users to enable the 2FA (Two-Factor Authentication) feature to ensure the security of their accounts. In the future, we will also consider products like hardware login as a way to explore more solutions to enhance user account security.
Q: The crypto world is always changing. How does your team keep CoinEx ahead of the curve?
This brings us back to the fundamental question—CoinEx needs to be itself. When a trend emerges, we first assess whether it’s a short-lived phenomenon or something with long-term value. We have consistently focused on endeavors with long-term value. If something is merely a gimmick or a fleeting trend, we see no need to chase after it. We continuously monitor these changes, but when making decisions, we ultimately return to the essence of the product—Can users understand it? Do users genuinely need it?
For instance, if there is a good structured financial product on the market at this time, we will maintain an open-minded attitude to pay attention to these products. Take Automated Market Makers (AMM) as an example; AMM was the starting point for the prosperity of decentralized exchanges like Uniswap. After evaluating the impact of AMM, we believed it was valuable for users and beneficial for market liquidity. Therefore, we decided to list AMM, and after making improvements to the product, we became the first centralized exchange platform to introduce AMM.
Q: There’s talk about a new bull market coming up. What’s CoinEx doing to get ready for it?
We have been making preparations all along. With the bull market, we anticipate seeing more users and funds flowing into this industry. It is indeed a favorable opportunity for us. However, from a product perspective, to seize this opportunity, what we can do is continuously meet user demands and address user issues.
In 2024, we anticipate launching a series of products, including Copy Trading, Staking, C2C, and more. Fund deposits and withdrawals are crucial concerns for users, and we have consistently dedicated ourselves to providing more convenient channels for these transactions. Staking is not only a financial product but also aimed at meeting the diverse investment needs of users. Meanwhile, Copy Trading offers users with a high-risk, high-return investment education avenue. We are delighted that users continue to trust us, providing feedback and expressing their demands for new products. We will continue our efforts to ensure the provision of comprehensive and innovative financial tools for our users.
Q: With ‘User First’ as a guiding light at CoinEx, how does your department make sure everything you do sticks to this principle?
Here, I would like to take the CoinEx listing team as an example. When making listing decisions, we emphasize a “preliminary” approach to help users avoid risks: Our research team invests significant time and expertise in carefully examining assets in the market, aiming to impartially and objectively select high-quality assets for CoinEx users. This involves various aspects of professional assessment, including underlying technology, product innovation, team strength and background, community popularity, token model rationality, and other potential factors and risk factors.
In addition to listings, in other areas, we also emphasize addressing user concerns beforehand. When designing products, we proactively consider the problems and worries users might face; in decision-making, our constant emphasis is not to blindly add products and features, as our ultimate goal is not to create pressure for users but to ensure that users can easily understand and enjoy using our products.
Q: CoinEx is celebrating its sixth anniversary. What message would you like to share with your users on this special occasion?
What I most want to share with users is heartfelt gratitude. Your use of our platform is a tremendous source of motivation for us. Over the past six years, every step of our growth has been inseparable from your support and companionship. It is precisely because of the suggestions and feedback you continuously provide that we can make constant progress. Looking ahead, we hope to continue this journey with you, exploring more opportunities and possibilities in the ever-evolving field of encryption.