Dialogue with OKX Global Chief Commercial Officer Lennix: How to define the new generation of Web3 product form

During the Web3 Carnival Week, ChainCatcher had an in-depth offline conversation with OKX's global chief business officer Lennix Lai.

Lennix has joined OKX in 2017 and has become a member of the company's early core team. He also has 15 years of experience in the financial services and cryptocurrency industry. Before joining OKX, he worked at JPMorgan Chase, AIG and CASH. As one of the earliest "OGs" in the industry, Lennix has experienced almost the entire evolution of cryptocurrencies from geek experiments to Wall Street assets. He believes that every change is driving the crypto industry toward a more core stage, and the key proposition now is how to find a balance between compliance and decentralization.

The focus of this conversation is OKX's "breaking the deadlock" as a global leading exchange. Recently, OKX DEX has attracted market attention due to the suspension of service due to technical upgrades. Lennix responded in detail to the challenges and future plans behind it for the first time. He revealed that the upgraded DEX will integrate on-chain monitoring and anti-money laundering tools and try to achieve the integration of "user-friendliness" and "compliance and security" in a self-hosted wallet. This attempt may indicate the future form of Web3 products.

From technical controversy to mainstream acceptance, from wild growth to compliance survival, Lennix's perspective not only reflects the transformation of the industry, but also reveals OKX's core strategy in this long-distance race: find the "both safe and free" fulcrum in the "broad road" of innovation and supervision.

**1. ChainCatcher: As an early employee of OG in the Web3 industry and

OKX, you have witnessed the development history of multiple cycles of the industry. During this period, what changes in the Web3 industry have touched you the most?**

Lennix What impressed me most about Lennix in my industry experience is actually not just a single event, but a milestone moment that touched the foundation of the entire ecosystem and promoted the evolution of technology and concepts. First, the early debate on Bitcoin about the technology route -such as the dispute over block size, and the resulting community differences and forks, seemed to be a pure technological game on the surface, but actually contained a profound exploration of the balance between decentralization concepts, scalability and security. It was during that time that we witnessed how the entire crypto world drew momentum to move forward in diversity and learned to look at technological choices from an inclusive and dialectical perspective.

Second, at the end of 2017, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange launched a Bitcoin futures contract, which is the first time that traditional financial institutions have provided standardized financial products for Bitcoin. This is not just the birth of a financial instrument, but a reflection of the initial recognition of crypto assets in the entire mainstream market. Since then, I have begun to see institutional investors and regulators gradually participating, which has laid the foundation for subsequent technology iterations and the maturity of market mechanisms.

Third, the passage of Bitcoin spot ETFs in early 2024 once again pushed Bitcoin to the mainstream market, bringing unprecedented liquidity and confidence to the entire crypto industry, and also pointing out the direction for how the global financial system integrates digital assets in the future, and promoting the industry to become more mature and diversified.

**2. Recently, OKX DEX has suspended services due to technological

upgrades. Is this measure related to compliance requirements? In response to the community’s speculation about compliance needs, can you elaborate on the real reason for the suspension of services and talk about the future development plans of OKX DEX?**

Lennix: We have been committed to building a fully decentralized, self-hosted Web3 tool from the beginning, and at the same time, our business also includes a globally compliant exchange that we must meet strict regulatory expectations. This technology upgrade is happening in this context: we have introduced more compliance components and on-chain monitoring tools to make the product better. This is not only a choice direction for OKX, but also the future development route of the entire Web3 product.

Looking ahead, I think the development of OKX DEX aggregators mainly has several directions: On the one hand, on the premise of ensuring decentralization, it will realize the implementation of a smooth CEX trading experience in DEX. On the other hand, it further reduces the cost of cross-chain asset transfer, improves transaction speed, and brings more convenient multi-chain asset management to users; in addition, it strengthens account security and recovery mechanisms in a self-custodial environment, and introduces on-chain monitoring and anti-money laundering functions. To this end, we will continue to innovate, continue to strengthen security measures, protect customer interests, and promote the establishment of a more transparent and responsible crypto asset ecosystem.

**3. ChainCatcher: Under the stricter compliance trend, OKX is the first

innovative platform to integrate exchanges and Web3 wallets into the same APP. Will there be new adjustments to this strategy?**

Lennix: I think the strategy of integrating exchanges and Web3 wallets into the same APP is still a long-term and resilient choice. In the future, wallet functions may only retain the most basic and seamless user experience in centralized exchanges, while more all-round and flexible wallet services will still exist in the form of independent APPs. This does not mean that our strategy will change, but that we can flexibly adjust the regulatory requirements of wallet functions in different countries and regions.

From a deeper perspective, we need to examine this issue from the two major directions of centralization and decentralization - this is not just a problem of product interface, but an ecological layout. Whether it is integrated into the same APP or split into two platforms, its core goal is to provide users with an efficient and seamless transaction and asset management experience on the premise of ensuring safety and compliance. Ultimately, what we need to do is to balance the relationship between user's independent asset management and efficient experience on traditional exchanges under a strict regulatory environment. In short, it doesn’t matter whether it is integrating into a single APP or splitting it into two APPs.

**4. ChainCatcher: What are the main strategies currently adopted by OKX

Web3 in ecological cooperation? What is the focus of future development?**

For me, the core of OKX Web3 ecological cooperation lies in creating a diverse and open "pool". This "pool" not only includes various Layer1 and Layer2, but also covers multiple sub-sectors such as NFT, GameFi, Ordinals, etc. We have been empowering ecological partners with products and technologies - although we may not fully grasp the technological development route of each partner, we are willing to support you, empower you, bring you traffic, and make the user experience the best, so that users can use it easily. At the same time, this involves some relatively niche technologies, new trends and new asset types. We will start with user experience and try to reduce the threshold for users to access and use these technologies or assets, so that they can get started more easily.

In addition, with a million-level user base, we will inject vitality into the entire ecosystem and promote growth and innovation in various fields. In the future, we will continue to focus on improving user experience and simplifying technology applications, while stimulating the power of the community and jointly promoting the continuous evolution of the ecosystem. Ultimately, the future direction of the ecosystem is determined by the market and the community, and we always play a role of activating and supporting.

**5. ChainCatcher: What ecology or track development are you optimistic

about now?**

Lennix: Those intermediate products between Web2 and Web3 - which are commonly referred to as Web2.5 products, such as stablecoins and RWA, have great potential. Through blockchain technology, this type of asset not only amplifies the functions of traditional assets, but also greatly reduces the costs of education and global promotion, realizing the global circulation of assets. At the same time, blockchain technology allows such assets to flow across chains and introduces a variety of income models, thereby creating unprecedented usage scenarios. This is exactly the direction that needs to be focused in Web3 in the future. Furthermore, it is possible that we even redefine some areas.

For example, the payment field has always had complex problems such as high costs, slow speeds, and compliance of third-party payment companies, and blockchain technology can effectively solve these problems, and the cost may be only one millionth of the traditional method, or even less. In terms of asset delivery and settlement, traditional methods may require T+3 and other modes, and transactions need to be completed by pressing margin. However, with the help of blockchain technology, it can now be basically completed within 10 minutes, and the efficiency of transferring assets has been greatly improved. Traditional assets have also improved significantly in the blockchain field. For example, the liquidity splitting problem common in traditional financial markets can lower the trading threshold through blockchain technology, so that high-value assets that were originally limited to a few wealthy people, such as US Treasury bonds and US dollars, can also benefit a wider range of users. I believe that the future Web3 ecosystem will be committed to redefining and innovating traditional concepts such as assets and payments, and using blockchain to achieve free circulation of global assets, while providing users with a new, low-cost and high-efficiency experience.

**6. ChainCatcher: What role will OKX Web3 play in this "Web2.5"

trend?**

Lennix: The current development of Web3 is in a unique "middle state": on the one hand, we pursue decentralization, and on the other hand, we must abide by increasingly strict global regulation. OKX Web3 stands between the two and plays the role of communication and bridge. This is not only reflected in products and technologies, but also extends to our comprehensive considerations of language expression, compliance system, legal norms, and teamwork.

Our platform has won the trust of Web3 users, who value decentralization and security; at the same time, banks and compliance institutions around the world also recognize our capabilities and believe that we can provide a sufficiently stable, secure and risk isolation solution. Such dual recognition has injected strong momentum into this Web2.5 trend.

In the future, we will continue to move forward in this direction, leveraging our advantages in products, technology and compliance to promote a strategic layout that emphasizes both decentralized innovation and regulatory compliance. No matter how the external environment changes, our goal is to build an ecosystem that is both open and responsible, setting a trustworthy benchmark for the entire industry.

Disclaimer:

This article is for reference only. This article is not intended to provide (i) investment advice or investment recommendation, (ii) offer, solicitation or inducement of the purchase, sale or holding of digital assets, or (iii) financial, accounting, legal or tax advice. Digital assets (including stablecoins and NFTs) are affected by market volatility, involve high risks and may depreciate. For questions about whether trading or holding digital assets is suitable for you, please consult your legal/tax/investment professional. OKX Web3 Wallet is only a self-hosted wallet software service that allows you to discover and interact with third-party platforms. OKX Web3 Wallet cannot control the services of such third-party platforms and does not assume any responsibility for them. Not all products are available in all regions. Please be responsible for understanding and complying with relevant local applicable laws and regulations. The OKX Web3 Wallet and its related services are not provided by the OKX Exchange and are subject to the OKX Web3 Ecosystem Terms of Service.