(Image via incscan.io)
June 2nd, 2020 - The Incognito pDEX is the world’s first privacy-focused, permissionless, decentralized exchange. It’s a safe space to trade cryptocurrency in anonymity, and it’s gaining popularity. As civil unrest grows across the globe, the prospect of having one area of control - especially over one’s own finances - becomes increasingly attractive.
Last month, the goal for the Incognito team was to see $650,000 worth of trading volume across the privacy DEX, an ambitious 30% month-over-month growth target. To accomplish this, they focused on launching pDEX version 2.
What sounds like a shiny new product was in actuality a string of changes to the Incognito trading experience, spread all throughout May, culminating in a single, complete redesign of the DEX interface. The original growth target fell far short of what was accomplished as a result of the efforts, as monthly trading volume surpassed $1.2 million.
Privacy over profit
Everything costs money. The centralized internet pays the bills (and makes a profit) through advertising. Ethan Zuckerman, the man who is ashamed to have created the pop-up ad, bemoaned the current state of this internet and decried a lack of internet privacy in his apology essay for The Atlantic(1). He asserted that cryptocurrency, if the fees ever became low enough, could solve the problem of cost without taking users’ data by using implied micropayments. But a platform like that had yet to manifest, until now.
The recent changes to the Incognito pDEX reinforce the message that privacy is more valuable than profit. First, trading fees were set to zero by default. Users are not forced to pay trading fees to tap into liquidity pools, and with transaction fees microscopically small, there isn’t a burden to be felt by the user. Incognito’s @Duy put it this way:
”Unlike other crypto exchanges which are for-profit companies and most often backed by VCs who push for massive returns/exits, Incognito is entirely self-funded and the project is open-source. It is under no pressure to make a profit. It can implement these user-first features like zero trading fees with the user benefits in mind without rent-seeking. To us, this is unique, because other exchanges can’t do this.”
On the other side of transactions, liquidity providers are actually rewarded. A new liquidity rewards program has launched, paying out dedicated PRV to users who provide for any PRV trading pair. And listing? Totally free. Projects don’t need to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to list their token on an exchange, and as if that weren’t enough, their users get to trade their token privately.
With those new changes, the pDEX truly became the people’s exchange. But it didn’t stop there. The trading interface was redesigned, to streamline and simplify the trading process. The app was decluttered, and the need to deposit/withdraw funds was removed. Now, users can trade from any of their Incognito addresses, and do so easily.
Growth trajectory
The changes to the exchange were an effective strategy that exceeded the month’s growth goals. And this is not an isolated incident. Each of the major goals set for May and each month prior have seen exponential growth. To see which goals might be exceeded next, take a look at the list of June 2020 targets.
For the latest on Incognito, browse the rest of incognito.org, and feel free to share your thoughts in the discussions across the site.