OKX, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency spot and derivatives exchanges, was invited to attend the POW’ER 2023 Hong Kong Web3 Innovators Summit, at which Director of Financial Markets Lennix Lai delivered a keynote speech on how to Grasp the Opportunity of the Web3 Era, from the Vantage Point of the Financial Capital that is Hong Kong.
In his speech, Lennix shared his insights into the development of Web3 technologies.
“As Taleb said in The Black Swan, ‘History and societies do not crawl. They make jumps. They go from fracture to fracture, with a few vibrations in between. Yet we like to believe in the predictable, small incremental progression’. And Web3 may be a fracture of the Internet, that is to say, a jump from Web2.”
The Internet is a world driven by data. Web2, which was born in the 1990s, earned its prominence due to the flow of data and then became a part of the woodwork once the control of the data was monopolized by a handful of players.
Since 1976, the gradual awakening of consciousness of self-determination, represented by Friedrich A. Hayek and Satoshi Nakamoto, and the development of blockchain, the underlying technology of Bitcoin, drove the birth of Web3. As a decentralized and credible value Internet built based on technologies like blockchain, Web3 advocates the return of the ownership of data and the autonomy of identity from large platforms to users, opening up new possibilities and a renewed interest in the Internet, and driving a revolution in data, finance and trust on a global scale.
“Hong Kong has keenly captured the Web3 opportunity”, said Lennix.
Lennix said in his speech that “On October 31, 2022, Hong Kong officially issued the Policy Declaration on the Development of Virtual Assets in Hong Kong, declaring its intention to compete for the role as global virtual asset center, taking a key step into the world of cryptocurrency, and boosting the confidence of all practitioners in the Web3 sector.”
Looking back at the history of Hong Kong, it took a hundred years for the city to transform from a small fishing village into one of the Four Asian Tigers, and another 20 years to take the jump from an Asian financial center to an international one. Lennix is confident in the future development of Web3 ecology in Hong Kong.
“Now, the Internet is dealing with the transition from Web2 to Web3. Hong Kong is again standing at the crossroads of history. Looking at it from the historical perspective, I believe that Hong Kong is not far away from fulfilling the vision of becoming a global virtual asset center. We at OKX will also devote ourselves to Hong Kong and to continuously increasing our investment and involvement here., he added.
Opportunities and risks coexist. though.
“The Web3 development process from 0 to 1 and 1 to N is not smooth, but tortuous with cyclical, black swan and systemic risk. For example, the black swan risks represented by FTX, 3Commas and LUNA not only caused heavy losses to investors, but also severely damaged the confidence of Web3 industry practitioners and the reputation of the industry overall. At present, security and transparency have become the top priorities in the development of the industry,” Lennix added.
📢 Hot Off The Press 📢#OKX is proud to publish our January #ProofOfReserves audit.
This is our 𝟑𝐫𝐝 monthly public audit showcasing 𝟏𝟎𝟎% reserve ratios for $BTC, $ETH, $USDT – the largest 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧 asset reserves among major exchanges.
Details: https://t.co/H59lf7Wj5S pic.twitter.com/TTvId9c3pm
— OKX (@okx) January 19, 2023
To increase security and transparency, OKX effectively avoids the risk of the centralized audit through the Merkle Tree Proof of Reserves and the independent escrow address function, achieving the same asset transparency as traditional finance.
All users can view the PoR audit results on the OKX website and verify them using the self-checking function and open-source tools. In addition, users can also check the 100% health and safety (the industry’s highest) of the OKX reserves at Defillama.com. Through technical upgrades, the transparency of the PoR meets traditional financial audit standards.
In addition to releasing PoR reports regularly, OKX will use technologies such as zero-knowledge proof to continuously improve transparency, avoid scenarios similar to what happened at FTX and other black swan events, and protect the safety of users’ assets.
“OKX has never misappropriated user assets before and never will.” Lennix said in his keynote. “Despite the trials and tribulations of the previous decades, the cryptocurrency industry has survived, from desolation to lush growth, from wild expansion to intensive cultivation, despite the many setbacks and periods of chaos.”
In this context, OKX firmly believes that crypto will change the world, achieve continuous iteration and transformation from crisis and opportunities, and become more powerful through scientific and technological innovation.