Eduard Jubany Tur, Founder of ZKX, on Perpetual Futures, DeFi Growth in Asia, and How DeFi Can Democratize Finance | Ep. 333
Eduard Jubany Tur, the founder of ZKX, a decentralized perpetual futures exchange on Starknet, sat down for an exclusive interview with Cryptonews Podcast.
He talked about the growth of the crypto industry in Asia, which is home to most of the early adopters, and the region’s key relevance for the industry.
Tur also discussed differences between crypto users in Asia and the rest of the world, noting that most people are nonetheless still on centralized exchanges rather than in DeFi.
Getting people to move to DeFi is currently difficult given its overall complexity, but there are clear solutions, Tur remarked.
Crypto Growth Starts in Asia
While working in venture capital, Tur was based out of Taiwan, getting a clear view of the Asia market, he said.
He helped startup founders across various countries, including Indonesia, India, Thailand, Korea, and China.
Through this work, he got to learn the advantages of each country and the specific issues each deals with.
Notably, the data showed that “most of the growth in crypto has always come from these markets in Asia.”
Most centralized exchanges that we know today and many of the projects were born out of Asia.
And that's how ZKX was born.
With a very exciting combination of real market insight, the gap in the market 👉 To provide an offering that nobody was thinking about.
— ZKX (@zkxprotocol) March 3, 2023
However, what Tur and his colleagues found is that, centralized exchanges have been very good at targeting emerging market users.
DeFi projects, on the other hand, have not.
Cryptofolk in Asia is Very Different from Rest of the World
There are some key differences between Asia and other parts of the world, Tur argued.
The first is the demographics. Asia has a much younger population, which is also growing massively in terms of purchasing power. They’re starting to have more disposable income for investing.
Another notable factor is that Asia has many more risk-takers. They are more willing to try new things and adopt new technologies.
“That makes a huge difference when it comes to the adoption of crypto overall,” Tur said.
However, each country has its own very unique features as well.
For example, South Korea and Japan are massive markets for crypto. People here are more willing to hold coins in the long term and are often passive investors.
China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan are looking more towards derivatives and leverage trading. There are more risk-takers here.
There's been a lot of chatter about HK on crypto Twitter. Hong Kong matters in Asia and the global financial flows, here’s a thread to detail why you should keep an eye on Hong Kong if you’re in crypto 🧵
— Eduard (@0xEduard) February 24, 2023
The Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam are also key markets where people initially started farming new coins. People here may have less disposable income but are still willing to invest and provide asymmetric bets in the ecosystem.
Additionally, certain governments in Asia have been relatively crypto-friendly, which encouraged industry growth and crypto adoption.
All this said, it is important to note that most of these users “are still very much set towards centralized exchanges.”
Getting People Off Centralized Exchanges and Into DeFi
Millions of users are on the centralized exchanges, and only a few hundred thousand actively trade in DeFi, Tur remarked.
Changing this will require many improvements across the entire user experience of DeFi.
One key element is account obstruction. It will provide users with a conduit to replicate Web2 experiences but with Web3 benefits.
There are many great design possibilities around account obstruction that should really simplify onboarding, Tur remarked.
Another key element is localization. This includes providing products in local languages and adapting them to users’ needs in each particular area.
We're linking traders globally with multi-language support 🌐
Goal? To empower everyone to trade in their preferred language, no matter where they are 🤌
This brings us closer to our vision of bringing equal opportunities to all in DeFi.
2/2
— ZKX (@zkxprotocol) May 4, 2024
Finally, DeFi has a developer-oriented culture. While this makes sense in the early stages of an industry, it’s time to switch to the user-centric approach.
Therefore, it’s necessary to create simple, understandable, and engaging products that bring value to users. That way, new users will be coming to DeFi on their own.
This is the part of the cycle we’re going to be facing in the next few years, Tur said.
Even Losers Get Rewarded
There’s a need now for innovation that will drive users towards DeFi, away from centralized exchanges.
An incremental infrastructure improvement would not be enough. What’s needed is innovation in the user experience.
• Reward eligibility increased from 10% to 50% traders, which means more traders will now dip their feet in the reward pool 💸
• Top 3 traders across PVL will receive the largest share of the token, while other winners receive an equal amount
2/5
— ZKX (@zkxprotocol) May 9, 2024
Most trading experiences in DeFi now are boring, Tur said. They’re just a trading terminal without a dynamic and engaging experience.
Therefore, ZKX mission is to make trading social and gamified within DeFi, Tur remarked. This can incentivize users to start trading within DeFi.
ZKX, for example, had 30-minute trading competitions with three leaderboard categories: volume, profit, and loss.
This means that even the losses get some incentives because these traders also contribute to the health of the protocol, Tur said.
It’s a balance the platform has been working to build: being a serious, scalable, reputable, and trustworthy platform within DeFi but still simple and fun.
After a couple years of working hard on ZKX, we're finally proud to announce that the token will be live on 6.6.24. Really thankful for all the support received through this time, and can't wait for the journey ahead! https://t.co/BDlync34Wt
— Eduard (@0xEduard) May 1, 2024
____
That’s not all.
In this interview, Tur also discussed:
- his pre-crypto journey and Web2 background;
- mining Bitcoin in 2014;
- building geolocation and digital mapping services on the blockchain, now one of the use cases for DePIN;
- why the team decided to build ZKX on Starknet;
- ZKX 30-minute trading competitions;
- perpetual swaps and futures, and how these differ from each other and other trading instruments;
- creating user-centric platforms that cater to traders of all levels, thus incentivizing engagement while ensuring accessibility.
You can watch the full interview here.
__________
About Eduard Jubany Tur
Eduard Jubany Tur is the founder of ZKX, a decentralized perpetual futures exchange on Starknet.
His background in tech and finance has led him to tackle some of DeFi’s most pressing challenges, such as accessibility and user engagement.
With the goal of making DeFi more approachable and efficient, Tur has been at the forefront of integrating gamification into trading, enhancing the learning curve with innovative solutions.
Beyond that, Tur and ZKX are also leveraging Starknet for scalability, advancing trading with security and transparency, and fostering community governance.
