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Sharing Thoughts on Security, OKEx’s Jay Hao Says Customers Come First

Sharing Thoughts on Security, OKEx’s Jay Hao Says Customers Come First

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4 years ago

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The crypto exchange OKEx’s CEO, Jay Hao, talks the future of OKEx and the crypto sector, CMC’s acquisition by Binance and his favorite books.

Jay Hao, the CEO of the digital asset exchange OKEx, took part in Cointelegraph China HUB, an online interview column started by Cointelegraph China. In the past, Hao has stated that blockchain will eliminate transaction barriers, improve efficiency and ultimately impact the development of the global economy. But what does he think about the world of blockchain now?

Cointelegraph: Is cryptocurrency a niche industry developing with uncertainty and volatility? And how did OKEx overcome the volatility of the industry to become one of the top exchanges?

Jay Hao: As you said, the cryptocurrency industry itself brims with uncertainties, and it is OKEx's innate mission to be prepared to meet new challenges on all occasions. In the past year, the lowest price of Bitcoin reached about $3,300 and the highest exceeded $13,000. Especially in the past three months, the global financial industry has encountered massive fluctuations under the influence of COVID-19. 24/7 free-to-trade cryptocurrency has reacted even more in this plunge. 

“For exchanges, the biggest challenge brought by such huge fluctuations is the stability of the trading system and risk control under such extreme market behavior.”

So, my team and I have consistently held a consensus: in the world of cryptocurrency, technology strength must be the key to building any crypto ecosystem. In the past year, we have polished the construction of the system without stopping, and we have carried out hundreds of significant upgrades. Our unique super matching engine and Lightning 2.0 system ensure that the platform can run stable even under extreme market conditions, and also the order processing speed has ranked high on the world's top options exchanges lists. This is indeed a matter of pride.

CT: Can you give some details about OKEx’s expansion plan or overall strategy?

JH: From my point of view, reputation is the foundation of an enterprise, especially in the crypto world. In addition to the well-known reasons why Libra's issuance is so complicated, I think there is another factor. Business lies happen once or countless times. After all, a lie requires countless lies to make up for it, and the vicious cycle will always collapse.

As Facebook is one of the main sponsors, it was bothered with problems such as user data leakage and unauthorized collection of user data, which have seriously hurt market confidence. Lawmakers' distrust of Facebook even exceeds that of cryptocurrency itself or blockchain technology. 

“Therefore, within OKEx, I repeatedly stress with the team that we must never do anything that harms the interests of users. ‘Customer first’ is always the core value of OKEx, which also acts as the cornerstone of our internationalization.”

The internationalization of OKEx has been accelerating. At present, it has reached cooperation with the world's seven largest legal fiat payment providers through the fiat gateway project, supported 30 fiat currencies including United States dollars and euros, and accepts 17 payment methods including Visa and Mastercard. Also, we have provided services to more than 20 million users in more than 200 countries and regions around the world, and that is still increasing.

In the crypto world, OKEx’s role is not only as a trading platform but also a blockchain technology company. We have launched OKEx Cloud, relying on the technical strength and service experience accumulated by OKEx in the field of digital assets for many years and providing exchange technology services to the world. 

Besides, OKChain, independently developed by OKEx, was also completed as 100% open-source. OKChain pioneered the "commercial chain alliance" model, which will face all ecological nodes and provide efficient, free and boundless public chain ecosystems. It is a significant step for our internationalization.

In summary, OKEx’s internationalization has three points: first, customers come first; second, to meet global differentiated needs and provide localized services; and third, we are not building an exchange, but a global free, equal and healthy encryption ecosystem.

CT: According to CryptoCompare, the combined volumes of OKEx’s, BitMEX’s, Huobi’s and Binance’s derivatives markets in March totaled $514 billion, or 86% of the entire market. And OKEx took more than BitMEX. How do you see the competition in the market? 

JH: In the face of competition, I always believe that continuous and healthy competition will bring new vitality into the market. While promoting the progress of the industry, it also allows users to have a better reference basis when choosing a trading platform. We will actively learn from excellent competitors. After all, the beneficiaries under healthy competition will always be users.

Can a contract dominate the competitiveness and fate of an exchange? The answer is, of course, no. No company can be popular in the world with only one function. The needs of users are constantly changing. In the business environment, the only constant is change. What's more, in a new and rapidly changing industry like blockchain, I always believe that OKEx's biggest competitor is ourselves, and we are also confident that we will continue to lead the industry and make breakthroughs.

CT: How does OKEx address challenges such as cryptojacking or the free-fall of the market such as occurred on March 12?

JH: As I said before, technical security is still one of the biggest challenges that trading platforms need to face. I can proudly tell you that because of OKEx's excellent technical strength, there has never been a theft of user funds or an information security incident since its establishment. In terms of fund management, OKEx adopts enhanced cold/hot wallet management, and the risk control system is continuously upgraded to ensure the safety of user funds and information.

Due to the particularity of the industry, the order volume per second in extreme market conditions is several times higher than the normal order volume and can reach 1 million. This is indeed an objective challenge for all exchanges in the industry.

On the other hand, service solutions from the perspective of user interests are also particularly important. For the user losses caused by our platform in the extreme market on March 12, we immediately set up a special solution group to actively follow up and solve the problems, which has also been understood and supported by most users. As an objectively neutral and responsible trading platform, we are well aware that there are still many areas that need to be improved. 

CT：It can be said that OKB is not only a platform coin for OKEx, but also a global token throughout the entire ecosystem of OKEx. What’s the role of OKB in OKEx’s ecosystem?

JH: Now, in many people's eyes, OKB is less and less like a "platform token." It creates continuous value for OKEx users. OKB ecological construction starts from several important dimensions, and its ultimate goal is to continue to create value for users.

In terms of additional rights within the OKEx trading platform, 14 application scenarios have been expanded. From the perspective of the construction of a deflation model, we are currently the first platform coin in the industry to achieve full circulation. On Feb. 10, we destroyed 700 million unissued OKB, which means that the team completely gave up its rights and holdings of OKB, and the profits were given to OKB users. Of course, this also means that OKB's future buyback and burn will all be performed in the secondary market.

CT: Can you tell us how OKChain will empower OKB in the future?

JH: The appearance of OKChain is also an attempt of OKEx in the global decentralization tide. The big difference is that OKChain will solve the problem of large-scale landing and application of public chains because we believe this is the main contradiction in the current development of public chains.

OKChain's uniquely designed cross-chain solution and original business chain alliance can enable each participating node to exert its power here and publish and run various decentralized applications without hindrance. The whole process does not require any review nor is there a so-called "proposal." To a large extent, it has solved a series of problems such as transactions per second, security and adaptability that plagued the development of public chain technology.

In the future, OKB will be migrated to the main chain of OKChain. At that time, we will delete the code of the smart contract for the additional issuance of tokens and continue to improve the OKB deflation model. And the genesis block of OKChain's basic token OKT will map 100% to OKB holders when the mainnet goes online, and OKB holders will also have the opportunity to become supernodes on OKChain.

The latest progress is that when it was open-sourced to GitHub, OKChain joined hands with the first group of ecological partners — a total of 30 global well-known enterprises from the public chain, proof-of-stake mining pool, blockchain browser, wallet and multiple other types of fields. Perhaps by that time, OKB will be less like a "platform token."

CT：How do you see the regulatory landscape around crypto, and how does OKEx remain compliant with global regulators?

JH: I was not surprised by the result of the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission's ban on Telegram tokens. Telegram is elaborating on the nature of its tokens, saying that Telegram Open Network is a practical tool for community members with "consumer uses," while the SEC and the courts are more concerned about its financial attributes, believing that it can flow out of control to the secondary market. Such negotiations are doomed to a consensus.

“The supervision of any industry always needs to dynamically adapt to market changes, but a basic premise is that no matter how changes are made, everyone has a basic consensus on this industry.”

The TON ban does not completely represent the SEC’s denial of the entire digital currency. On the contrary, this judgement fully shows us the professional understanding of the SEC and the courts on blockchain technology and digital currency, which is a powerful impetus for the development of the entire crypto industry. In the globalization process of OKEx, it is our primary premise to reach a regulatory consensus with local users and regulatory agencies.

In March, we heard a lot of good news from the world: India lifted the trading ban, South Korea officially classified cryptocurrencies as an asset and Germany issued a guide to classify cryptocurrencies as a financial instrument, with many other countries also actively exploring.

This just shows that the regulatory agencies of various countries are reaching a consensus with the crypto market. Therefore, for any country and region in the world that has reached a consensus with the crypto world, OKEx is ready to embrace supervision at any time.

CT: Could you share your thoughts on Binance's acquisition of CoinMarketCap? What were the main motivations behind this move, in your opinion? Is expansion like this a natural way for exchanges to develop?

JH：First of all, congratulations to Binance on its ecological footprint expansion. However, I have also expressed my view on social media. In contrast, I would be more inclined to spend this budget on repurchasing platform coins and giving back to users who support the development of the platform. Only when users benefit will more and more people pay attention to and support you, and the exchange ecology will naturally become stronger and stronger.

“Each exchange has its expansion strategy. There is no so-called natural occurrence. It is a trade-off between the interests of all parties. The final choice is also determined by the operator's judgment on the interests.”

Although I have said it many times, I still have to reiterate that in the expansion of OKEx, the interests of OKEx users will always be first. It does not exclude that we will advance some important decisions by soliciting opinions from users. OKEx will continue to contribute its strength to the construction of the global crypto ecosystem, which is beyond doubt.

CT: Can you share what your favorite books are, those that have inspired you to do what you’ve been doing in the blockchain sector?

JH：Work and life are two mirrors that reflect a person. I am quite different from myself at work. In addition to books that enhance professional knowledge every day, I like to read some tragic comedy and realism novels by Shakespeare and Dickens. I remember one sentence in Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Now, in many moments, this sentence will appear in my heart. Any industry and its related technologies have two sides. 

This era has given us a great platform to do what we think is meaningful and at the same time set up many constraints. Therefore, our actions must be oriented to benefit the people, society and life. A good or bad thought requires that we always have a rule in our hearts to measure and correct. These novels have influenced my code of conduct to a certain extent.

In addition to these, an avid teenager lives in my heart. Maybe you can't imagine it, but I also like to watch popular novels like "Harry Potter" and “Lord of the Rings." I like a story that breaks the boundaries of thinking and uses imagination to create a world of dreams and love.

Just like the blockchain industry, it is new, meaningful, borderless and does not adhere to conventions. We still have a lot of possibilities to achieve the impossible. Just like the enthusiasm brought by these novels, I think that whether it is a blockchain enterprise or a trading platform, we first need to use unlimited innovation and imagination to create services and value for society. At the same time, we must assess the situation, be bold and careful, and conduct within the rules of society.

This interview was shortened and lightly edited for clarity.

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Supreme Court Rules Public Officials May Block Their Constituents On Social Media

Supreme Court Rules Public Officials May Block Their Constituents On Social Media

Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times (emphasis…

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3 hours ago

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March 17, 2024

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Supreme Court Rules Public Officials May Block Their Constituents On Social Media

Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Public officials may block people on social media in certain situations, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously on March 15.

People leave the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Feb. 21, 2024. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

At the same time, the court held that public officials who post about topics pertaining to their work on their personal social media accounts are acting on behalf of the government. But such officials can be found liable for violating the First Amendment only when they have been properly authorized by the government to communicate on its behalf.

The case is important because nowadays public officials routinely reach out to voters through social media on the same pages where they discuss personal matters unrelated to government business.

“When a government official posts about job-related topics on social media, it can be difficult to tell whether the speech is official or private,” Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote for the nation’s highest court.

The case is separate from but brings to mind a lawsuit that several individuals previously filed against former President Donald Trump after he blocked them from accessing his social media account on Twitter, which was later renamed X. The Supreme Court dismissed that case, Biden v. Knight First Amendment Institute, in April 2021 as moot because President Trump had already left office.

At the time of the ruling, the then-Twitter had banned President Trump. When Elon Musk took over the company he reversed that policy.

The new decision in Lindke v. Freed was written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

Respondent James Freed, the city manager of Port Huron, Michigan, used a public Facebook account to communicate with his constituents. Petitioner Kevin Lindke, a resident of Port Huron, criticized the municipality’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including accusations of hypocrisy by local officials.

Mr. Freed blocked Mr. Lindke and others and removed their comments, according to Mr. Lindke’s petition.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit ruled for Mr. Freed, finding that he was acting only in a personal capacity and that his activities did not constitute governmental action.

Mr. Freed’s attorney, Victoria Ferres, said during oral arguments before the Supreme Court on Oct. 31, 2023, that her client didn’t give up his rights when using social media.

“This country’s 21 million government employees should have the right to talk publicly about their jobs on personal social media accounts like their private-sector counterparts.”

The position advocated by the other side would unfairly punish government officials, and “will result in uncertainty and self-censorship for this country’s government employees despite this Court repeatedly finding that government employees do not lose their rights merely by virtue of public employment,” she said.

In Lindke v. Freed, the Supreme Court found that a public official who prevents a person from comments on the official’s social media pages engages in governmental action under Section 1983 only if the official had “actual authority” to speak on the government’s behalf on a specific matter and if the official claimed to exercise that authority when speaking in the relevant social media posts.

Section 1983 refers to Title 42, U.S. Code, Section 1983, which allows people to sue government actors for deprivation of civil rights.

Justice Barrett wrote that according to the so-called state action doctrine, the test for “actual authority” must be “rooted in written law or longstanding custom to speak for the State.”

“That authority must extend to speech of the sort that caused the alleged rights deprivation. If the plaintiff cannot make this threshold showing of authority, he cannot establish state action.”

“For social-media activity to constitute state action, an official must not only have state authority—he must also purport to use it,” the justice continued.

“State officials have a choice about the capacity in which they choose to speak.”

Citing previous precedent, Justice Barrett wrote that generally a public employee claiming to speak on behalf of the government acts with state authority when he speaks “in his official capacity or” when he uses his speech to carry out “his responsibilities pursuant to state law.”

“If the public employee does not use his speech in furtherance of his official responsibilities, he is speaking in his own voice.”

The Supreme Court remanded the case to the 6th Circuit with instructions to vacate its judgment and ordered it to conduct “further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”

Also on March 15, the Supreme Court ruled on O’Connor-Ratcliff v. Garnier, a related case. The court’s sparse, unanimous opinion was unsigned.

Petitioners Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff and T.J. Zane were two elected members of the Poway Unified School District Board of Trustees in California who used their personal Facebook and Twitter accounts to communicate with the public.

Respondents Christopher Garnier and Kimberly Garnier, parents of local students, “spammed Petitioners’ posts and tweets with repetitive comments and replies” so the school board members blocked the respondents from the accounts, according to the petition filed by Ms. O’Connor-Ratcliff and Mr. Zane.

But the Garniers said they were acting in good faith.

“The Garniers left comments exposing financial mismanagement by the former superintendent as well as incidents of racism,” the couple said in a brief.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit found in favor of the Garniers, holding that elected officials using social media accounts were participating in a public forum.

The Supreme Court ruled in a three-page opinion that because the 9th Circuit deviated from the standard the high court articulated in Lindke v. Freed, the 9th Circuit’s decision must be vacated.

The case was remanded to the 9th Circuit “for further proceedings consistent with our opinion” in the Lindke case, the Supreme Court stated.

Tyler Durden Sun, 03/17/2024 - 22:10

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Home buyers must now navigate higher mortgage rates and prices

Rates under 4% came and went during the Covid pandemic, but home prices soared. Here’s what buyers and sellers face as the housing season ramps up.

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5 hours ago

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March 17, 2024

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Springtime is spreading across the country. You can see it as daffodil, camellia, tulip and other blossoms start to emerge. 

You can also see it in the increasing number of for sale signs popping up in front of homes, along with the painting, gardening and general sprucing up as buyers get ready to sell. 

Which leads to two questions: 

  • How is the real estate market this spring? 
  • Where are mortgage rates? 

What buyers and sellers face

The housing market is bedeviled with supply shortages, high prices and slow sales.

Mortgage rates are still high and may limit what a buyer can offer and a seller can expect.  

Related: Analyst warns that a TikTok ban could lead to major trouble for Apple, Big Tech

And there's a factor not expected that may affect the sales process. Fixed commission rates on home sales are going away in July.

Reports this week and in a week will make the situation clearer for buyers and sellers. 

The reports are:

  • Housing starts from the U.S. Commerce Department due Tuesday. The consensus estimate is for a seasonally adjusted rate of about 1.4 million homes. These would include apartments, both rentals and condominiums. 
  • Existing home sales, due Thursday from the National Association of Realtors. The consensus estimate is for a seasonally adjusted sales rate of about 4 million homes. In 2023, some 4.1 million homes were sold, the worst sales rate since 1995. 
  • New-home sales and prices, due Monday from the Commerce Department. Analysts are expecting a sales rate of 661,000 homes (including condos), up 1.5% from a year ago.

Here is what buyers and sellers need to know about the situation. 

Mortgage rates will stay above 5% 

That's what most analysts believe. Right now, the rate on a 30-year mortgage is between 6.7% and 7%. 

Rates peaked at 8% in October after the Federal Reserve signaled it was done raising interest rates.

The Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey of March 14 was at 6.74%. 

Freddie Mac buys mortgages from lenders and sells securities to investors. The effect is to replenish lenders' cash levels to make more loans. 

A hotter-than-expected Producer Price Index released that day has pushed quotes to 7% or higher, according to data from Mortgage News Daily, which tracks mortgage markets.

Home buyers must navigate higher mortgage rates and prices this spring.

TheStreet

On a median-priced home (price: $380,000) and a 20% down payment, that means a principal and interest rate payment of $2,022. The payment  does not include taxes and insurance.

Last fall when the 30-year rate hit 8%, the payment would have been $2,230. 

In 2021, the average rate was 2.96%, which translated into a payment of $1,275. 

Short of a depression, that's a rate that won't happen in most of our lifetimes. 

Most economists believe current rates will fall to around 6.3% by the end of the year, maybe lower, depending on how many times the Federal Reserve cuts rates this year. 

If 6%, the payment on our median-priced home is $1,823.

But under 5%, absent a nasty recession, fuhgettaboutit.

Supply will be tight, keeping prices up

Two factors are affecting the supply of homes for sale in just about every market.

First: Homeowners who had been able to land a mortgage at 2.96% are very reluctant to sell because they would then have to find a home they could afford with, probably, a higher-cost mortgage.

More economic news:

Second, the combination of high prices and high mortgage rates are freezing out thousands of potential buyers, especially those looking for homes in lower price ranges.

Indeed, The Wall Street Journal noted that online brokerage Redfin said only about 20% of homes for sale in February were affordable for the typical household.

And here mortgage rates can play one last nasty trick. If rates fall, that means a buyer can afford to pay more. Sellers and their real-estate agents know this too, and may ask for a higher price. 

Covid's last laugh: An inflation surge

Mortgage rates jumped to 8% or higher because since 2022 the Federal Reserve has been fighting to knock inflation down to 2% a year. Raising interest rates was the ammunition to battle rising prices.

In June 2022, the consumer price index was 9.1% higher than a year earlier. 

The causes of the worst inflation since the 1970s were: 

  • Covid-19 pandemic, which caused the global economy to shut down in 2020. When Covid ebbed and people got back to living their lives, getting global supply chains back to normal operation proved difficult. 
  • Oil prices jumped to record levels because of the recovery from the pandemic recovery and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

What the changes in commissions means

The long-standing practice of paying real-estate agents will be retired this summer, after the National Association of Realtors settled a long and bitter legal fight.

No longer will the seller necessarily pay 6% of the sale price to split between buyer and seller agents.

Both sellers and buyers will have to negotiate separately the services agents have charged for 100 years or more. These include pre-screening properties, writing sales contracts, and the like. The change will continue a trend of adding costs and complications to the process of buying or selling a home.

Already, interest rates are a complication. In addition, homeowners insurance has become very pricey, especially in communities vulnerable to hurricanes, tornadoes, and forest fires. Florida homeowners have seen premiums jump more than 102% in the last three years. A policy now costs three times more than the national average.

Related: Veteran fund manager picks favorite stocks for 2024

 

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Default: San Francisco Four Seasons Hotel Investors $3 Million Late On Loan As Foreclosure Looms

Default: San Francisco Four Seasons Hotel Investors $3 Million Late On Loan As Foreclosure Looms

Westbrook Partners, which acquired the San…

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March 17, 2024

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Default: San Francisco Four Seasons Hotel Investors $3 Million Late On Loan As Foreclosure Looms

Westbrook Partners, which acquired the San Francisco Four Seasons luxury hotel building, has been served a notice of default, as the developer has failed to make its monthly loan payment since December, and is currently behind by more than $3 million, the San Francisco Business Times reports.

Westbrook, which acquired the property at 345 California Center in 2019, has 90 days to bring their account current with its lender or face foreclosure.

Related

As SF Gate notes, downtown San Francisco hotel investors have had a terrible few years - with interest rates higher than their pre-pandemic levels, and local tourism continuing to suffer thanks to the city's legendary mismanagement that has resulted in overlapping drug, crime, and homelessness crises (which SF Gate characterizes as "a negative media narrative).

Last summer, the owner of San Francisco’s Hilton Union Square and Parc 55 hotels abandoned its loan in the first major default. Industry insiders speculate that loan defaults like this may become more common given the difficult period for investors.

At a visitor impact summit in August, a senior director of hospitality analytics for the CoStar Group reported that there are 22 active commercial mortgage-backed securities loans for hotels in San Francisco maturing in the next two years. Of these hotel loans, 17 are on CoStar’s “watchlist,” as they are at a higher risk of default, the analyst said. -SF Gate

The 155-room Four Seasons San Francisco at Embarcadero currenly occupies the top 11 floors of the iconic skyscrper. After slow renovations, the hotel officially reopened in the summer of 2021.

"Regarding the landscape of the hotel community in San Francisco, the short term is a challenging situation due to high interest rates, fewer guests compared to pre-pandemic and the relatively high costs attached with doing business here," Alex Bastian, President and CEO of the Hotel Council of San Francisco, told SFGATE.

Heightened Risks

In January, the owner of the Hilton Financial District at 750 Kearny St. - Portsmouth Square's affiliate Justice Operating Company - defaulted on the property, which had a $97 million loan on the 544-room hotel taken out in 2013. The company says it proposed a loan modification agreement which was under review by the servicer, LNR Partners.

Meanwhile last year Park Hotels & Resorts gave up ownership of two properties, Parc 55 and Hilton Union Square - which were transferred to a receiver that assumed management.

In the third quarter of 2023, the most recent data available, the Hilton Financial District reported $11.1 million in revenue, down from $12.3 million from the third quarter of 2022. The hotel had a net operating loss of $1.56 million in the most recent third quarter.

Occupancy fell to 88% with an average daily rate of $218 in the third quarter compared with 94% and $230 in the same period of 2022. -SF Chronicle

According to the Chronicle, San Francisco's 2024 convention calendar is lighter than it was last year - in part due to key events leaving the city for cheaper, less crime-ridden places like Las Vegas. 

Tyler Durden Sun, 03/17/2024 - 18:05

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