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2023 Recap | The Peak - Edition #7, December 2023

Vertex

• 8 min read
2023 Recap | The Peak - Edition #7, December 2023

In this special December edition of The Peak, we reminisce on Vertex’s 2023 highlights – including feature launches, market stats, and community content.

*Note: The numbers and statistics used throughout this newsletter are current as of Dec 27th, 2023. As such, they may differ by the time you read it and the statistics are subject to change.

Introduction 

What a year it has been. From testnet to mainnet. From $5M volume days to over $1.5B in a day. This month’s newsletter will recap Vertex’s eventful 2023 debut and what to look forward to in the new year. 

Since this is a community newsletter, it was only fitting that we ask for your input. In a survey shared last week, we asked you to vote on your favorite 2023 feature releases and markets, and of course, what you’re looking forward to in 2024. This newsletter will be a mix of “community choice awards” and usual programming. 

2023 Recap Edition contents:

  • Top Releases: The community’s top 5 new products and features released.
  • Notable Releases: Let’s not forget these! 
  • Markets & Metrics: From 4 markets listed to over 30, here are the stats of 2023.
  • Partnerships: The friends we made.
  • Community: Content and the events.
  • 2024: What the community is looking forward to & what we have in store. 

Before jumping in, we’d like to thank the Vertex community for an amazing year!

Since starting Vertex, our vision has been to build the best trading experience while letting traders keep control of their assets. Accomplishing this means building the exchange alongside the community. We appreciate all of your input over the past few months, and are excited to continue building the best product for you, with you. 

Community’s Top Releases of 2023

We asked and you responded. Below are the top 5 releases of 2023 as voted in by our community. 

One-Click Trading

It’s easy to see why this is #1 as it truly unlocks the full performance of Vertex. Since launching in June, traders could sign one approval at the beginning of their trading session and never have to manually sign actions during that session again. 

Near-instant trade execution and lightning-fast speed manifested on Vertex. 

TP & SL 

As one of the most commonly requested features, we answered the community’s calls at the start of November by launching TP & SL – a week before the VRTX token launch (for those who had bets…). In 2024, the utility of TP & SL order types will be augmented by including new features in the order placement flow.  

New Portfolio & Account Charts

The closest Vertex got to a makeover was the new portfolio page that was launched in August. Users received a better picture of their accounts, and traders could chart their historical account value and PnL with ease. 

In addition to each of the pages – balances, perps, pools – specific charts to visualize data like interest and funding payments were also added alongside the ability to name your account and set a unique Profile Pic (PFP) for your subaccount. 

Position Sharing 

Flexing your PnL is nothing new in crypto – even if it’s just flexing how down bad you are. We supported the prevailing vanity (and humility) of crypto markets by launching Position Sharing. However, we like to do things differently at Vertex, so we launched PnL Sharing Themes. 

Pick your favorite characters, and infuse life to your posts. 

Referral Codes 

In July, we released the Vertex referral program. Vertex users can share their unique links and earn more $VRTX rewards while giving out boosted rewards to their network. Everyone wins. In 2024, we plan to introduce some updates to this program, so stay tuned! 

Other Notable Launches 

While the top 5 might steal the limelight, it would be a shame to not mention some of the other launches of 2023:

Markets & Metrics  

Below we cover some of the key stats of 2023. 

Markets 

Vertex launched with 4 initial markets: 

  1. BTC-PERP
  2. ETH-PERP
  3. BTC-USDC.e 
  4. ETH-USDC.e 

Since then, we’ve added 29 new markets, bringing the total available markets on Vertex to 33, including: 

  • 28 perpetual swap markets. 
  • 5 spot / collateral markets. 

Adding new spot and perp markets will also be a priority going into 2024. 

In the last 3 weeks alone, we’ve added 9 new perp markets. Vertex’s design enables the responsiveness and dynamism necessary to bring community members the markets they want on a weekly basis. Additionally, with our 2024 product roadmap we’ll be able to support more spot pairs. More on this soon! 

What markets do you want to see added in 2024? Let us know!

Volumes 

Vertex has processed over $36 billion in total trading volume since its launch. 

Examining the 30-day averages, it’s especially exciting to see the growth over the past months. Daily volume growth has also placed Vertex within the top DEXs by volumes consistently over the past several weeks.  

30D Moving Avg: 

  • Dec 27th = $535.4M
  • Sep 30th = $63.4M 
  • June 30th = $37.5M 

Vertex’s lightning-fast orderbook and unique cross-margin design catalyze scalable volume growth as a multiple of TVL. Traders can utilize their capital more efficiently, and the lineup of incoming markets and products for 2024 makes it an exciting year to look forward to. 

Staking Rewards 

In the 5 weeks since the VRTX token and staking launched, the protocol has distributed almost $1.35M in rewards to stakers. At present, 46.5% of all liquid VRTX has been staked. 

Other Metrics 

Partnerships

We made a lot of friends in 2023. Here are some to name a few: 

  • Wintermute: Strategic investment and Vertex integration.
  • Selini Capital: Enhanced market liquidity. 
  • Elixir’s x Vertex: Revolutionizing market-making with Vertex orderbook pairs.
  • Axelar & Squid: Power cross-chain deposits. 
  • Camelot: Vertex joined the Round Table. 
  • Trader Joe: Added VRTX pools. 
  • Notifi: Real-time trading alerts straight to Telegram, Discord, and Email. 
  • Chainlink: To bring data feeds to Vertex. 
  • Haruko: To bring best-in-class risk management. 
  • TOA Capital: Bringing deeper liquidity on-chain. 
  • deFarm: Integrated into multiple aspects of deFarm’s platform. 
  • Nansen: Listed as an exchange partner; various data tracked. 
  • DeFi llama: Vertex stats tracked.  
  • Token Terminal: Vertex stats tracked. 
  • Laevitas: Vertex perpetuals stats tracked. 
  • CryptoRank: Vertex volume tracked. 
  • CoinGecko: Vertex volume tracked; VRTX token listed.  
  • CoinMarketCap: Vertex volume tracked; VRTX token listed.  

We look forward to partnering with more teams from all areas of crypto in 2024. If you are interested in building on top of Vertex’s powerful exchange infrastructure, please don’t hesitate to reach out via one of the channels below!

Community -  Content & Events 

In no particular order, here’s a list of content we enjoyed from community members in 2023: 

In addition to bonding over threads and memes, the Vertex community met in real life at some events in 2023: 

  • ETHcc: Vertex teamed up with Redacted Cartel x unshETH x vxCozycommunity to host a happy hour on the river Seine in Paris.
  • Pear x Vertex (London): Vertex co-hosted a happy hour with Pear Protocol in sunny London. Beers, Hotdogs & DeFi – the fundamentals of any good meet-up. 
  • Rooftop Builders (Seoul): Vertex co-sponsored KBW’s Rooftop Builders event hosted by Wonderstruck & FRAX – celebrating the end of ETHcon with OGs in the Korean crypto community!
  • Layer 2 Days (Istanbul) - Vertex hosted a booth at the L2Days conference in Istanbul, meeting Turkey’s incredible crypto community members!
  • Chainlink x Vertex (London) - Co-founder Darius took to the stage alongside Halcyon of Chainlink for an educational panel on DeFi & Derivatives at the University of Westminster

We’re looking forward to hosting more side events around the globe in 2024! Tell us what conferences you’re headed to and where we should go next in Discord. 

2024

In the survey shared last week, we asked community members to vote on what they want to see in 2024. Here are the top 5: 

  1. Mobile App 
  2. More Markets 
  3. Isolated Margin for Trading & Borrowing 
  4. Lite & Pro App Modes
  5. Light Theme 

At Vertex, we’re committed to building with the community, for the community. 

It’s part of the reason why we’ve never published a long-term roadmap. Instead, we remain adaptive and responsive to the community’s requests as they arise. It also allows us to leverage our engineer's breakthroughs in technology – consistently pushing the boundaries of what decentralized trading can offer. 

We’re excited to see the community’s 2024 wishlist align with our primary focus areas for the new year. Broadly, these fall into: 

  • Add A LOT of new markets: Not just perps, but the longtail of spot assets as well.
  • Expand our cross-chain strategy: Make Vertex more accessible without fragmenting liquidity.
  • Onboarding and interfaces: Simplify the new user experience for traders of all backgrounds and goals.
  • Increase product offering: Continuing the 2023 momentum of releasing new products and features on a regular basis. 

We’ll leave you with this final thread from Vertex’s co-founder, Alwin. 

Thanks to every one of you that joined us on the 2023 journey. 

Cheers 🥂 to 2024!

~ The Vertex Team

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