Kick Ecosystem 2024: CEO New Year Message
Anti Danilevski talks about plans and projects for 2024
Dear members of the Kick community,
In this New Year’s Eve letter, I want to wish you a happy upcoming New Year — the Year of the Dragon and also with the upcoming Christmas! The dragon is a symbol of wealth, not only material but also spiritual. May this year bring all of us what you have been waiting for so long, and what we have been working so hard to create and make.
First, on behalf of our entire team and myself personally, I want to express gratitude for your support and faith in us during these difficult past years. They were hard, but we managed. We endured together the bear market, stood firm after the Terra crash and the subsequent collapse of the entire market. Then we together felt the full weight of the FTX collapse and yet another disaster. It affected us deeply, and we experienced difficulties: you all certainly noticed the pause in development. We emerged from this crisis and, thank God, we came out stronger and with new partners. As a friend of mine recently said, “For us who have survived all these shocks, nothing is scary anymore. Now we and other companies who have become veterans will only move forward.” Indeed, these years have been a test of our strength, and we have successfully passed it, becoming more resilient. Now we are moving forward again, doubling our team of developers, and in some projects — tripling.
Today, in this letter, I can finally share with you both our plans and some of my personal vision, which I have kept to myself until now. I still can’t tell everything, but very, VERY big and VERY good news awaits you in the spring. I promise you that.
Now I will tell you about our plans and projects for 2024.
El Salvador: We have started the process of incorporating KickEX exchange in El Salvador. El Salvador has advanced and humane cryptocurrency regulation, making it an ideal place for our growth. This opens up opportunities for creating new partnerships, primarily with banks, to carry out bank transfers in USD. This is a key factor in attracting large and institutional traders and investors and increasing liquidity on the exchange, as well as in investing in fundraising campaigns, which will resume on KickICO in 2024.
MARGIN TRADING: what you have been waiting for so long, and what we have been working on for so long, is finally approaching the release phase. The main functionality has already been written and successfully tested. Margin trading will be presented in the form of perpetual futures contracts (CFD), and implemented according to the most modern requirements and standards — just like it is done on “adult”, major global (non-cryptocurrency) exchanges. Now we just need to add some tools for convenient work with the basic functionality, and we will be ready to present it to the public. The tentative public release date is April-May 2024, possibly earlier.
Accepting fiat through AvanChange: thanks to our new partnership, purchasing cryptocurrency will become more accessible, including in rubles and with MIR cards. This is important for our Russian clients, whom we will never abandon and for whom we are preparing many pleasant surprises. Against the backdrop of the political obscurantism that has even spread to cryptocurrency exchanges, I am confident that we will become a worthy replacement for all those who try to dance to the dictatorial tune of the megalomaniacs from the USA.
AvanChange is a hybrid acquirer that uses P2P mechanics “under the hood”, reducing the risk that the acquirer will suddenly stop servicing some of the exchange’s clients.
Withdrawal of fiat through AvanChange: in progress, release — tentatively in the spring of 2024. The integration of this solution will allow withdrawing funds to cards worldwide, including MIR cards. See the list of supported currencies for withdrawal here (https://avanchange.com/ru/blog/201-visamc-usd-eur.html).
Deposit and withdrawal of fiat for LATAM countries, and for Russia — through the Fast Payment System (FPS): we have agreed with another acquirer on the acceptance and withdrawal of fiat funds. Mainly, this refers to the national currencies of LATAM countries. For Russia — through the fast payment system, which is fast, convenient, and likely to have lower commissions than through regular acquiring. The integration has not yet started, but will be put to work immediately after the release of AvanChange. In this way, we want to provide more methods for depositing and withdrawing fiat, to facilitate the process of buying cryptocurrencies to meet the needs of as many users as possible around the world.
RUB pairs: Once the deposit and withdrawal of rubles are introduced, pairs with the ruble will soon appear on the exchange: BTC/RUB, ETH/RUB, USDT/RUB. You will understand why this is necessary when you read the next sections a little further down.
Virtual Visa cards: we have reached an agreement with a provider of virtual Visa cards about integration and joint development. The cards are dollar-denominated and suitable for online payments. For now, these cards are not suitable for depositing or withdrawing US dollars, they can only be used for payments. In other words, we plan to replace expensive services that sell virtual cards for $50-$100 and charge a huge commission for each payment. Thus, with these cards, you will be able to pay for services like Netflix, buy something on Amazon, pay for some services, and so on. Integration will start after the release of fiat acceptance through AvanChange, and the design of the interface for the cards is already in progress.
Russian DFA (Digital Financial Assets in the Russian Federation, aka RWA — Real World Assets): it is one of the major tasks facing us in 2024. DFA, or Digital Financial Assets, or RWA is what is known as security tokens worldwide. To implement this significant task, the KickICO platform will be redeveloped and prepared to work with IOS (Information System Operators). These organizations have their specialized blockchains and are authorized to issue DFA in Russia.
Implementing this project will not only allow for initial public sales of tokenized securities (STO, which I have been writing about since the end of 2017) but also for listing unique assets on the KickEX exchange, which will not be available on any other exchange in the coming years. Importantly, such assets are needed not only for speculation, as was the case with 99% of tokens in ICOs, but they can also be used for cross-border transactions or investing in Russian businesses from abroad, solving the problem of disconnected SWIFT transfers in Russia.
For example, these assets could be purchased with cryptocurrency abroad and then redeemed with the issuer in Russia, after which the buyer would receive the goods in Russia. This system is designed to solve one of the most pressing problems in Russia — the blocking of cross-border payments. It’s not about circumventing sanctions but providing a working tool for ordinary companies not under sanctions but also unable to carry out such payments.
I believe that over time, DFA on the infrastructure of Russian operators could be issued not only by Russian companies but also by foreign ones. According to Russian legislation, this is already possible now. Why is this needed? Such assets can be purchased for rubles in Russia, and these purchased DFAs will be redeemed, and Russian buyers will receive goods (or something else) from foreign DFA issuers. This opens up a huge market for digital securities and solves the problems of both exporters and importers working with Russian companies. Work on redesigning and preparing KickICO for working with DFA is already in full swing.
Crypto Cards. In 2024, we plan to attempt the launch of MIR cryptocurrency cards for residents of Russia. This is a complex task that will inevitably encounter opposition from some regulators and financial supervisory services, but we seem to know how to solve it and are currently working out a scheme for interaction with several banks simultaneously.
What will this provide? It will offer a card linked to a ruble account, which can be used for payments anywhere in Russia, onto which rubles can be transferred, and from which rubles can be withdrawn. In the KickEX app, users will be able to convert rubles into any cryptocurrency, or trade in ruble pairs, with the purchase/sale of cryptocurrency through the ruble pair on the exchange being nearly commission-free. Once we achieve this, we will be more advantageous than any currency exchange or P2P service.
Furthermore, over time, we plan to implement the same in El Salvador, for the issuance of cryptocurrency cards worldwide. This is a long-term plan and may take more than a year, but we understand the importance of this functionality and it is one of our top priorities.
Mobile apps: we haven’t updated our apps for a long time, but finally, we have started working on them. Work is already underway, with new interfaces being designed and old ones being refined. The interface for margin trading on mobile devices is ready, and the functionality for the wallet for cryptocurrency cards, fiat withdrawal through AvanChange, quick conversion of fiat funds to cryptocurrency and back is being developed. Next up is the addition of DFA functionality (integrating KickICO into the KickEX app).
I really hope that by the end of 2024, our app will become a truly convenient super app, meeting all the needs of cryptocurrency users, as well as those who need to transfer funds to their friends, relatives, or pay for goods and services in other countries, or for example, while traveling.
Quick conversion is a necessary functionality for non-professional traders, where one can simply select currency A and exchange it for currency B. For example, BTC for USDT, or ETH for RUB. Primarily, this is needed for mobile versions, which will transform into that very superapp, and to maintain the functionality of crypto cards and their balances. Most likely, this feature will also appear on the web version, in time.
ELR in Russia. As you may or may not know, the law on ELR (experimental legal regimes) has been postponed again, as stated in the summary of the meeting — “sent for revision”. Despite this, it is likely that a different ELR on cryptocurrencies will still appear in 2024, but there is little hope for this. Currently, work is underway on THREE ELRs related to cryptocurrencies. Two are being developed by the Central Bank of Russia. The first one, which was sent for revision, and the second (new) one, which has a better chance of success as it is more narrowly focused and describes only the regime for cross-border cryptocurrency payments. If this law is passed, KickEX (or rather, another exchange based on KickEX technology) will start working in Russia with legal entities. This will provide immense liquidity, which will be perfect for arbitrage, and although the ELR is being prepared for legal entities, KickEX users will have the opportunity to work with this liquidity. How? That’s our know-how, but you will definitely like it.
“We’ll build our own ELR, with blackjack… and everything!”: I mentioned three ELRs on cryptocurrencies, but have only discussed two so far. Here’s the third! As part of a new, small working group, I have started writing a new law/project on ELR from scratch. If everything works out and my colleagues from our new mini-group accept and approve this method and my vision, it will be finalized and sent on its journey — and you will be the first to know about it. We plan to publicly present it by the summer of 2024. It’s not an easy task, but we are not ordinary and have come up with something special that might allow this law to pass before the first two ELRs.
KICK TOKEN TO THE MOON!
Now, about our beloved Kick token and how all that has been written above will impact it, the plans regarding the token, and so on.
KICK, as before, will be used to reduce commissions on the exchange, both on KickEX and (most likely) on the exchange in the Russian Federation for legal entities. The latter is not certain and depends on whether we can legally justify and apply it within the framework of legislation and ELR in Russia. Personally, I see no obstacles for this. What will this provide? Since the exchange in Russia will trade an enormous amount of liquidity, the demand for KICK could be unprecedented, unlike any other token in the world. Seriously, the utilitarian application of the KICK token could be incredible. Or maybe not — it’s important to remember that this is still just a theory. So don’t take this as a promise of incredible gains, and as you remember, KICK is not an investment tool but a token for use within our ecosystem.
Additionally, KICK will return to Ether, which everyone has long awaited and requested. During the time KICK has only been on the Binance BSC blockchain, we realized that despite the hype and beautiful stories, the BSC blockchain is not very developed. Moreover, we see no future in it and observe that it stagnates and does not evolve in terms of good projects: there’s a lot of scam, little benefit. Therefore, KICK will be both here and there. This means that you can withdraw KICK from the exchange on any blockchain you prefer. However, this does not mean that the number of tokens in circulation will double — the reserve will be stored on the exchange, and excess tokens will gradually be destroyed (preferably, excesses in BSC, so that the community gradually returns to the “Ethereum” KICK).
How will this be done? All old tokens will be “cleaned” (i.e., burned), except for the amount approximately equivalent to the current number of tokens in the BSC network. Unfortunately, a pegged token cannot be created otherwise, but it’s important to understand — this is not an additional issue, it is a mirror liquidity pool. This pool is needed so that when you withdraw tokens from the exchange, you can choose which blockchain you withdraw them in — BSC or Ethereum. Thus, if you deposit tokens in BSC and withdraw in Ethereum, we will put the BSC tokens received from you into a special pool and then publicly burn them in hellish flames. Hopefully, over time, we will burn most of the tokens in BSC and forget about this blockchain as a terrible and not very successful dream. And that’s great!
Everyone surely has the immediate question: “Does this mean more tokens and a drop in price?” and the answer is no. As I wrote earlier, but I’ll repeat it specifically in a separate paragraph, new tokens will not enter circulation freely; they are intended for replacing tokens from the BSC network with tokens in the ETH network. Along with the updates that await you in 2024, as they say — ever upwards!
I think that sharding in Ethereum could appear in late 2024, and gas fees will finally decrease. When this happens, I’m confident that most will prefer to return to KICK on this blockchain, and then we will likely destroy almost all the KICK in BSC over time. Naturally, KICK in Ethereum is also deflationary with built-in staking, and there is no method of creating new tokens in its contract.
The frozen 888,888 tokens on the old contract will also eventually be burned, but since it is very expensive at the current gas price, we will have to wait until the cost of transactions in Ethereum normalizes. We might also come up with some marketing activity for these 888,888 tokens, such as thawing and exchanging them for new Kick tokens in exchange for active trading on the exchange. Again, this will only be possible if and when Ethereum blockchain fees normalize. If we manage to do this, we’ll have a great tool for increasing the community of active traders on the exchange.
When to expect the return of KICK to the Ethereum blockchain? I hope in spring-summer 2024, but it’s not certain. Possibly in the fall. Ideally, after the release of sharding on the Ethereum blockchain and after the reduction of transaction fees there, but we may decide to revive KICK earlier to form a liquidity pool on Uniswap more quickly.
Double staking: Thanks to the resurrection of the KICK token on Ethereum, the question arises: what will happen with the staking that holders receive from KICK token transactions on the blockchain? As with KICK on BSC, there will be staking. Those who hold tokens on the KickEX exchange will receive double staking: both for transactions in the BSC network and for transactions in the Ethereum network. Cool, isn’t it? Perhaps, with the active development of the pool on Uniswap, this will be even more than double!
Uniswap: As I mentioned earlier, KICK will reappear on Ethereum, which means it will also return to Uniswap. This is great: at one time, the community traded KICK on Uniswap for tens of millions of dollars a day, and each trade meant burning and distributing staking to holders. Therefore, we view 2024 as the year when KICK can finally show itself in all its glory again, also thanks to this. We plan to return to Uniswap and the BSC network (which is now possible), and most importantly, to the Ethereum network when we “mirror” KICK on this blockchain. To make this possible, we will leave a small portion of the token emission on Ethereum untouched and will be placing this pool in the form of liquidity on Uniswap, gradually increasing it.
New Partnerships. We are in the process of concluding new major partnerships, and this process is in full swing. In fact, something bigger has already happened, but, as I said before, I can’t talk about it yet. However, when we announce them, it will be sensational. I think the official news and press releases will come out in the spring-summer of 2024.
Updated Roadmap: Along with this pre-New Year’s greeting, we are also updating our roadmap. You can download it now from the official website www.kickecosystem.com or www.kickex.com. This roadmap reflects everything that I have written about in this letter, as well as the current statuses of various products. We will update it every 2–3 months, or after the release of any announced product — or if we add something else to our strategy for this year, which is quite likely. Enjoy your exploration! (p.s. This is the first version of the roadmap, will be in a clearer and more user-friendly design the other day).
Long-Awaited Marketing: The start of marketing activities is planned for March-April. It will be a gradual process that begins with analytical work and testing of more than 50 different channels. After the first phase, where effective and functioning sources, channels, influencers, and so on are selected, we will begin active promotion. According to the current plan, the analytics and testing of all sources will take 4–6 months. This does not mean there will be no marketing during this time — it will be ongoing and you will notice it, but the major budgets are planned starting from the fall of 2024.
To conclude, I want to once again congratulate everyone on the upcoming new year. In this greeting, I have described not only what we have done but also practically compiled an entire roadmap for 2024–2025. The most important thing is that we not only survived these difficult years but also, after a forced pause, began to actively develop again. And VERY SOON (even though you may not like this word), but now really VERY SOON we will start delighting you with new releases, new functionality, new inventions, and opportunities that you will never see on any other exchange.
Hooray!
By Anti Danilevski, the founder and CEO of Kick Ecosystem
