2021 Wrap-Up

2021 was probably the fastest year ever, even with the back and forth on covid restrictions, you can’t blame anyone for some mental exhaustion. You can even feel it within the crypto market. Particularly in the NFT space in 2021 with their pie-in-the-sky valuations.

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Aside from that, these tweets pointed out by @tbr90 are a curious set of messages that pretty nicely sums up 2021.

Besides the odd language, the Twitter accounts here include Facebook Meta, Pepsi, and Budweiser all getting in on the crypto vernacular. Brand names embracing crypto is most certainly a good thing but does seem like a sign of froth in the market. Especially, when reading WAGMI with rocket emojis.

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Suffice it to say, 2021 was the year many non-crypto companies became more comfortable entering the crypto realm, or should I say metaverse.

Before getting in on what’s been going on with HollaEx I think it is worth checking the end of last 2020 wrap-up blog ending with “more fiat money 🖨️ printing”. How did it turn out? Well, from 2020 to 2021 the currency in circulation increased by 7.40%.

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This no doubt translates into record-breaking inflation rates.

Blame it on the weather, blame it on COVID, it doesn’t matter as Bitcoin's consistent supply continues to work against this backdrop.

That explains the growing demand for white-label tools that help businesses ‘do crypto’. Read on for the 2021 HollaEx summary and future plans for 2022.

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HollaEx in 2021

Scaling HollaEx Network

At the very heart and soul of HollaEx is the ability to connect to a shared liquidity network. Networking all exchanges was an architectural design problem that was solved in 2021 and we can say that all future HollaEx-powered platforms will cost-effectively have access to liquidity thanks to the HollaEx Network. Without this, it would mean costly market-making for each and eerie operator, for each and every market they have.

Saying that, in true DIY fashion, HollaEx always has an independent open-source route and will give the option to connect or not connect to the network.

One of the biggest breakthroughs in 2021 would have to be the streamlined setup and automatic exchange deployment on the Holla Cloud. A very fast and cost-effective way for any business to have its own exchange. Out of the box, it can take 30 minutes to get live.

To add, cloud exchanges are easier to troubleshoot and as a result, an improved customer service experience is now provided.

Overall we've had 100+ DIY and Cloud exchanges launched globally this past year. You can even find them launching from the balmy Caribbean, and it will only get easier for hyper-localized communities to access high-grade crypto tech thanks to HollaEx white-label exchange software.

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The HollaEx website has also been updated with more fitting information and better directions to helpful pages like Resources, developer portal, community forum, and live trading exchange.

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More connected, more blockchains

HollaEx Vault has integrated with the most active blockchain networks, 10 in total this year. This means crypto businesses using HollaEx white label exchange can provide a whole lot more services to their user base without having to delve into each and every unique blockchain quirk.

As a side note, if you ever wonder why some exchanges are so slow to add new coins/blockchains it is because doing so can introduce significant risks, which is why HollaEx always takes slow and considerate care before adding a chain to the wallet arsenal. Blockchains should reach a certain level of maturity before building connections to them.

On top of more blockchains, there have also been advances in interoperable features in multi-blockchain digital assets. For example, USDT transfer can happen on the industry Ethereum ERC20 standard and the TRON protocol (TRC20), all through a simple drop-down interface. Not to mention Polygon.

This kind of interoperability is an uncommon feature today, even amongst well large well known crypto platforms. This should provide a valuable competitive edge for all exchange operators on a HollaEx-powered white label platform.

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Freshly minted tokens

Tokens have really hit their stride in 2021 and many are starting to realize they probably need one. Tokenization is a good way to incentivize users to stay loyal to a platform, strengthen a brand, and can have many more business benefits that we have yet to figure out.

Surprisingly, there aren’t many platforms that allow for token experimentation. Many token creators will stumble straight after minting their token, and rarely any of them will get a two-sided market going for their token. Many token creators will either distribute too many tokens, too fast or not gain enough interest due to the pool built-in utility and use case for the token.

Fortunately, we believe HollaEx does relieve some of the pain from bootstrapping tokens and can even help businesses get listed on other popular crypto websites. After all, HollaEx has a built-in coin and token creation system, although not the main advertised feature, it is exactly where many business operators will want to start.

To date, +100 tokens and markets have been added and activated on the HollaEx Network.

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To get real-time feed on the new tokens added to the HollaEx Network, simply join the HollaEx on Discord and view the Releases channel.

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Tested, primed and optimized

Many may not have realized but the speed and performance of the trade machine engine have improved by 5x. With many more areas discovered that can be further optimized to give the premium exchange user experience.

Much of the optimizations can be credited to establishing a better testing and quality assurance pipeline. Furthermore, these internal processes help get new HollaEx updates out faster and with fewer hitches.

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Auto identification

In 2021, identity has become somewhat of a big deal. Many countries have put in clearer rules and regulations requesting platforms dealing with fiat and crypto to run an identity check on their customers. This can always be done manually within HollaEx but as reported it can now be done automatically, at scale, with the premium auto KYC plugin in partnership with iDenfy.

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Plugin infrastructure

The infrastructure in place to add, remove and even start building your very own exchange plugins and addons have just started to come forwishen in the last quarter of 2021.

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With the introduction of premium plugins such as the auto KYC and more to come, the plugin system will continue to function like a Google Play or Apple Apps store, where operators of crypto businesses can add ready-made functions to their platform with one click.

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Plans for 2022

Staking

What’s staking? It is a way to put your crypto to work and earn rewards on it. Staking is the modern equivalent of what your bank used to provide called an interest-bearing account.

Much work has already been done on a built-in staking system for assets. Like any other staking system, anyone can stake within HollaEx. This involves connecting your wallet and defining how much you want to stake and for how long. Once locked (staked) an incremental amount of rewards will accumulate, and once unlocked all the coins can be freely moved, including the rewarded interest.

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A sneak peek was shared on Reddit (early previews of white-label features can be found on Reddit from time to time).

The first iterations of staking in HollaEx will simply be with XHT the native token of the HollaEx universe, but plans are in place to allow operators to make their own staking systems with their own tokens.

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Price discovery

Price discovery is notoriously tricky and you can never do too much work on it. You’d think slapping a price tag is enough but for highly fungible assets on an orderbook you will quickly find there are a lot of variables in a price. As a result there is a significant amount overhead for an exchange operator.

The only way around this is to include better management tools, better reporting, better data on what is going on in your markets. There are also plans to provide alternative tools for pricing which was briefly alluded to in the Chainlink announcement and in this HollaEx blog post under ‘In the works’.

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Getting noticed

In 2021, we purposefully pushed HollaEx into the spotlight and as a result, have gotten much feedback. In short, the exchange kit could be covering a lot more use cases and we agree. An exchange can do a lot.

Staking as previously mentioned is one thing, but lending markets and simpler ways to communicate and market are just a few others that are being built into the kit right now, as a result of the feedback.

HollaEx has also gotten major coverage on FXStreet, Investing.com, FinanceMagnates.com, HelloPareto.com, Hackernoon.com, and TechRound.co.uk. The easiest way to get the latest news is to simply follow HollaEx on Twitter.

As a result of HollaEx success, we’ve spun up a brand new HollaEx YouTube channel with a brand new spiffy HollaEx promo video (below) to help kick the channel off. Be sure to subscribe to the channel to get the latest HollaEx how-to videos.

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Inter-exchange settlements

The exchanges interlinked over the years have slowly created opportunities for settlement. Fiat-powered platforms for example typically require help with their liquidity, but as a result of fiat not being connected to the blockchain suffer from illiquidity.

Solutions are being worked on to allow for exchanges within the HollaEx network to directly help one another for the purpose of lending and settlement. This concept hinges on ideas around crypto collateral of which XHT shall play a bigger part. Ultimately, operators can borrow and lend and as a result, more combinations for fiat<>crypto should arise.

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Interoperable blockchain features

As mentioned early, we’ve made great strides in integrating blockchains in 2021, and in 2022 it will be no different. This means more blockchain interoperability and multi-asset token systems (similar to how USDT operates on multiple chains).

Some of the major chains we’ve been eyeing are Solana and Cardano. Even NFTs. (leave feedback in the Discord feedback channel to have a new blockchain or coin added)

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Mobile app

In certain countries mobile apps are the norm when interacting with the internet. This is mostly due to resource limitations and it so happens that native mobile apps can be much more efficient than using a web browser on the phone.

Long overdue, many have requested a mobile app version of HollaEx which we look forward to finally releasing in 2022, stay tuned!

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Happy new year!

And that about concludes HollaEx’s 2021 wrap-up.

For more crypto industry and HollaEx news, check us out on 🐦Twitter.

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Happy holla new year. Goodbye 👋 2021. Hello, 2022.

— HollaEx