A crypto exchange project initially proposed by 3AC and Coinflex has now launched an official website and waitlist as of Feb. 9. Called “Open Exchange (OPNX)”, the new project alleges that it will be “the world’s first public marketplace for crypto claims trading and derivatives,” according to a tweet from the project’s official Twitter account.
1/ Introducing Open Exchange.
Open Exchange will start as the world’s first public marketplace for crypto claims trading and derivatives.
Then become the world’s most radically transparent CEX.
The claims waitlist is now open @ https://t.co/Q2HsUqSZ7E
— OPNX Official (@OPNX_Official) February 9, 2023
In a Feb. 9 Twitter thread that reposted the announcement, 3AC founder Zhu Su stated the project was born out of a desire to atone and recover from past mistakes, as he explained:
“June/july was total darkness for me, kyle & our creditors after our bet on accelerating crypto adoption proved fatally wrong. We were crushed by the collapse of the market & the way our misplaced conviction had contributed to the pain. It was a dark period and we were not perfect in how we handled the fallout, but we were determined to do all we could [to] build something that takes all the pain/lessons & uses it to advance crypto”
Zhu Su claimed that the new exchange will provide “realtime public cryptographic audits” that will ensure “all user funds are provably untouched.” It will begin as a claims trading service, but will later expand to include FX, stocks, and “innovative products” on its platform. This will provide “the best of cefi and defi combined,” according to the 3AC founder.
Related: Bankruptcy lawyers say 3AC co-founder Kyle Davies is ignoring his duties
Crypto hedge fund 3AC went bankrupt in July, shortly after it had endured losses from Terra Luna network collapsing two months earlier.
On Jan. 16, The proposal for lending platform CoinFLEX and 3AC to create a new exchange was leaked to the public in the form of a powerpoint on Jan. 16. At the time, the exchange was referred to as “GTX.” The leak caused a public outcry amongst some CoinFLEX creditors, who objected to the company associating with the failed 3AC hedge fund. However, CoinFLEX attempted to allay these fears, claiming in a blog post that the new exchange would be beneficial for both customers and CoinFLEX creditors.