2020 has proven an immensely productive and important year for Nash so far. As a remote company, we have been fortunate to remain relatively insulated from the coronavirus pandemic and have grown our team despite a tumultuous economic climate in other industry sectors.
Nash succeeded in H1 in implementing the key products and features required to grow our business. These include:
Nash now boasts a set of products that can compete with leading centralized exchanges in terms of base functionality, but combined with our industry-leading non-custodial security.
At the same time, Nash has prepared the ground during H1 for future growth by launching a series of focused programs and communications initiatives.
This report provides an overview of our key product releases from H1 and ongoing growth efforts, including features planned for the near future.
First, however, we would like to reiterate two central principles of Nash’s business philosophy: empirical testing and a compliance-first approach.
In terms of product development, Nash has always followed an empirical, data-driven approach to achieving product/market fit. The “Minimum Viable Product” (MVP) version of the exchange launched last September was an essential starting point. Obtaining real user data allowed us to direct development during H1 and establish a strong position to begin growth efforts.
Of course, testing and iteration does not stop at this point. We are continuing to gather data to help us improve our products and determine the best course for our business.
Besides our data-driven focus, Nash is also founded on a compliance-first approach to cryptocurrency. We believe the wide adoption of digital assets will only be achieved in tandem with new regulatory frameworks. As a result, securing a future for our business in the space – and protecting our investors – means pursuing compliant solutions from the very beginning.
2020 has recently seen regulatory developments that suggest Nash’s approach is correct. Actions from the United States CFTC and DOJ against BitMEX point to a future of more stringent AML regulation. The UK’s FCA also recently took action aimed at protecting retail investors, another sign of the direction regulation is taking.
At present, NEX is the only token associated with a fully compliant cryptocurrency exchange. Although a number of major exchanges take compliance seriously, none of these offers investment opportunities in the form of a revenue-sharing token. With the exception of NEX, exchange tokens are unregistered securities related to less-than-fully-compliant exchanges.
NEX represents an important hedge against the lax approach to compliance predominant in the cryptocurrency industry. As the only compliant exchange token, it is currently the only way to invest directly in a compliant future for digital assets.
Development of our flagship exchange product during H1 has seen numerous major successes, including two world firsts in the form of non-custodial Bitcoin trading with order books and decentralized API keys.
The Nash Exchange can now boast many unique features that are unavailable on other exchanges:
Where other projects are dedicated to building state channels for a single blockchain, Nash has built multi-chain state channels as just one part of our offering, powering our exchange architecture. In combination with our decentralized API keys, this gives Nash an unparalleled security profile: for the first time in the trading industry, funds are not at risk even if both a user’s and Nash’s servers are compromised.
You can read more about the technology and features of the Nash Exchange in our article celebrating one year since its mainnet release.
Nash recently launched Nash Cash, our own fiat ramp, in the European region, adding crucial functionality that puts us on par with leading centralized exchanges.
Nash Cash offers a number of features that let it stand out from competing fiat ramp solutions:
Nash Cash is also available to business customers who wish to let users buy and sell cryptocurrency within their own platforms.
H1 also saw the completion of Nash Link, our solution for merchants that makes it easy to accept cryptocurrency.
Formerly known as Nash Pay, Nash Link overcomes the hurdles that have prevented merchants from integrating with cryptocurrency payments, including technical difficulties and risk associated with volatile exchange rates and fees.
Nash Link makes use of our own exchange to convert users’ cryptocurrency to USDC, allowing Nash to generate revenue in the form of trading fees.
Merchants can now begin to profit from instant, borderless transfers, tapping into the expanding crypto asset market. While traditional payments have been a cost center, Nash Link lets merchants access new sources of revenue!
The Nash mobile app has always been a crucial part of our offering, and continuous updates during H1 have essentially achieved feature parity with our webapp. The upcoming addition of a staking UI on mobile is all that remains before all Nash services are available any time, anywhere.
Expansions of the mobile app throughout the year include:
Nash believes that, when handled properly, open-source development can encourage both transparency and ecosystem growth. In addition to our main product offerings, H1 has also seen a number of important open-source initiatives.
Nash has open sourced our MVP protocol and client SDK. This allows anyone to build upon our system, providing third-party interfaces. More importantly, it lets anyone verify Nash’s claim to be non-custodial and see that user keys and knowledge are never at risk.
Nash also launched the OpenLimits project, a free, open-source standard for cryptocurrency trading APIs. OpenLimits aims to encourage inter-exchange compatibility and grow the ecosystem along with best security practices. We believe this is important infrastructure that will help contribute to Nash’s own growth and prominence within the space.
Nash recently created a dedicated business development team. Our three new team members (plus one external consultant) are experts in trading and payments and have many connections. Their role within Nash is to create partnerships with businesses, new users and content creators.
The efforts of our business development team are visible in the focused programs we have created to bring users and liquidity to the exchange.
A new program incentivizing sign-ups to Nash is also being planned for the near future.
Our Marketing and Communications team, working together with our business developers, has undertaken multiple initiatives during H1 that have helped cement Nash’s brand and community and achieve increasing exposure within the cryptocurrency space.
As Nash focuses increasingly on growth, these and similar efforts will increase.
Nash is currently developing the following features, which meet the most pressing requirements of users and investors:
After a hugely successful start to 2020, we are excited to be moving into a new business phase and look forward to you joining us as we continue to develop unique products – and bring decentralized finance to everyone!
Watch our online H1 2020 report presentation, including an AMA with the Nash founders, here.
You can stay up to date with Nash by following our Twitter and Instagram, as well as joining our official Telegram group. We also encourage all Nash Exchange token (NEX) holders to join our community platform, where they can talk directly with the team and receive reliable answers to questions.
