Ankex Exchange Shuts Down Operations — CEO Runs Away

YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com) — Ankex, a cryptocurrency exchange incubated by Qredo, has recently shut down. The exchange debuted last year and aimed to offer a hybrid derivatives platform combining centralized and decentralized features. This approach was part of its attempt to stand out in the competitive crypto exchange landscape.

Ankex Closes Despite Launching BETA

Michael Moro, the former CEO of Genesis Global Capital, came on board to run Ankex in April of this year. His joining came after he stepped down from his role at Genesis, which faced financial troubles and eventually filed for bankruptcy. However, despite Moro’s leadership and Ankex’s market positioning, the exchange faced significant challenges.

Qredo communicated the decision to pause the development of Ankex to its community. Despite being ready for a public beta launch earlier this year, Qredo had to halt its progress due to the challenging circumstances.

Michael Moro Decided to Leave Qredo

Moro’s departure from Ankex marks another significant turn in his career, following his exit from Genesis. His profile now reflects his former associations with Genesis and Ankex, signaling the end of his tenure with the exchange.

The idea behind Ankex, especially following the collapse of FTX last year, was to offer a platform where clients could maintain custody of their own assets. This concept seemed promising, given the growing interest in self-custody following high-profile exchange collapses. However, the timing might have been unfavorable as the industry is still recovering from the impacts of the bear market.

In detail, unlike traditional centralized exchanges where assets are stored in a common account, Ankex enabled traders to keep their assets in their own decentralized self-custody vaults managed by Qredo.

In terms of trading capabilities, Ankex offered a range of sophisticated features. These included high-performance trading with up to 50x leverage, competitive fees, advanced order types, a limit order book, and a powerful matching engine.

The exchange also emphasized transparency through cryptography, ensuring that all balances were mapped in real-time to their collaterals and that transactions initiated by the exchange were always visible and auditable.