There is little officially confirmed information about the CommEX cryptocurrency exchange, its history, team and ambitions in the digital asset market. And a possible connection with the largest player in the world crypto market, the Binance exchange, which is leaving Russia, added not only an aura of mystery, but also gave rise to a lot of rumors and speculation. Bits.Media answers questions from readers and editors Regional Director of CommEX in Russia and the CIS Anton Toroptsev.
– The CommEX exchange is preparing to take a solid place in the local market – to replace the most popular platform, Binance. What are the main challenges facing the company now?
The key task now is to make a competitive product by the time users are completely transferred from Binance. Essentially, we launched in the MVP format (Minimum Viable Product, minimum viable product. – Bits.media). Much is still in development, problems arise somewhere. But we are incredibly grateful to the community for the huge amount of feedback we received in the first few days after launch, this makes an invaluable contribution to improving the product.
– Is it true that CommEX has ambitions to become the largest Russian-language trading platform in terms of the number of clients?
Yes, we definitely have such ambitions, and we are also planning a fairly active expansion into Asian markets. But there is also a goal that, in my opinion, is more complex – to provide our audience with the best user experience on the market.
– Since you are the official and main public face of the exchange, tell us about yourself and the main stages of your career before CommEX?
He completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Lomonosov Moscow State University Higher School of Business, from the very beginning of his career he worked in fintech, was responsible for marketing in a management company for three years, and was involved in the promotion of a retail investment product – open-ended mutual funds (OPIFs). Then he joined Gleb Kostarev’s CIS team at Binance, and was responsible for growing the number of users and key metrics in Russia and the CIS. In two years I managed to do a lot of cool projects. We launched NFTs of the Hermitage and drops of various digital artists, musicians and media persons. Such as: Eldzhey, Ivleeva, Varlamov, Ruki Vverkh, Pokras Lampas, Misha Most, NHL, Kostya Tszyu and others. They can be found on the Russian Binance blog. For example, funny advertising Binance with Morgenstern on a palm tree. And since the year at Binance passed in three years, I managed to dive deeply into the operational part of the platform’s work. I got acquainted with crypto in 2014, went through all the standard stages of crypto development – I got scammed on WEX, bought BNB at $20, sold at $50, and three months later it flew above $600. I lost access to my crypto wallet, perhaps only because I didn’t buy NFTs at the top market price.
– The people with whom Binance was primarily associated in Russia – former director in Eastern Europe Gleb Kostarev and director in the CIS Vladimir Smerkis – will work at CommEX?
As far as I know – no.
– Can you name the experts who previously worked at Binance and now at CommEX? What is the size of the team right now? Are there any plans to expand your staff?
There are such people in both the technical and operational teams. Among my guys responsible for the Russian Federation and the CIS, the ratio is approximately 50/50. It’s difficult to say exactly the number of employees, the team is actively growing, but I think there are about 100 people globally.
– Where is CommEX’s global headquarters located? What is the exact date of company foundation and tax jurisdiction?
We do not have any centralized office; the team is distributed around the world and works remotely. The company is registered in the Seychelles, to be honest, I don’t know the exact date of foundation, they worked on the launch for about six months, I’ll assume that the date is somewhere there.
Will CommEX have regional offices/representatives in the Russian Federation and CIS countries? Offices accessible offline?
In the Russian Federation, I am the official representative; there is no one in other CIS countries yet; we don’t plan to open an office, and it’s hard to imagine why it might be needed.
– Does the crypto community understand correctly that CommEX is simply an alternative continuation of Binance on the Russian and CIS markets?
No, CommEX is a new global exchange, and the similarity at the start is due to the task of ensuring the transition of users from Binance. Further, all our products and services will develop in their own way.
– The appearance of CommEX came as a surprise to the local crypto community. For what reason were there no earlier announcements, for example, on social networks? Is this due to the fact that the project was finally formed at the very last moment? Maybe the exchange was previously known to the crypto community under a different brand?
CommEX is truly a new project, it was not known under another brand, but it would be wrong to say that it arose at the last moment. It took quite a lot of time to prepare and develop even the basic product we launched with. Actually, the announcement was made when we were ready for the technical launch. However, it was not expected that we would immediately receive such an amount of traffic against the backdrop of the announcement. Binance does not yet limit its existing users and sent only 10% of their new registrations to us, but many immediately went to test the site and even put the site down for a while at the very beginning. The transfer of users from Binance will not be quick, so initially we saw the launch as much smoother than it actually turned out to be.
– In which countries is CommEX allowed to operate and which government regulators have licensed its activities?
In our help center we have a list of countries with which we do not work; there are no licenses from regulators, but for now there is no goal of receiving these papers either.
– Is the sale of part of the Binance CommEX business a fait accompli and the deal is closed, or are we witnessing a transition period, and the parties, in theory, may not agree on the acquisition price?
We do not disclose the details of the deal, but it would be strange if the parties began the transition without having specific agreements.
– Did anyone else from the cryptocurrency exchanges negotiate with Binance about the transfer of Russian business?
I don’t have such information. Personal opinion: for a project like this, the best option is to start from scratch, since there are no guarantees that other large platforms will not have to leave the market after Binance.
– Which sites do CommEX see as their competitors?
We are a global platform focused on the CIS and Asian markets. Within the priority countries, we will fine-tune the product for local users. Our competitors are definitely the largest global platforms such as OKX, Bybit, Bitget and Huobi.
– Login via Binance account and discounts on fees for those who choose to pay with BNB – are these terms of the agreement with Binance? What other terms are included in your agreement?
As stated earlier, we do not disclose the details of the agreement with Binance
– How are your relations and how will they develop with the regulatory agencies of Russia and other countries on the territory of the former USSR? With the authorities of other countries?
It’s too early to talk about this, since we have just started our journey in the market.
– Is CommEX going to comply with US, EU, and UK sanctions against the Russian economy? Restriction on the volume of assets of $10,000, on trading for rubles or other specific currencies?
I’ll say it again: we only have a list of regions from which access to the platform is limited.
– What other Binance services will be recreated similarly? For example, Binance Pay, Binance Pool, your own crypto wallet or platform token, replenishing deposits from cards of Russian banks?
I understand the hype around Binance Pay and the mining pool, but we are a crypto exchange first and foremost, and at this stage of the project, these products are a lower priority. We are currently working on the release of an API, various tools for traders, as well as VIP and MM programs that will increase overall liquidity. We are also actively working on launching a fiat channel, but this is not related to Binance services. I hope we’ll launch it in October. The platform token is something from the distant future, but it’s too early to talk about it. I recommend everyone to be careful – now they have started launching fake tokens under our name, they are all scams.
– When will users from the Russian Federation and the CIS be able to expect the localization of CommEX Internet resources on sites that do not require the use of VPN, like Zendesk?
Zendesk is a temporary solution while we develop our own CMS. As soon as it is ready, we will transfer all materials to the exchange website. We will also soon launch live chat on the site with round-the-clock Russian-language support, and the Zendesk problem will no longer exist. Once again we apologize for this temporary inconvenience.
– Does the exchange plan to publish data on its reserves (Proof-of-Reserve)?
In the future, I think this is quite possible.
– How do you see the portrait of your potential client: age, preferences, asset portfolio, volume of transactions?
Personas vary greatly across products and use cases. However, considering the broad retail segment, we can paint the following portrait: these are predominantly men 25+ with an average income, interested in technology, personal finance and investments. They are risk-averse, make two to three transactions per month and seek to increase their capital through short- to medium-term investments in cryptocurrency. These are not our preferences, but the realities of the market. On any exchange, 80% of clients are those who simply buy and hold assets, waiting for better times. 10% are active traders, mainly dealing with futures and making a lot of transactions. And the rest are mainly interested in niche products.
– CommEX claims that Binance does not own the company. However, if we rely on the external appearance of CommEX in the media space, we can assume that cooperation between the teams of the two exchanges is developing in a similar way to the interaction between Binance and the Indian exchange WazirX. Will Binance have a stake in CommEX and somehow, at least indirectly, influence business management and decision making?
No, Binance does not and will not have a stake in the CommEX business, nor will it have any influence on management decisions.
Earlier, the CommEX cryptocurrency exchange, to which the world’s largest trading platform Binance is going to transfer all Russian clients, warned users about the growing number of fraudulent projects with the same name.
Source: Bits
I am an experienced journalist, writer, and editor with a passion for finance and business news. I have been working in the journalism field for over 6 years, covering a variety of topics from finance to technology. As an author at World Stock Market, I specialize in finance business-related topics.
