Digitex Futures sets launch date for a third time to tepid response

In a video message last Friday entitled “Ready to Unleash”, Adam Todd – CEO of crypto futures trading platform Digitex Futures – announced the launch date of the project’s public testnet, set for November 30.

He enthused: “Today’s good news is really good news. The Digitex Futures exchange is launching!”

So, why didn’t the crowds go wild? Rather than cheers of excitement, in fact, the DGTX token saw a drop in price.

Third time lucky for Digitex Futures?

If you’ve been following the project, you’ll know it’s an interesting idea that’s commanded a lot of attention. Instead of charging commission fees on trades, the Digitex model proposes to remove charges entirely, opting instead for a revenue model of token issuance. That’s to say, minting a “small number of tokens each year” to cover operational costs.

This will likely cause a slight dip in price for the exchange’s native token (in which all trades must be carried out). However, Digitex believes that this will be quickly offset by the continued influx of new traders attracted to highly active liquid markets with zero fees (all of which must buy DGTX to take part).

So, what’s the problem? Well, this isn’t the first time the company has announced a launch date. In fact, the Digitex team has been here twice before already. With 1.5 million on the waiting list and sizable demand for the exchange, the crypto start-up missed both of its deadlines to spectacular backlash and controversy.

It seems that its large yet sceptical community isn’t placing any more bets on the company right now having been burnt twice before. However, the Digitex CEO is confident that this time around, the exchange will launch successfully.

A public testnet launch

In contrast to the last two times when the company promised multiple markets and even a mainnet launch right from the get-go, this time around, the launch is a more modest, conservative affair. “We’re not going to be using real DGTX tokens on the first day and we’re also going to launch with just one market,” Todd said.

“After that, we’ll be moving to the mainnet. We’re going to be adding more markets, more features, and so on.”

The public will be able to access the platform from November 30, but can only trade using a BTC/USD perpetual swap contract in test mode.

With the DGTX token recovering its price and trading at just over 5 cents before the news, it seems as if the crowds were expecting more.

What’s different this time around?

Apart from the aforementioned changes – which may disappoint the community but do show signs of maturity from the edgy and often untamed young company – Todd says firmly that the main difference this time around is the team.

“We’ve got SmartDec, we’ve got the mighty SmartDec [the company’s Moscow-based, Ethereum-approved development team]… we just weren’t ready, we grossly underestimated the complexity and the magnitude of building the world’s first zero-fee futures market with its own native cryptocurrency… the development teams we had in the past just weren’t up to doing that.”

On top of that, he ensures the public that all areas of the company are coming together.

“We’ve got everything lined up now. We’ve got a launch date straight from the developers, we’ve got the money to get us to the launch date, we’ve got a great viral marketing campaign… I’m just really happy that we’re in this position that we’re in now.

“Mistakes have been made, but we’ve learned from those mistakes… what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right? We’re a lot more coherent and a lot more robust… we went through some problems and we came out of them faster and better.”

The takeaway

“I’m so excited, I’m so happy to be in this position now, you wouldn’t believe it,” Todd enthused. Perhaps he expected the crowd to accompany his sentiment. But let’s not forget that Digitex was in the gutter just a few months ago after promising the moon and then postponing its launch – with a 75% drop in token price in less than 60 minutes.

Still, memories are short and the space moves quickly. Most cryptocurrency projects have had their ups and downs, including some of the larger ones such as Tezos, IOTA, NEM, and NEO. Even Ethereum has missed plenty of hard fork deadlines and had the infamous DAO hack to contend with before it propelled itself to the number two cryptocurrency in the rankings.

If Digitex can pull off its ambitious plans, it will be in good company with other great projects that have messed up and learnt from their mistakes.