tanX Q4 2023 Brief

Key Insights

• Launched in mid-2023, tanX's first-year trading volume exceeded $1.2 billion. The platform has been actively hosting trading competitions and utilizing the Salt Score to support this growth.
• tanX recorded 5 million cumulative transactions and 6,000 addresses. Activity spiked in early September following a flurry of announcements and has stabilized since.
• tanX announced $16.5 million in Series A funding. The round included Pantera Capital, Spartan Group, StarkWare, Goodwater Capital, Elevation Capital, Protofund, and Upsparks.
• tanX is live on Ethereum, Optimism, Polygon, Scroll, and Starknet, with announced expansions to Arbitrum, Manta, Monad, Linea, and others. The majority of activity still predominantly occurs on Ethereum.
• tanX caters to institutional clients. Its orderbook APIs are designed to fulfill the complex needs of high-frequency traders, OTC desks, exchanges, and brokers.
• The protocol rebranded to tanX in December 2023, formerly known as Brine Finance.

Primer

tanX, formerly known as Brine Finance, is a Cross-chain Orderbook DEX amalgamating qualities of centralized and decentralized exchanges. It leverages ZK Proofs and STARK Proofs to ensure privacy and security. Key features include scalability, low trading fees, rapid order execution, and end-to-end decentralization. tanX eliminates gas fees for trades, supports various order types, and offers simple APIs for a wide range of use cases. tanX caters to both retail and institutional clients with its focus on a secure, efficient, and compliant trading environment.

The native token of tanX is not live yet, but tanX is hosting a SALT Score campaign to incentivize participation and reward community members. Additionally, tanX has successfully completed a Series A funding round, raising $16.5 million from notable investors including Pantera Capital, Spartan Group, StarkWare, Goodwater Capital, Elevation Capital, Protofund, and Upsparks.

Originally launched on Ethereum, tanX has expanded to include Optimism, Polygon, Scroll, and Starknet, with announced expansions to Arbitrum, Manta, Monad, Linea, and others. This report will specifically focus on the Ethereum deployment of tanX, as it is the primary hub of user activity and transaction volume to date.

Website / Twitter / Discord

Key Metrics

Addresses

In early September, tanX experienced a notable increase in activity due to new feature launches, strategic partnerships, and the introduction of the SALT Score trading system. This, coupled with reduced trading fees to 0.02% and a top 5 ranking on DeFiLlama by DEX volumes, elevated its profile. The platform's momentum was further accelerated by a $16.5 million Series A announcement.

Addresses interacting with TanX normalized in October, following the spike from the rewards announcement in September. TanX maintains active addresses above historical averages, with 107 daily active addresses in Q4. The platform has amassed a cumulative total of 6,000 addresses.

Transactions

Since launching on Ethereum mainnet in April 2023, tanX has recorded over 5 million transactions. Transaction activity spiked in early September, paralleling the increase in active addresses, albeit to a lesser extent. In Q4 2023, transaction numbers stabilized, with an average of 21,000 daily transactions, representing a -16% QoQ change.

The tanX Salt Score and Trading Competitions have contributed to this growth. The Salt Score system rewards users based on their on-chain interactions, social activity within the tanX community, and trading activity, encouraging participation in various trading competitions. These competitions offer an environment where traders can test and refine their skills against others, engage in different markets, and earn points for rewards and exclusive platform features.

Volume

tanX has aims to increase its trading volume by adding to its more than 25 institutional partners, expanding its range of trading pairs, and extending support for additional ecosystems. tanX has hosted multiple trading competitions in tandem with the Salt Score to catalyze activity. As a result, tanX's trading volume has surpassed $1.2 billion dollars in its first year, with a daily average of $5.5 million in Q4 2023.

TVL

Upon its mid-2023 launch, tanX experienced an immediate spike in TVL, reaching $450,000. The TVL peaked at $800,000 in November. tanX concluded Q4 2023 with a TVL of $550,000.

Institutional Focus

TanX, with its institutional focus, offers OTC desks and exchanges execution and integrations, while allowing them to retain custody of their assets. Banks and brokers can execute KYC-compliant trades with pre-approved partners and process international transactions. tanX ensures privacy and security using ZK Proofs and STARK Proofs, and is characterized by scalability, low trading fees, rapid order execution, and decentralization. Additionally, tanX eliminates gas fees, supports various order types, and provides simple APIs.

Additional Highlights

• Announced a partnership with Solus Finance and hosted a joint AMA.
• Launched the "Seasoned Trader" AMA series with trader Aryan to cover various trading strategies.
• Introduced SafeGate, a self-custodial wallet boasting advanced encryption for heightened security across multiple blockchains.
• Debuted Dropmate, an autonomous validity network, to automate web3 actions with data control and security through zero-knowledge proofs and multi-party computation.
• Revealed the upcoming release of Brinerd NFTs on the Galxe platform.
• Announced upcoming launches on Arbitrum, Manta, Monad, Linea, and others.
• Underwent a rebranding from Brine Finance to tanX.

Closing Summary

Since its launch in mid-2023, tanX has achieved substantial growth, recording over $1.2 billion in trading volume. This surge in activity, particularly from September onwards, was ignited by a series of product releases and the announcement of Series A funding.

The platform has actively engaged its community through multiple trading competitions and the Salt Score system. The native token is yet to be launched, with no public details on its functionality and release date, but it is assumed the Salt Score system will influence community allocations.

Looking ahead, tanX's 2024 roadmap reflects a commitment to growth and diversification within the competitive Dex sector. The platform is strategically enhancing its market presence through initiatives focused on expanding its institutional clientele and integrating features like the self-custodial MPC wallet SafeGate and autonomous validity network (e.g. automatic airdrop farming) via Dropmate. These efforts are complemented by unique product offerings and ongoing community engagement.

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