OKX Headlines Permissionless II in Austin with Hackathon, Keynotes and Panels from Business Leaders on the State of Crypto and Web3

• OKX President Hong Fang keynote: "Navigating the B(_) Market"

• OKX Chief Marketing Officer Haider Rafique and OKX Head of Web3 Global Growth Nate Zou keynote panel: "A Wallet Built for Open Markets"

• OKX Chief Innovation Officer Jason Lau speaks on "Web3 Wallet Wars" panel, judges "Hack for Good" hackathon

In her keynote, OKX President Hong Fang emphasized that the long-term growth and adoption of crypto and Web3 does not depend on bear or bull market conditions. Instead, it is predicated on the practical utility and problem-solving capacity of the technologies being built. She highlighted that there has been steady growth in the total number of wallet addresses with transactions, smart contracts, on-chain transactions, and other statistics as evidence that the space continues to advance regardless of market sentiment. She also noted that crypto and Web3 are scaling through increased application of Layer-2 solutions for Ethereum, like Optimism and ZK rollups, and Layer-2 solutions for Bitcoin, like the Lightning Network and Ordinals.

Hong said: "OKX is focused on building useful products and infrastructure that will stand the test of time, not reacting to temporary market shifts. That's why we continue investing in Web3 to create future-proof, scalable solutions for the world. We're also committed to pushing forward industry standards around transparency and security, as one of the only crypto platforms conducting monthly proof-of-reserves powered by ZK-STARK."

In a separate keynote speech, OKX CMO Haider Rafique emphasized the company's commitment to creating a Wallet Built for Open Markets. He highlighted the major pain points with current wallet offerings, citing fragmentation, complexity, and security risks, which need to evolve towards being more user-friendly and secure.

Haider noted: "The OKX Wallet stands out as the world's most powerful yet simple self-custody wallet. It offers top security along with access to everything Web3 in one place, including NFT marketplaces, dApps, DeFi and DEX aggregators. With innovative capabilities like a gas station, multi-chain support, onchain fraud detection, account abstraction and more, the OKX Wallet removes friction and lowers barriers for mainstream adoption better than any other wallet."

OKX CIO Jason Lau also brought his Web3 expertise to the "Web3 Wallet Wars" speaking panel, providing perspectives on the current landscape, onboarding the next billion users, differentiation factors like OKX's account abstractions, and a vision for a seamless user experience.

Jason pointed out: "At OKX, we believe an intuitive wallet experience is crucial to unlocking the future of Web3 and onboarding new users. As users transition from Web2 to Web3, they will rely on wallets not only for trusted storage and transacting, but also as centers of Web3 education and discovery. We're thrilled to collaborate closely with the broader ecosystem, like Circle to enable gas-free USDC transactions, as we work hand-in-hand with the Web3 community to drive interoperability, integration, and widespread use."

Lau will also speak today, September 12 at 3:30 pm CDT at 'The Evolution of Centralized Exchanges' panel hosted by Blockworks Research Analyst, Ren Kong alongside panelists from Coinbase, Kraken and Gemini.