Let me start by opening my heart to you. What’s happening with FTX and Alameda has sent ripples throughout the crypto and Web3 communities. Regardless of Utrust’s (or should I say xMoney’s) and MultiversX’s solidity as companies, the teams here are made of people. We don’t just serve you. We are you. What you experience, we experience.
This is part of what makes this hardship so unforgivable. And why we remain committed to the sound business practices that have made Utrust different from the moment it was founded.
Full disclosure: Utrust has no exposure to FTX and Alameda. This also means we have no material exposure to FTX or the FTT token.
Saying this, however, and reassuring you we are whole, doesn’t feel sufficient anymore. I feel like as leaders in this space, we haven’t been vocal enough about some of the practices that have led us where we are, not just with FTX but with Terra before them, and others as well.
The promise of the crypto space relies on its freedom. We can do extraordinary things banks and traditional institutions can’t do not just because we are building technological marvels the world has never seen, but also because we are operating in the most free societies the world has ever had.
This insolvency event at FTX, as well as previous issues with Voyager, Celsius or BlockFi are not just the fruit of mistakes or bad decisions, they are the direct result of business practices that even a cursory knowledge of finance will indicate are wildly irresponsible or, in some cases, outright fraudulent.
We must, as a community, take it upon ourselves to stop embracing projects that play fast and loose with customer funds.
This constant cycle of scandals and malpractice helps no one. It undermines momentum, it ruins the space’s reputation, and it makes mainstream adoption that much slower and harder to achieve. If we tolerate among us those that would gamble with someone else’s savings, how can we expect to build trust?
Cherishing our freedom means wielding it responsibly.
This is why Utrust has always encouraged users to hold their own keys, and we have always been wallet-agnostic. We are compliant with all regulations to a hilt and our oversight policies are irreprehensible. We are licensed operators in every market we operate in and only the fourth company authorised to exchange crypto by the Bank of Portugal. We are trusted by tens of thousands of entities and merchants that work with us every day, and we will make sure that remains the case for the thousands that are joining as you read this.
We believe in the promise of DeFi. We believe that the kind of self-governance that revolutionary new concepts like DAOs, smart contracts, multi-party computation, etc. will bring is essential for the building of a better and more inclusive financial system.
We will do it by being as responsible and serious now as we have been all along. We have the most resilient team in the world, and we are growing it every day. We have a new name, a new brand, and a transformative new mission.
Whatever the markets do, we will build. Whatever everyone else in the space does, we will keep to our promises.