Meet EVEDEX, DeFi Startup of the Year 2024 in Dubai, UAE | HackerNoon

What is EVEDEX?

EVEDEX is a next‑generation hybrid exchange built to merge the speed, functionality and utility of CEXs with the transparency and self‑custody of DEXs. Our mission is to empower everyone with secure, KYC‑free access to advanced trading tools, all underpinned by our proprietary EVENTUM L3 network on Arbitrum Orbit.

We envision a world with real financial freedom, where users control their assets, enjoy near‑instant settlements at minimal cost, and participate in a truly open ecosystem. Through intuitive design, mobile‑first interfaces, and community‑driven innovation, EVEDEX aims to set the standard for equitable, fair, and high‑performance DeFi access.

How is our startup changing the world?

At EVEDEX, we believe that true financial freedom is achieved when cutting‑edge technology meets uncompromised user sovereignty. By pioneering a hybrid exchange model, combining CEX‑like speed and usability with DEX‑level transparency and self‑custody, we’re removing barriers that have prevented millions of people from accessing sophisticated trading tools.

Our own L3 network, EVENTUM, which is built on Arbitrum Orbit, delivers sub‑2‑second settlement and sub‑10 ms order matching at a fraction of typical gas fees. This means that anyone can trade global markets in real time, from anywhere, without risking fund custody and without paying prohibitive fees.

As a tight-knit team of developers, traders, and DeFi architects, we operate with three unwavering pillars: simplicity, self‑custody, and fairness. Our platform’s intuitive “one‑click” trading, which enables secure and flexible access to traditionally unavailable blockchain features (thanks to ERC-4337 Account Abstraction), along with our gamified loyalty system make advanced derivatives and yield‑earning strategies accessible to both newcomers and crypto experts.

Winning Startup of the Year in Dubai and placing 2nd in both the DeFi and Fintech Startups categories validates our mission: To bridge the gap between traditional finance and the decentralized future. Our ultimate goal is to foster a global ecosystem where financial tools empower individuals, not gatekeepers. By doing so, EVEDEX aims to become the go‑to hub for anyone seeking security, privacy, and performance in Web3, not to merely be another exchange.

What sets us apart from the competition?

At EVEDEX, we aren’t just building another exchange, we are engineering an entirely new class of trading platform that sits squarely between a CEX and a DEX. Here’s how we stand out:

• Proprietary L3 EVENTUM on Arbitrum Orbit: While most DEXs face issues with speed or cost, our custom L3 provides 0.3 second transaction finality, comparable to the best centralized exchanges, while ensuring users retain full control and self-custody.

• True Self‑Custody: We eliminate the single point of failure that plagues CEXs by giving you full control over your assets. Just pure, permissionless trading. Our integration of ERC‑4337 Account Abstraction adds safety features on top, to make self‑custody truly user‑friendly.

• Community‑First Growth & Gamification: By trading, completing quests, and inviting friends, users earn XP that unlocks fee discounts, boosted affiliate rates, and exclusive badges. On top of that, our 30% lifetime commission on all referred users’ activity creates a sustainable rewards engine, which is far more rewarding than traditional one‑off referral bonuses. On top of that, EVEDEX is a DEX made by traders for traders. Our community literally drives the project’s development, contributing to its features and development directions.

• Mobile-First Approach: With 90% of retail trades now being executed on mobile, EVEDEX stands out as the only hybrid exchange offering a full app on App Store and on Google Play. We’re the first decentralized platform to match the speed and UX of leading centralized apps, delivering true one‑click trading on the go.

What does winning this title mean for us?

This victory means the world to us! When we initially started building EVEDEX, we dreamed of creating something that truly empowers people, not just another exchange, but a community-driven platform where everyone has a fair shot. Seeing our work recognized on such a big stage feels surreal and incredibly rewarding. We are proud of our entire team: developers, designers, marketers, everyone has poured their heart and soul into this. And honestly, it’s a huge “thank you” to our users who believed in us from day one.

Now, we’re more fired up than ever to keep innovating and to make decentralized trading even more accessible and exciting!

What do we love about our team, and why are we the ones to set out for this mission?

Our team combines extensive expertise and a shared commitment to achieving EVEDEX’s mission. Our marketing professionals bring our vision to the world; our developers build and maintain high‑performance infrastructure and bring any and all ideas to life, no matter how unrealistic they may seem. Our support professionals ensure every user question is answered promptly and in full. Beyond that, we collaborate closely with partners who help us to maintain security and expand our capabilities.

Regular product reviews involve marketing insights, technical feasibility assessments, and user feedback from support. This integrated approach ensures that every feature we release is customer‑focused, technically sound, and aligned with our goal of making decentralized trading accessible, secure, and efficient for everyone.

Looking back, which milestone was the biggest turning point for our startup?

The true turning point for EVEDEX came with the launch of our testnet in Q4 of 2024. Until then, we had proven our core architecture (EVENTUM L3 on Arbitrum Orbit, off‑chain matcher and on‑chain settlement) in private environments, but it wasn’t until real users began testing the platform that we saw product‑market fit emerge.

Why the testnet mattered:

• Real‑world validation: More than 34,000 participants identified bottlenecks that only showed up under real load.
• Community feedback: Through direct support channels we collected hundreds of improvement ideas.
• Early retention signals: Our gamified loyalty system and referral campaigns drove 40% of testnet users to return daily, proving that our combination of trading utility and engagement mechanics resonated.
• Security hardening: Running live stress‑tests uncovered edge‑case exploits and network failure modes, allowing us to work with auditors and tighten our smart‑contract before launching mainnet.

Our testnet journey taught us three vital lessons:

• Listen and iterate: Each week of live feedback revealed more about traders’ needs than months of internal planning, so we responded in rapid development cycles.
• Balance between innovation and reliability: We only implemented new tools after ensuring that our core processes were fully stable.
• Build community early: By combining clear, open communication with practical collaboration, we turned our community into dedicated advocates.

What’s one valuable lesson we learned this year that we’d pass on to other startups?

One of the most valuable lessons that we’ve learned this year is that building a truly differentiated product means being comfortable with going against the grain and being patient, without doubt. In the DeFi space, there’s constant pressure to release fast, chase hype, and shout louder than the rest. But none of that matters if your core product isn’t solid. We spent months iterating in silence, refining every part of the trading experience (from the order engine to gamification, from scalability to UX). That discipline is what allowed us to launch a mainnet product that competes with the biggest players, not just promises to be like them.

If there’s one thing we’d pass on to other startups, it’s this: Don’t confuse speed with progress. Move fast, yes – but only in the right direction. Filter out the noise, focus on real user needs, and build infrastructure that can scale before chasing vanity metrics. The crypto world is full of distractions. The winners are the ones who know what to ignore and what to focus on.

How do we envision our industry evolving in the coming years, and how will our startup stay ahead?

Over the next few years, crypto will pivot toward truly decentralized, all‑in‑one platforms that blend self‑custody with CEX‑level speed and UX. Users will demand seamless access to spot, derivatives, staking, and DeFi services without having to juggle multiple apps, while expecting institutional‑level security and near‑instant finality. At the same time, AI‑driven personalization and social‑trading features will become standard, guiding both novices and veterans through complex strategies directly on their phones.

Beyond trading, we anticipate a surge in tokenization of real‑world assets and deeper integration with traditional finance: Everything from digital bonds to tokenized real estate will trade on blockchain rails, supported by cross‑chain bridges and compliant on‑chain identity protocols. Regulatory frameworks will mature, striking a balance between consumer protection and innovation, which will open the gates for institutional flows. As these forces converge, only platforms with the flexibility to adopt new chains, plug in AI and compliance modules, and scale effortlessly will thrive. And EVEDEX is developed precisely for that future.

EVEDEX is already built for this era. Our proprietary EVENTUM L3 on Arbitrum Orbit delivers sub‑2 s settlements and sub‑10 ms order matching at minimal fees, all wrapped in a mobile‑first interface. We’ve integrated ERC‑4337 Account Abstraction for one‑click trading and social recovery, and our open SDKs will let us plug in AI assistants. By uniting high performance, comprehensive tooling, user‑friendly self‑custody, and community‑powered gamification, we’re not just adapting to emerging trends, we’re setting the standard for decentralized trading.

How do we and our company intend to embrace the responsibility of this title in 2025?

Winning HackerNoon’s “Startup of the Year” award isn’t just a badge of honor, it’s a mandate to lead by example. In 2025, we’ll leverage this recognition to amplify our core mission: Making decentralized trading truly accessible and transparent.

First, we are moving to the mainnet, making the full set of EVEDEX features available to everyone. This is a big step for us and for users worldwide. We are working on our own education center to help new users feel confident in DeFi.

As industry ambassadors, we’ll share our insights and lessons through blog posts, conference talks, and open‑source contributions. This will enable the wider crypto ecosystem to benefit from our experience of building a truly hybrid, mobile‑first DEX.

In 2025, we’ll continue to refine our roadmap every quarter (gathering direct input from traders, developers, and ambassadors) to ensure EVEDEX delivers the features our users demand most, from ERC‑4337 Account Abstraction and our cost‑saving L3 Rollup to intuitive mobile apps, gamified engagement, and advanced copy‑trading and affiliate tools. By making community‑driven innovation our guiding principle, we aim to set a new industry standard for responsive, user‑first decentralized trading.

What goals are we looking forward to accomplishing in 2025?

Our top priority for 2025 is the full mainnet rollout, moving through our four staged access plan from invite‑only release for our most active testers to opening the doors to all community members, affiliates, and KOLs. Beyond simply launching, we aim to ensure a smooth transition by carrying over users’ XP achievements, preserving gamified rewards, and kicking off weekly mainnet tournaments with real prize pools.

On the product side, you’ll see continuous mobile app improvements, development of the Affiliate system, and the launch of the regional Cosmic Guardian community, giving our users direct influence over future feature prioritization.

Keep up with all of the latest developments on the mainnet and new features by following the official EVEDEX channels!

2024 was crazy, with all of the new innovations, and all of the geopolitical fluctuations. How will these changes impact our startup, and our industry as a whole?

2024 challenged and inspired us in equal measure. It was the year we conceived EVEDEX gathering a team of like‑minded builders and officially announcing our vision to the world on June 1, 2024. At that moment, we opened the doors to millions, inviting them into our community, minting badges, and showing that crypto can be honest, transparent, and user‑centric.

Meanwhile, the surrounding industry was racing ahead: new L3 rollups, zero‑knowledge innovations, AI‑powered DeFi tools, plus shifting regulations from MiCA in Europe to U.S. sanctions reshaping capital flows. For EVEDEX, this meant continuously benchmarking our own EVENTUM L3 and fast‑tracking features like ERC‑4337 Account Abstraction, mobile app performance, and off‑chain matching to meet soaring user expectations for speed and security.

Geopolitical headwinds forced us to strike a balance between true decentralization and real‑world regulation, while maintaining the hybrid exchange model and no KYC policy. As we look ahead, EVEDEX stands ready to turn 2025’s uncertainties into catalysts for growth, delivering resilient, high‑performance DeFi infrastructure that adapts to new tech breakthroughs and regulatory realities.

Our feedback on HackerNoon as a tech publication

We deeply value this partnership and are excited to grow and strengthen it together. You strike the perfect balance between technical depth and real‑world storytelling. Your audience isn’t limited to developers, it spans the entire ecosystem, from entrepreneurs to investors and crypto enthusiasts. Your editorial team has always been incredibly responsive and collaborative, working closely with us to craft a narrative that resonates with both technical and mainstream audiences. The exposure we’ve gained through HackerNoon has directly translated into meaningful community engagement and high‑quality developer interest in EVEDEX.

Our approach to the market

Stay bold in experimenting, keep learning, and never lose sight of the surrounding community. Decentralization isn’t just about technology; it’s a movement powered by people. Here’s to pushing boundaries, unlocking new opportunities, and building a more open, fair financial future together.

We’re deeply grateful to everyone who voted for us in the Startup of the Year awards, your support fuels our mission. Stay with EVEDEX!