Indian Crypto Exchange CoinDCX’s DeFi Arm Okto to Launch Blockchain and OKTO Token

Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX has expanded what started as the Okto wallet into an Okto ecosystem, which will include launching a blockchain, a token, and a points program starting Tuesday.

The aim is to give global users a single-click mobile experience while traversing the Web3 space, its co-founders Neeraj Khandelwal and Sumit Gupta told CoinDesk in an interview.

The objective of Okto’s points program is to bootstrap the launch of the Okto blockchain, which will happen later in 2024. That’s also when the launch of the OKTO token to power that chain will occur. The points program will reward users for their on-chain transactions, and those trading elsewhere can earn bonus points by moving assets to the Okto Wallet. As much as 7% of the OKTO token will be air-dropped to early users.

CoinDCX launched Okto in August 2022 as a DeFi mobile app with an inbuilt wallet aimed at easing the transition of crypto consumers to DeFi. Since then, it has spent nearly two years testing ways to solve the problem of a broken user experience to engage the next billion Web3 users.

“Self-custody wallet experience was completely broken and required users to go through several hurdles of the Web3 space like blockchain, self-custody, security and trust, signing transactions or gas fees,” said Khandelwal. “Okto is the first such system which provides a Web 2-like single click mobile experience in the Web3.”

The idea of creating a native experience was made possible in phases by first, working on a solution internally to streamline the process of using DeFi’s various elements.

In phase two, the solution was packaged into a software development kit (SDK), which is a bundle of software development tools, and made available to external entities in a centralized scenario. This allowed developers to build applications without needing to understand the intricacies of each blockchain.

“Post experiencing the challenges of building a full chain abstracted Okto wallet, in Phase 2, we introduced the Okto Web3 SDK, an industry-first embedded wallet enabling any app or internet company to fully harness the potential of Web3,” Khandelwal said. ”We are now in the process of building an entire Okto Ecosystem.”

“We believed all CeFi platforms would eventually have a DeFi arm,” said Sumit Gupta, co-founder of CoinDCX. “The Okto Chain will power thousands of applications being built in the Web3 space.”

More than 20 apps are being built through the SDK, 50+ chains and protocols have been integrated, and over a million wallets have been created on what they call the “Okto Orchestration Layer.”

“We are not just targeting one partner or ecosystem but hope to land several partnerships to help us make this globally ubiquitous,” Khandelwal said without naming any specific entity.

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