Decentralized exchange (DEX) Waves DEX shut down to resume operations as a hybrid exchange, Waves announced in a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Dec. 2.

Per the release, the exchange has already ceased operations on the old domain and the process of moving its activities to Waves.Exchange has already started. The company announced:

“From this point onwards, the old version of the exchange will be unavailable, and the website will offer only functionality to support migration. User funds held on Waves DEX will remain completely safe during and after the process.”

The hybrid exchange was already partially activated before the migration began earlier today and it expects to become fully operational before tomorrow. The company claims that the new trading platform combines the irreversibility of transactions, safety and user control of funds of decentralized exchanges with the features of centralized trading platforms.

Changes in exchange development

Waves also announced that from now on, its main development team will focus on developing the protocol itself, its open and private implementation, sharding and infrastructure. The development and support of the exchange, on the other hand, will now be managed by a separate, dedicated team which will also include former Waves core team members. Waves founder and CEO Sasha Ivanov commented:

“Waves DEX was a kind of prototype. Now, after 2 years of operation, it has grown and become a separate project. [...] Now it’s time for us to focus on protocol development and hand over the exchange to an external team and community separate from Waves, so we can merge all the infrastructure teams into one, synchronizing development work and taking the combined product to a new level.”

The announcement also promises that future plans include partner and market maker programs and that Tether (USDT) trading will be enabled when the gateway goes live later this month. Lastly, the announcement also promises “new tools for users to generate passive income, including the opportunity to stake stablecoins and collect interest with very low risk.”

One of Waves’s competitors, CryptoBridge, announced its shutdown earlier today, citing market conditions and increased regulations as driving factors for its closure. The exchange will completely shutter operations on Dec.15, just two months after introducing Know Your Customer standards mandated under EU law.