Open Beta Officially Starts at 4pm CST today (less than 1 hour from this post)!!

This is a huge moment for us as we unveil the platform to everyone!

Early access fam, you guys have had the chance to battle test our platform, and have given us some immense value with feedback and bug reports - let's make sure you pass it forward by helping our new friends that will be connecting soon.

The team is working overtime to make the experience as smooth as possible, and there will be some continuous updates we are rolling out today into next week.

Thank you SO MUCH for all the participation so far, we are blessed!

OPEN BETA ACCESS IS NOW LIVE!!

That's right, folks! The moment you have all been waiting for is finally here. The Vela Exchange Open Beta Access is now live and ready for you to explore! Trade, join the Hyper VLP rewards program, and experience the power of the platform like never before.

This is a huge milestone for us and we are excited to have you all along for the ride. Get ready to unleash your trading potential!

For any technical difficulties, please submit bugs and suggestions within the app or create a ticket in discord. REMEMBER to include all relevant details including wallet address and other info.

ARE YOU READY TO DOMINATE THE MARKETS

Oh...and Referral links are now live!!!

https://app.vela.exchange/

[Open Beta FLASH Community Giveaway]

200 $VELA tokens up for grabs this time!

All you have to do is share your experience testing our open beta on Twitter! 😊

To qualify:
- simply write a tweet or thread 🧵 about what you love about the Vela beta
- tag @vela_exchange and use the hashtags #velabeta #crypto
- don't forget to share your referral code!!!

Remember to create REAL content with authentic feedback!

Remember, the winner will be awarded 200 juicy $VELA tokens 🚀

The best examples may also be reshared on our feed, so you can get some major swag points.

Winners will be announced on February 13th!

[VELA x MEXC AMA]

An exciting event is on the horizon 🔥. Join us for a live AMA session with our founders as they discuss all things DeFi.

Hosted by MEXC_Global, the session will take place this Friday at 6 PM UTC. Don't miss out on this opportunity to gain insights and engage with the masterminds behind VELA.

Mark your calendars and join us by clicking the link below 👇. See you there everyone! 📢

https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1OwxWwnLbAexQ

[1b VOLUME] 👀

Trading volume on the platform has crossed 1 billion$ 🎉 💰

We couldn't have achieved this without the amazing support and participation from our Vela FAM community 💙

We are excited to continue growing and evolving, and thankful for your trust in Vela Exchange.

Let's celebrate this milestone together and look forward to a bright future ahead! 🌇

https://vxtwitter.com/vela_exchange/status/1628786245215334400

[BETA ROADMAP] 🛣

✅ During Phase 1 our community-driven approach enabled us to listen to feedback and improve our platform during the initial beta phase.

✅ Phase 2 is focused on stabilization and scalability, ensuring traders have a smooth and streamlined experience.

✅ The Axelar integration will launch soon and enhance trading experience like never before.

✅ Vela will hold a flash trading contest and new asset listing to expand the range of assets available on the platform.

✅ The first buyback will take place in the first week of March, and VELA USDC rewards will also launch during Phase 2.

✅ During Phase 3, beta testers enter for a chance to get unique NFT and airdrop rewards. More to be shared later 🤫

These are just high-level bulletpoints, read through the medium article for full details @everyone ! 🗒

https://medium.com/@vela_exchange/revealing-the-open-beta-roadmap-join-us-on-the-epic-journey-45c2ac311e3b

https://twitter.com/vela_exchange/status/1628875576042745858?s=20

🔥 NEW PAIRS ALERT 🔥

Attention Vela FAM 👀

$SOL, $MATIC, and $AVAX perpetual pairs are now available for trading on our exchange! Check it out now: https://app.vela.exchange/trade

Oh - and guess what? 50x leverage for the new assets is officially enabled 🙂

Please continue to provide your suggestions for additional pairs and trading tools. All the community feedback has been key to us growing our platform! 🙏🏼

Oh...and the waves are just starting. Major PVP alert coming in the next hours.

What else is there this week?
- Buyback announcement
- Arbitrum AMA
- Axelar integration

And of course, last but not least - more scalability and UX improvements! The train doesn't wait for anyone 🙂

https://twitter.com/vela_exchange/status/1630665614355464192?s=20

[FLASH TRADING COMPETITION]

🎉 Exciting news for all Vela traders! To celebrate $SOL, $MATIC and $AVAX pairs joining Vela perps, we're hosting a 7-day trading competition with a 💰10,000 $USDC + 2,000 $eVELA of prizes in total!

📅 Starts now until March 7th 11:30PM UTC.

🏆 Winners will be determined by overall PNL for the last 7 days on March 7th at 11:30PM UTC.

- 1st Place: 10,000 USDC
- 2nd Place: 800 eVELA
- 3rd Place: 600 eVELA
- 4th Place: 400 eVELA
- 5th Place: 100 eVELA
- 6th Place: 100 eVELA

👉 Get ready, bring your A-game, and let the trading begin! Good luck everyone 🍀 More events like this to come!

https://twitter.com/vela_exchange/status/1630711967668383744?s=20

[Monthly update]

Vela Exchange has had a busy and successful February 💻

Let's reflect on what we accomplished ◀️

✅ $2 billion in trading volume
✅ Becoming 10% of the Total On-Chain Activity on Arbitrum
✅ Hitting Over $30M in TVL for VLP
✅ Fixing Bugs, Stabilizing, and Upgrading Servers
✅ Getting Listed on various CEXs, analytics, and wallets
✅ Trending #1 on CoinGecko
✅ Beta roadmap + Adding 3 new Pairs!
✅ Launching a Flash Trading Competition

We achieved incredible beta milestones with the support of you - our community. Looking ahead, we're thrilled to continue growing and innovating with you by our side Vela FAM 💙

https://twitter.com/vela_exchange/status/1631036430851137536?s=20

Flash Giveaway

Our AMA with Arbitrum is in less than 12 hours, and to celebrate...we are launching a juicy social media contest!

Criteria:
- Post what you are most excited to hear about during our AMA
- Share a snippet of your beta experience and what makes you happy as a Vela Fam community member
- Tag @vela_exchange and @arbitrum
- Use #defi and #crypto as hashtags!

Your post can be a thread or a single post. Contest ends Thursday, March 2, 2023 12:30 PM CST!

Oh, the prizes...
1st place gets 50 $VELA 👑
10 runner ups get 10 $VELA each 🤝

[VELA x ARBITRUM AMA]

Get ready for an exciting Twitter Spaces AMA hosted by ARBITRUM 💙

And that's not all, we have a special guest joining us - 🎉 Axelar Network!

There are some big news to be shared - We will be revealing a GAME-CHANGING FEATURE that will leave you amazed!🤯

We can't wait to see you there everyone! 🫡

Starting in 1hour 🕔

https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1jMJgLoVONexL

[MULTICHAIN DEPOSITS] ⛓

Introducing Multichain Deposits, powered by Axelar, the latest addition to Vela Exchange. 🔥

👉 With Multichain Deposits, you can easily bring any asset from any chain to Vela Exchange. Swap any token for USDC, mint VLP, or buy gas tokens, all in one place. 🤯

👉 Seamless Asset Transfer: No more multiple transactions or high transaction fees while preparing your funds for trading.

👉 Fast and Efficient Transactions: Swap any token to USDC on Vela Exchange in just one transaction, taking only 30 seconds or less. Start trading immediately!

Are you excited? We sure are! Try it out now and let us know how do you like this newest addition to our palette of UX improvements 💙

https://twitter.com/vela_exchange/status/1631366300621770753?s=20

We had an RPC issue and recent deployment impact trades since Tuesday, March 7, 2023 7:45 PM UTC which was resolved at approximately Tuesday, March 7, 2023 10:15 PM UTC.

Positions opened during this time will not show up until we manually update your account, so please open a request here: https://veladefi.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portal/3/group/11/create/45

As mentioned, we will always take care of our beta testers and if you were impacted with a liquidation or other issues as a result of the last two hours of RPC outages - please include any info in the ticketing system that can help us diagnose and provide support.

If you need to close positions that are currently not showing, please refer to these resources:

PDF (recommended): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OdKrfrwhaUcMgdL1Z6ew4prYd4KzBwFF/view?usp=sharing

Video tutorial by @lillyspolsky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Dy0WXCNGQA

Thank you for your patience Vela Fam!

[FLASH TRADING COMPETITION]

The competition is officially over🎉

We're blown away by the incredible talent and competitiveness displayed by all the traders!

The event was nothing short of spectacular, and we're evaluating the results as we speak.

The winners will be announced tomorrow📣


👉 P.S. Keep honing your trading skills and remain prepared for even bigger challenges ahead.

The best is yet to come 🤫

[RESULTS - FLASH TRADING COMPETITION]

We want to extend a huge thank you to everyone who participated in our recent Flash Trading Competition! 💙
It was a great success, and we are thrilled to see such high levels of engagement from our community.

Rewards consist of 💰 10,000 $USDC + 2,000 $eVELA and are distributed as following:

🥇1st Place: 10,000 $USDC - HEISENBERG
🥈2nd Place: 800 eVELA - S3V3ND3V11
🥉3rd Place: 600 eVELA - TRADER503
4th Place: 400 eVELA - ANONYMOUS
5th Place: 100 eVELA - ARATHKONE
6th Place: 100 eVELA - PRINT


Congratulations to all of our winners! Your rewards will be distributed soon to your trading wallets 👍🏼

Finally, we want to remind you that this is just the beginning❗️

Another flash trading event is just around the corner, we're also planning a GRAND TRADING COMPETITION 🏆 that's going to blow your mind! 🧠

https://twitter.com/vela_exchange/status/1633552275435302912

\

[PHASE 3] 🎉

With Phase 2 of the Vela Exchange Beta complete, it’s time to look forward and get a preview of the future 🔎

Phase 3 includes some of the most exciting milestones in our Beta Roadmap 🔥, including but not limited to:

✅ Beta NFT Claim
✅ Flash Trading Competition #2
✅ Grand Trading Competition
✅ Beta Rewards Airdrop
✅ Official Launch Announcement & Roadmap
✅ [REDACTED] 👀

As always, our community is what keeps us going. We are thrilled to announce the last phase of our Beta Launch and can't wait to see how things unfold. Stay tuned for more updates and 🙏 keep testing!

https://medium.com/@vela_exchange/vela-beta-phase-3-is-here-71c24cb8acd6

https://twitter.com/vela_exchange/status/1633860671157989376?s=20

💙

[#3 NFT CLAIM] 🎉

We are thrilled to announce the launch of our official Vela NFT #3 - dedicated to open beta participants! 🔥 This unique edition is not to be missed!

To claim your NFT, make sure you hold at least 50 $VELA tokens and rank in the top 2500 in trading volume on Vela Exchange. Only 2500 copies will be available, so don't miss out!

Minting opens up next week, giving you plenty of time to make yourself eligible. 👇

And that's not all, this is the third official VELA NFT, and one more is coming soon! For those who collect all four, you'll be able to forge them into something very special. 👀 Keep an eye on the forge page: https://app.vela.exchange/account/nft-forge


Remember, this is just the beginning of open beta rewards. Stay tuned for more exciting announcements along the way 🫡

Let's continue to grow together!💙

https://vxtwitter.com/vela_exchange/status/1634285557282115584?s=20

Updates on NFTs, Trading Mechanics, Rewards

Hey everyone, thanks for all the support throughout the last several days of massive volatility in the market.

Our team has been working hard on long-term adjustments that will apply to our official launch, and we think everyone will love what we'll have to share in the next week or so. Official launch may be closer than we thought!

First - we heard everyone on their feedback on the NFTs.

A few adjustments we decided to make:
- Max supply will be 5k
- Top 5,000 volume qualify to claim the NFT
- Claimers must have at least 25 VELA staked

Just as a preview - the official launch NFT will likely require different criteria, and it will be a more exclusive NFT. As a teaser - you do not need all NFTs to craft your final Vela Navigator, but each ingredient matters!

Trading Mechanics Updates

The latest updates to help lower fee costs and risk while discouraging front-runners are the following:
- Lowering of crypto leverage to 20x and forex to 50x
- Increase of the funding rate timer to 6 hours

We have not seen examples of front-running since making our adjustments (yes we know the fees are high and suck! we are working on several resolutions, one of which is increasing the timer of funding rates)

The official launch will have some really robust controls to prevent front-running, and can't wait to share what the launch will bring.

Hyper VLP and USDC rewards for VELA stakers

This one is very important to pay attention to.

#1 Hyper VLP rewards will go out in the next 24 hours, and may be airdropped as soon as tonight NA time. The adjustment of many Hyper VLP minters that belonged to the wrong tier or were unable to mint due to technical reasons definitely increased the complexity of this exercise - but things are looking good to go.

#2 USDC rewards for VELA staking will be an airdrop - the claim function will not be part of the beta release and will start during mainnet launch.

The first snapshot will be sometime between today and 3/20/23, and will be a total of $55k USDC.

The second snapshot will take place between 3/20/23 and 3/29, after which snapshots will be every two weeks on Wednesday.

Since we are accelerating our official launch, our team has decided to focus on infrastructure and trading mechanics upgrades rather than UI deployments - so please be patient with us as the next few weeks continue.

Thank you everyone! More updates soon 🙂

A few important notes for this week and upcoming events!

1. News on official launch will start coming out next week. Yes - this means beta is ending in the next weeks, and any incentives snapshots will be coming with the end of beta. We are HYPED!

2. Refunds have gone out for extreme funding rates and liquidations associated with front-running protections set last week. There are still some straggler cases and we are being careful to review each request on a case-by-case basis.

3. The NFT drop will be in the next 1-2 days! Keep your eyes peeled for news on the mint 🙂

Thank you all!