Synethix founder Kain Warwick targets mid-May launch for Infinex DEX

Synethix founder Kain Warwick has “finally” given a date for when the decentralized exchange front-end Infinex is set to go live after several delays from its expected Q4 2022 launch. 

Infinex is targeting an official launch on May 13, Warwick said on May 2 at the ETH Global conference in Sydney, Australia.

Warwick said May 13 would be the “launch of the account” — when Infinex users can access their self-custodial accounts on the platform.

Infinex is a noncustodial derivative DEX front-end bidding itself as bringing a centralized exchange user experience.

Warwick explained that Infinex would utilize social passkeys to enable users to log in via Web2 applications — such as a Google account — and reduce the “friction” that typically accompanies a standard Web3 user experience.

“The core component is you will have an account that you will own — it’s self-custodial — but you will be able to effectively login to that account via Web2,” Warwick said.

“The starting point of [Infinex] you can have an account, and then you can deposit into that account to earn governance points,” said Warwick. He added there would be a points-farming game that would run for the month following the launch.

On March 13, Infinex suffered a security breach which saw Warwick quickly take over as head of the project’s working group.

Speaking to Cointelegraph Warwick said the security vulnerability was “part of the reason” Infinex’s launch — initially targeted for Q4 2023 — was delayed.

The security vulnerability was a social engineering attack that saw hacker gain access to a password vault, Warwick said. From there, they were then able to get into the protocol’s DNS store and modify Infinex’s DNS.

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“There were no funds at risk because we weren’t live — but just from learning a lesson sort of thing — even prior to being live, that just shouldn’t be able to happen,” he said.

“I came in and I brought a couple of other people in and we burned all of the systems to the ground and rebuilt everything from scratch. It’s now one of the most secure environments I’ve ever worked in.”

Warwick shared that the May 13 launch date is the proposed launch date that has been provided to the Synthetix protocol’s governing DAO — the Spartan Council — which still needs to vote on-chain to approve the launch.

He said he was confident the council would approve — but the decision starts and ends with the council.

Following Infinex’s launch, Warwick hopes to see it crack $50 million in total value locked and attract 10,000 genuine users within the first 30 days.

“We have 200,000 people on the waitlist but a lot of those are sybils, airdrop farmers and bots. We do think there’s a solid 10,000 [genuine] users on that list,” he said.

“If we have 5,000 to 10,000 people and 50 million of TVL — I feel like we’ve done something right.”

Warwick added that if the current market cycle were to remain bullish he expects to see “hundreds of thousands” of users join Infinex within a year of its launch.

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Additional reporting by Felix Ng.