With a strong marketing and business development track record, Maria Carola serves as the Chief Executive Officer of StealthEX. Her leadership propelled the exchange into prominence swiftly; it’s now celebrated for reliability by many engaged in cryptocurrency transactions.
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We dived into a conversation with Maria, who walked us on her path to leadership at StealthEX. Alongside this were insights into the platform’s priorities on user-friendliness, decentralization, user education, and their focus on cross-chain interoperability, among other things.
A Journey from a Complete Beginner to a Leader
Interestingly, Maria’s background has nothing to do with blockchain—a situation uncommon among established crypto industry professionals. Her first few months were tough as she had to navigate the complexities of an entirely new field with minimal guidance. Maria spotted a significant weakness in the onboarding process and initial introductions that many crypto companies face.
She recounts the early hardships: “When I got my first official job, the struggle was real—when you come here empty-handed and with no one to mentor you, the onboarding process can become hell. The sheer memory of how hash it was taught me a lesson for life: thorough onboarding is key for solid further work.”
Among the first decisions in her capacity as CEO, Maria revamped her company’s onboarding process so no one else would struggle as she did. Internally, she redesigned the process for newcomers to provide a full-fledged orientation filled with care and assistance. Externally, she has ensured that the platform offers clear and straightforward navigation, where users are guided step-by-step on what to do and how to do it, with minimal information overload. This tactic doesn’t just improve user experience; it creates a new standard for seamless crypto exchange interaction.
Balancing Mainstream Adoption and Decentralized Ideals
Among her many thoughtful writings, Maria highlighted in one piece how increased institutional involvement risks undermining crypto’s decentralized ethos and exposing it to systemic risks associated with traditional markets. With the approval of Bitcoin and Ether ETFs, this subject has gained significant attention recently.
“Many events have turned this field from an experiment in creating a decentralized financial system into something relatively mainstream. The most important aspect is the growing number of people joining annually. It’s not just about devs and privacy aficionados anymore; mainstream adoption, which has been discussed for decades, is finally happening. You can hear news about Bitcoin on mainstream radio, see it discussed on TV (for those who still watch it), and witness banks and governments taking an interest. Isn’t that what we wanted?
ETFs are a part of this movement, of course. They are quite an ambiguous development. While they are good for adoption and help de-marginalize crypto in the eyes of major players (mainly institutions), they also drift us further away from the core ideas of blockchain tech and decentralization. We need to remember what it was all meant for and make our choice: we can turn crypto into just another fiat currency that follows the same rules as all others, or we can stay true to ourselves,” Maria stated.
According to her, striking a balance between welcoming large-scale participation and honoring crypto’s core autonomy ethos proves challenging but still possible.
“We should keep these two aspects separate and support both. It’s good for the space to have it de-marginalized and supported by companies and governments, but this should not prevent those who want the decentralized aspect to be present from using crypto,” she said.
Making the Platform ‘as User-Friendly as It Can Be’
In Maria’s words, many people come to their platform without deep prior knowledge of how crypto operates, and they are happy to assist them. So, from the service’s user-friendly interface to its always-available support team and active Twitter and Telegram communities, there’s always a helping hand for the user.
“This applies to the service, communication, and the information we put out. When it comes to our platform, we strive to make it as user-friendly as it can be. No complicated actions are needed; just a few steps to make a swap. If there are any questions, our support team is online 24/7 to handle them. Additionally, we have Twitter and Telegram communities where our team members can answer questions related to exchanges, assets, listings, partnerships, and more. So if you’re interested in the space, feel free to drop by and ask us anything,” she urged.
“We also have a native blog and posting platforms (like Medium, for example) to share our articles, ranging from exchange tutorials to price and market analyses and top service reviews. This is a big part of our work as blockchain community members—we need to share information and help others navigate it,” Maria added.
Simplifying Cross-Chain Integration for User Convenience
Maria believes seamless interoperability between different blockchain networks is essential for the crypto ecosystem’s thrive. Although there has been ongoing discussion about this for years, she observed that many blockchain systems still do not connect well.
“The main thing is simplifying cryptocurrencies – we have already come a long way. Crypto was virtually unusable back then, but now, various services are available for any device. Currently, we are working on interoperability regarding chains and better, more convenient user interfaces regarding services,” she notes.
“At StealthEX, we offer easy and fast cross-chain swaps that do not require bridging or any complex mechanics – we do it for the user. Many of our users turn to the platform just for this feature. We support various assets across different chains (take ETH or USDT, for example), making it convenient to swap them between networks in one place. Cross-chain swaps account for about 30% of the exchanges we handle per month, which is a significant amount and definitely a trend,” Maria explains.
When asked about the most popular pairs, Maria shared that stablecoins and ETH are common exchanges and cross-chain swaps of the same assets. She also mentioned that a strong interest in classic cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin persists.
Additionally, a substantial number of users are exchanging privacy coins such as XMR and ZEC. The CEO expressed concern over recent clampdowns on privacy-oriented services and assets, reaffirming the platform’s commitment to self-custody and a decentralized approach.
“With the recent delistings and overall crackdown on privacy cryptocurrencies that we have witnessed, it’s logical to predict that people will be searching for platforms that still offer support for these assets, and this is where we play our role,” she stated.
What’s Next for StealthEX
Maria Carola outlined key milestones and goals for StealthEX in the next five years. She emphasized their commitment to providing a custody-free, decentralized service:
“We are certainly staying with our core ideas – bringing our users a custody-free, decentralized service. No registration, no verification. This is something that’s not going to change. As for the changes we can predict and share now – we will revamp our partner tools, especially our API, our most beloved B2B product, bring new assets on board (crypto and fiat), and add new liquidity providers,” she revealed.
Cryptopolitan reporting By Brian Koome.
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