Crypto Exchange dYdX Ends Contentious Promo Amid a Wave of Backlash
dYdX Launched a $25 Bonus for New Users
The promotion in question began on Wednesday and gave new customers a $25 incentive if they made a $500 or higher platform deposit. The only caveat was that, to authenticate their identity, users had to agree to a "liveness check" using a webcam, which didn't sit well with some community sections. After purportedly enrolling thousands of new customers, about 24 hours later, dYdX stated that it would discontinue the program "due to overwhelming demand."
When the DEX was first announced, the promotion campaign's duration was not specified by the DEX team. It "underestimated the level of interest the campaign attracted," nonetheless. Notably, dYdX did not address the backlash from the community in its most recent tweet but reiterated its usage of facial recognition technology in an earlier post, claiming that it was only done to prevent users from opening multiple accounts to receive the bonus.
dYdX is "Stepping a Boundary"
Many people in the Ethereum community disagree with the functionality because they feel that dYdX is "stepping a boundary" by requiring users to scan their faces to participate in promotions. Some in the neighborhood don't believe it, with some thinking the contention was the main reason for the cancellation. Others, however, have voiced reservations about the platform's initial use of such technologies.
According to crypto exchange dYdX, there was no connection between the feature's installation and regulatory demands. August saw the U.S. Treasury sanctions for the decentralized exchange Tornado Cash forced the implementation of tools to block addresses that have interacted with its platform by several Ethereum protocols.
