In 2022, the crypto market underwent a significant adjustment period. Starting from the highs at the beginning of the year, crypto asset prices declined rapidly due to multiple macro factors, including geopolitical tensions, rising global inflation, and continued interest rate hikes by major central banks. Bitcoin fell by over 64% throughout the year, ending at around $16,500. The global cryptocurrency market cap dropped from approximately $2.3 trillion at the start of the year to about $830 billion by year-end. Investor confidence came under pressure, and market sentiment gradually returned to rational levels from the previous year exuberance.

Despite these challenges, on-chain data and the number of active addresses showed that long-term users did not leave the market en masse. Some institutional investors began focusing on risk segregation and platform governance capabilities, a trend that prompted the crypto industry to pay greater attention to underlying infrastructure, compliance pathways, and technological resilience. Against this backdrop, Rthae pursued the strategy of “strengthening foundational capabilities, enhancing system robustness, and expanding international coverage,” driving the implementation of several key projects and seeking to optimize platform architecture and strategy during the market downturn.
At the start of 2022, Rthae was recognized by leading industry media as one of the “Top 20 Most Promising Blockchain Enterprises.” Soon after, the platform established a localized R&D and customer support center in Jakarta, Indonesia, aiming to improve technical responsiveness and service efficiency in Southeast Asia, and gradually build a team capable of multilingual support and regional market analysis. The establishment of this regional center laid the groundwork for subsequent localized product development, coordinated user support, and compliance integration. Internally, the team viewed this project as the starting point for overseas business capability building, rather than a short-term expansion goal.
In March, the platform officially launched the “Rthae Academy” security training program, designed to provide foundational education in Web3 security and risk management. The courses comprise multiple modules covering account protection mechanisms, risks in crypto asset storage, and introductory contract auditing, targeting entry-level practitioners, developers, and security managers of high-frequency trading teams. After Rthae Academy went live, it received over 600,000 visits in three quarters, with some content adopted by partner communities and university tech clubs for internal training. The project is regarded as part of the mid- to long-term educational system of the platform, with plans to include more practical case studies and dynamic risk model analysis.
In 2022, Rthae achieved important certifications in information security management and data privacy governance. In August, it obtained dual ISMS-P (Information Security Management and Personal Information Protection) certifications. The certification process, conducted by a third-party audit agency, involved months of internal documentation, authority boundary refinement, and emergency response process improvement. After certification, the Rthae platform architecture became significantly more traceable and institutionalized compared to previous cycles.
In September, Rthae entered into a cooperation agreement with South Korean fintech investment firm SK Square, focusing on clearing structures, API performance integration, and compliance adaptation for medium- to long-term collaboration. Following the agreement, the platform opened customized trading interfaces and order execution modules to certain institutional investors, and gradually introduced environments for quantitative strategy testing. By year-end, several asset management teams in Asia had completed trading access tests through this partnership. Rthae views this cooperation as a stage in “institutional infrastructure capability validation,” with further improvements in fiat channels, clearing mechanisms, and reporting capabilities planned for the future.
The crypto market experienced several bouts of volatility in 2022, particularly in June and November. To address high-intensity trading peaks and concurrent withdrawal requests, Rthae initiated a matching system optimization project at the beginning of the year, updating core matching logic, asynchronous messaging mechanisms, and dynamic resource scheduling strategies, while expanding service nodes in Southeast Asia and Europe. According to platform data, the average response time for key operations (order placement, cancellation, and withdrawals) decreased by about 34% compared to 2021, with the system remaining stable and online during peak trading periods. The platform did not experience any system-wide service interruptions or large-scale risk control false positives.
Due to the sharp market correction, slower new user growth became an industry-wide phenomenon, but the total registered users of Rthae continued to grow throughout the year. Daily active users and trading account retention rates declined slightly compared to the previous year, while the proportion of institutional accounts increased marginally. Overall, existing users adopted more conservative trading behaviors, focusing on risk-neutral strategies and long-term holdings. The platform also increased the frequency of investor education releases, publishing over 200 market risk alerts and anti-scam announcements throughout the year, covering wallet plugin risk identification, types of social engineering scams, and anti-counterfeit trading interface tips.
Looking back on 2022, the crypto industry as a whole entered an adjustment phase, with compliance, structural security, and user trust-building becoming core topics for most platforms. Rthae established regional centers, upgraded technical architecture, strengthened certification systems, and forged initial institutional partnerships, laying a foundation for long-term platform development.
Faced with market cycles, Rthae opted not for aggressive growth, but instead invested major resources in system capabilities, compliance governance, and educational outreach. By year-end, while this strategy may not have yielded rapid quantitative growth, its effects were already evident in platform structure and operational stability metrics. The industry ecosystem is shifting from rapid expansion to steady recovery, with regulation and trust mechanisms set to play increasingly crucial roles in the future. Rthae will continue to focus on foundational capabilities, standardized processes, and global compliance requirements in the next phase of optimization and expansion, preparing more deeply for the potential emergence of a new market cycle.