Who’s Who In Crypto: prePO Founder Xavier Ekkel

In the traditional finance world it’s difficult, if not near impossible, for retail investors to partake in pre-IPOs (initial public offerings) the offering made to select investors before a company is made public on something like the NYSE.

It’s the same in the crypto space with token pre-IDOs, initial DEX (decentralised exchange) offerings, where a limited number of investors, in a limited timeframe, and with a high spending floor that again prices out retail investors.

CryptoVista spoke with Xavier Ekkel, founder of the decentralised trading platform prePO, which allows any investor to long or short the price of pre-IPO and pre-IDO stocks and tokens, gaining exposure to the asset which would traditionally be closed off to them.

What are your priorities for the next 12 months?

In the next quarter, we’re aiming to launch the PPO token (prePO’s governance and utility token) via an IDO. Those who have registered on the whitelist will receive additional benefits during the IDO.

The prePO platform will have a ‘guarded launch’ (with user and deposit limits) on Arbitrum shortly after the token launch. The guarded launch is both a security measure and a means of receiving focused feedback from our early community. Only those who have earned a Pregen Pass, by engaging and contributing to the prePO community, will have access to this guarded launch.

Further down the line, we’ll be working on brand new features in prePO V2; various integrations including fiat on-ramps, insurance, and DEX aggregators; social gamification features like achievements, levels, leaderboards, and copy trading; CEX integrations, where prePO will act as the infrastructure layer to offer private market exposure to the huge user bases of existing platforms; and a prePO Pro product tailored for global institutional investors and the US market.

What does crypto mean to you, and what drew you to it?

I have been following the crypto space since 2013 and was drawn to the ‘wild west’ nature of it, given anyone can launch and trade anything they want. My interest increased even more after Ethereum launched – I was immediately drawn to the programmable nature of it because it opened up so many new possibilities for dapps including decentralized games and DeFi.

I was previously making experimental indie games and hosting online game jams (hackathons for game development, see https://xavierekkel.itch.io/), and so I originally started learning Solidity because I wanted to make blockchain games.

What is your long-term view of crypto?

I believe that crypto will be recognised as a legitimate asset class among the general public and that it will replace a large share of inefficient legacy financial infrastructure.

I also believe that crypto will continue to unlock new models of collaboration and governance via DAOs, and will give more ownership and power back to users, which is the key driver behind the whole web 3.0 narrative.

What advice would you give people investing in crypto (or looking to invest for the first time)?

None of this is financial advice, so make sure to do your own research! Generally, I’d recommend just learning as much as you can, and enjoying that process. The space evolves super quickly, so it’s important to stay involved and in-the-loop even during a bear market. As the saying goes: “time in the market beats timing the market”.

How do you feel about the way the world is regulating crypto?

I believe crypto is an inevitability, and therefore it’s probably wiser to embrace innovation early rather than stifling it and playing catch-up later. I also think there should be a lot more focus on stopping the obvious bad actors in the space, rather than builders or users.