Proof of Activity: Fastex at Consensus

There’s one word that sums up Consensus in Toronto, the current Web3 landscape, and Fastex’s growing role in the ecosystem: Activity. The conference hummed with activity. Over 14,000 people flocked to Toronto — from 102 countries — to learn and share and network and build. There was activity everywhere. Activity at hackathons, activity at meetups, and activity at the Fastex booth (especially at the free-flowing open bar).

And Consensus showcased activity in another key respect: The “Proof of Staked Activity” (PoSA) of Bahamut, Fastex’s preferred Layer 1 blockchain. What’s meant by “activity” in proof of staked activity? You’re rewarded for getting involved. If you’re a validator, the more your smart contracts are actually used, the higher the chance you earn rewards.

The Fastex ecosystem is thriving with new activity, as updates were unveiled and highlighted at Consensus. Take the enhanced YoWallet, which now includes real-time activity alerts, price change notifications, and built-in NFT management. The wallet is fast, safe (with reinforced infrastructure and proprietary APIs), easy to use (with smooth integration across DeFI protocols), and allows users to stake and use crypto directly within the app.

“As a centralized exchange, we keep the clients’ assets, but sometimes clients prefer to have their private keys with them,” said Vardan Khachatryan, CLO and Board Member at Fastex, on CoinDesk Live. “We want to help them have this opportunity - but also provide it in such a way that they don’t leave the infrastructure, the ecosystem. This gives them the power to control their assets, but at the same time, stay with us.”

Like the heyday of Apple product announcements, it was almost hard to keep up with all of the new products presented. Others include YoHealth (an app promoting healthy lifestyles through blockchain-powered rewards), YoPhone, YoSIM, and YoBlog.

This Proof of Staked Activity was on center stage at the Easy A hackathon, which featured three dedicated Bahamut tracks: AI x Onchain, Cross-Chain Innovation, and a Bonus Bounty. Over 1,000 builders and coders participated in the Easy A hackathon, and a total prize of $50,000 was doled out to the winners. Taking home (giant-sized) checks were NamVault (for its decentralized name service that simplifies address management), MilkyPay (for its voice-enabled, link-and-PIN cross-border remittance platform), and Fast Credit (for its AI-verified on-chain credit solution for gig workers and unbanked users).

Centralized exchanges have seen historic activity in the latest bull run, and that raises important questions about asset safety and security. Put simply, are your assets safe? This was explored in a conversation on the Summit Stage titled, appropriately, “Are Your Funds SAFU?” Vardan Khachatryan took the stage — along with Adam Lowe (Arculus by CompoSecure) Blair Wiley (Wealthsimple) — to assess the state of play. And Khachatryan gave some frank realities.

“The centralized model will be more convenient for a lot of the users who are not very crypto-friendly, or understand how the things work,” said Khachatryan. “Some people just want to use the crypto. They don’t want to go through the hassle. In terms of security, maybe for them, it’s safer to have a centralized custodian.” He also acknowledged that for other more savvy users, “from a purely security perspective, probably self-custody model is more secure, especially with cold wallets, considering that it’s safer from a lot of different things that can happen to your crypto. A hack attack. Insolvency by the custodian. Bad actors.”

And behind the scenes, far from the crowded conference halls, there was frisky activity on an entirely different level: On the Bahamut blockchain itself. Bahamut is no longer just theoretical; it’s up and running. The network now has over 4,500 validators and more than 100 active nodes. Bahamut now has over 4.1 million accounts that have performed at least one transaction — more than the entire population of Consensus’ host city, Toronto. Bahamut has processed over 68 million transactions, has over 600 verified contracts, and $108 million TVL (Total Value Locked).

One core value of Fastex is to make everything as easy as possible, as friction is the enemy of adoption. This is why the Bahamut network supports integration with leading cross-chain bridge protocols like Symbiosis, Ortak Sea, Asterizm, and Chainspot. That eliminates the need for multiple wallets and keeps everything in one place.

And “everything” now includes NFTs, as Bahamut includes an ecosystem of NFT marketplaces, with platforms like ftNFT and 8Legends supporting the buying and selling of digital assets.

One final burst of activity: Gamers. Web3 gaming is finding its footing, as blockchain-powered games are thriving on Bahamut — especially those integrated onto Telegram (which has over 1 billion active users). Games like Superfirst, Rabbit Habbit, and First Fisher let gamers play for fun and also realize true ownership of in-game assets.

Gamers, coders, traders, collectors, investors, builders, founders — they all came to Toronto at Consensus and they all brought the energy, the hunger, the drive to build and they brought the activity.

Click here to see Vardan Khachatryan onstage at the Open Money Summit at Consensus 2025.