Onyx Exchange

The Onyx Exchange, sometimes referred to as the Exchange, was a privately-owned stock exchange founded on 13 June 2021 by Onyx Industries.

History

The Onyx Exchange was founded on 13 June 2021 by Onyx Industries and was run by former Treasurer _Zab_. The first companies listed on the exchange included Onyx Industries, Costco, Wallgreens, ENB Industries, Emerald Co. and Icarus Inc. The launch was criticised by some as _Zab_'s role as former treasurer led to the shutdown of the DEC Stock Exchange. Judge Wuutie served as Chief Financial Officer.

By 11 July, the market value of the Onyx Exchange had reached $6.6 million by mid-July 2021, also listing companies like the Chip Company, Cubex and Royalty Ventures. By September the Exchange also listed Indica Estates, Mooshroom and Stamba. The cryptocurrency PandaCoin, created by Onyx Industries, was also listed on the Exchange.

By November the Exchange had a market cap of over $21 million, and saw the addition of Apex Butchery. More cryptocurrencies were listed, including ShibaCoin, Fighters Coin, StambaX, DogeCoin, Saturn Coin, HCB Coin and Binance Coin.

On 5 January 2022, the Exchange attracted concern when a donations channel was opened, asking clients for funding. Its new owner and CEO, Wuutie, announced that the Exchange was "struggling", asking the government for money and compiling a financial report, adding that "it's not looking good anyways". Wuutie stated that the Exchange had been "[making] big losses in 6 months", and that they would be cutting back on wages and staff.

The next day, Secretary thritystone of the Department of Education and Commerce (DEC) announced that the Onyx Exchange was "fine" and had full confidence in Wuutie's abilities to run it, noting that it had experienced a "temporary liquidity problem" attributed to clients making an "abnormally large withdrawal". They announced the creation of a higher reserve to mitigate such issues in the future. Nacholebraa, the CEO of the Chip Corporation, cited the Exchange's policy of allowing a 2-month gap between financial reports as a source of misinformation for investors.

On 15 January, thritystone published a declassified economic situation report announcing that the Exchange was in "significant debts", with only $56,000 in liquid assets, unable to pay when an investor requested the sudden return of $140,000 in credit. This led to the immediate liquidation of Black Rock shares and a "loan" from Binance to Onyx to cover the difference. thritystone attributed part of the problem to the valuation method used, calling it "not sound" as it relied on the opinion of the company owner as part of an equation. The report found the Exchange to be overvalued at $25 million, noting that faith in the institution was the only thing preventing a recession, and that a government bailout would be issued if another abnormal withdrawal request were made, possibly by purchasing Onyx shares.

On 30 January, Democracy Daily reporter Partypig678 received an anonymous report detailing strife between the DEC and Congress, accusing the DEC Secretary of appropriating $200,000 in pruning tax funds to bail out the Exchange, side-stepping the budget process. The report details that on 17 January, ElainaThomas29 had given Wuutie an ownership split of Onyx Industries, with 60% belonging to Elaina and 40% to Wuutie, providing the Exchange with enough money to stay solvent and avoiding the need for a government bailout. The bailout money, however, had already been transferred to Wuutie, who had already invested it into the Exchange's balance. Wuutie then published a document titled "Failed Negotiations", which was authored by thritystone. The document detailed that the DEC had wanted to use the $200,000 in pruning tax funds to effectively acquire a part of the Exchange's autonomy, transforming it into a government entity and obtaining access to the private trading information of citizens and companies. Unable to retrieve the bailout money from the Exchange, the DEC fined Wuutie's personal account for an equivalent sum on 18 January.

The anonymous report also revealed that the economic situation report, originally circulated in the government on the 7th and declassified on the 15th, led to thritystone announcing a "trade suspension" on Congress and Cabinet officials who had read it. The Speaker of the House told the newspaper that the suspension was soon reversed after a discussion with others in the Executive branch, as it was found to be "an overreaction to an issue that only a couple representatives at most were involved in".

On 19 February, Wuutie began accepting Expressions of Interest for the CEO position. On 16 April, the Onyx Exchange had been crossed out on a list of companies that had not responded to the DEC's activity update.