These questions below came through in the main BitShares DEX Telegram channel a few minutes ago. I decided to take my time and provide an adequate response. I hope you like it and please let me know if I made any mistakes. I know I missed a lot, but these were the things that came to mind at the time.
Question: Can someone please explain why no one is talking about BitShares? Is there something I don't know? Seems to be by far the most impressive proven technology.
Answer: Because BitShares, being truly decentralized, doesn't have a dedicated marketing team to help promote this ecosystem. Also, the UI/UX design of the DEX/wallet is lacking in simplicity so newcomers get discouraged and leave. Last, but certainly not least, liquidity is still extremely low for most of the markets on the DEX.
Establishing a dedicated marketing team for BitShares is extremely difficult, but thankfully the way BitShares is designed, it allows for companies to build upon it and they can market themselves. Which indirectly promotes BitShares. Unfortuantely, this creates a catch 22 scenario. What comes first? BitShares marketing to create interest from 3rd party companies, or 3rd party companies finding BitShares and marketing for themselves?
UI/UX design issues are being resolved from different teams. Some are directly paid by the BitShares Reserve Fund/Pool while others build their own interfaces in hopes that it will generate income from referrals and gateway fees. Hopefully, we will have numerous, well designed, gateway/interface designs that will be user-friendly and well marketed.
Liquidity is being addressed by several iniatives. We have the DEXbot project which is building a native bot system that will allow for staggered order trading on the DEX, but for now it's a relative orders tool. There's the Auton.io market making trading app that is integrated to the BitShares DEX. Openledger.io is looking to launch a new fiat gateway. BitSpark will eventually be creating 180 different Market Pegged Assets which will be used to faciliate their remittance business around the world. All of these should help increase liquidity and allow for whales to play on the DEX.
In closing, you can see there's so much going on with the DEX, but it's not centralized. Information comes from many channels and sources, but it takes a community such as this to bring it all together. We may be spread around the world, but together we can make BitShares even better. All it takes is the willingness to do your part, whether big or small.