1 - INTRODUCTION
Gold! Gold! its Gold! This statement had become commonplace in the atmosphere of the Coloma area of California, primarily because of the huge nuggets of gold being frequently discovered in the gold mines of the Sutter’s Mill. This event came to be known as the California Gold rush.
The California gold rush occurred over a span of seven years (1848-1855)Source. This newly discovered providence of nature instigated the massive exodus of people from other states of the United States and the world into California. They were all scrambling to partake of nature’s cash cow – The gold mines.
However, historical records have it that during the gold rush, most would-be miners lost money instead, but those who sold the shovels, picks, tents, and jeans made nice profits. Those who focused on the most efficient ways to get shovels available were the ones that made the most profits. This led to the famous phrase, “in a gold rush, sell the best shovels”.
Like the California gold rush, the invention of the blockchain technology has brought about a financial revolution called cryptocurrencies, as seen in the fact that ICOs raised around $5 billion in 2017 in cryptocurrency salesSource. These cryptocurrencies which aid the transfer of monetary value (Internet of value) are traded in a market places called exchanges.
Exchanges can be considered as "shovel sellers", giving people the means and opportunity to partake of the cryptocurrency market. Exchanges have made it possible for cryptocurrencies to seamlessly interact with each other, exchanging values between each other. However, time has proven that current exchanges are experiencing some problems that have hindered them from giving their users the best trading services, hence hindering the entrance of investors into the cryptocurrency trading space.
As a solution to these problems, there is therefore need for a highly efficient and secure exchange platform where people can be equipped and given the conducive environment to trade their cryptocurrencies, being rest assured that their investments are in safe hands.
2.- PROBLEM DEFINITION
The current problems experienced by cryptocurrency exchanges are as follows:
2.1 – Security breaches
Because most exchanges store cryptocurrencies online, they’ve made themselves potential prey for red-eyed bulging hackers, who like eagles, scout the internet, looking for vulnerable exchanges to take advantage of. Through techniques like DDoS attacks and social engineering, hackers penetrate the frail firewalls of these exchanges.
2.2 – Non-Compliance
As cryptocurrencies have gone mainstream, it is not uncommon to find exchanges sprouting up from thin air just so they can take part of the cryptocurrency market pie, even without any form of registration or compliance with national and international laws.
As history has shown, when government regulatory bodies come after these exchanges, funds of users go down with them.
2.3 – Opacity
I remember when I first used the Poloniex exchange to trade, I always had my heart in my mouth while trading, because I knew I had no way of reaching to them if my funds got frozen for any reason, except for an email that never replied to complaints.
This case is an example of unprofessional customer services some cryptocurrency exchanges render, hence putting funds of users at risk.
2.4 – Outages
Unfortunately, it’s not only power companies that experience outages. Some exchanges with poor server infrastructure experience service outage when there’s high volatility. This is because more users are trying to access the limited server facilities during these times of high volatility, hence causing the system to shut down.
Because of this service outage, traders lose out on trades they could have profited from.
From these listed problems, we can see that there is need for a cryptocurrency exchange platform that will be secure, quick, reliable, and duly registered in line with all national and international regulations in countries of operation.
3.0 – Blockchain.io
3.1 – What is blockchain.io?
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When we visited the candy store during my infant days, my parents usually asked me to choose between a strawberry candy and a vanilla candy. I wanted both, but I had to choose one. What if I could get them both? That’s the concept blockchain.io is built on.
Blockchain.io is a quick, highly secure, reliable, and accountable cryptocurrency exchange, where cryptocurrencies will be traded against each other. Blockchain.io is able to possess all these features because of its revolutionary working principles. Instead of being either a centralized or decentralized system, it takes the advantages that both systems provide, combining them all into one platform. It is a centralized exchange with a decentralized “trustless” cross-chain settlement.
Harnessing the quick order-processing quality of centralized systems, blockchain.io will be able to quickly carry out order booking, efficient order matching, and other qualities that a centralized exchange avails.
Also, through the highly secure quality of decentralized “trustless” cross-chain, blockchain.io will be able to ensure the secure storage and transfer of cryptocurrencies.
Finally, blockchain.io will offer ICO services, which will include ICO campaigns, ICO marketing, and so on.
3.2 – Blockchain.io and Paymium
Paymium is the predecessor to Blockchain.io. It was founded by Pierre Noizat and Gonzague Grandval (members of blockchain.io team) in 2011 as the first European bitcoin exchange, and has been operating hack-free since 2013. Through Paymium, investors can securely keep their bitcoin, exchange them for fiat (e.g. dollars) and transfer them to anywhere they please.
Based on these facts, Paymium has proven the reliability, security, and accountability that the blockchain.io platform will have, since blockchain.io shares these proven standards that Paymium possesses.
Through Paymium, blockchain.io users will have access to fiat currency market, as blockchain.io is based strictly on cryptocurrency exchange.
Finally, since Paymium has 170,000 registered usersSource, it will avail blockchain.io this already established customer base to launch its operation.
3.3 – Features of blockchain.io
The essential features of the blockchain.io platform are as follows:
Ultra-secure & Decentralized: The most secure way to store cryptocurrencies online is to not store them online, hence the use of cold (offline) wallets. Blockchain.io stores cryptocurrencies in cold wallets which possess security measures like requiring multiple signatures to access, private keys split and held in different multi-located vaults, and so on.
Also, blockchain.io has cryptographic proof of reserve, meaning that it has asset holdings that are solvent, that is proof of holding enough assets to offset customer owed funds.
Finally, to prevent attacks due to social engineering, blockchain.io consists of internal procedures that make use of periodic technical audits and timestamps logs that monitor exchange database for any tampering activities.Fully Compliant & Transparent: You can’t talk about transparency without some form of account oversight by a trustworthy third party. In this light, blokchain.io has its account audited by registered professional auditors.
Also, to ensure the safety of investors’ funds by preventing their being seized of frozen, blockchain.io will make sure to comply with all currently applicable EU regulations.Reliable Infrastructure: Blockchain.io will have a server structure that will possess an initial capacity of handling 2 million orders per day. This server structure will be designed to ensure minimal downtime through resilience during periods of high volume, traffic, or DDoS attack. This reliability will in-turn attract a high volume of traders to the platform.
Other measures taken by the blockchain.io platform to ensure that more high volume traders are attracted to the platform include, a FIX API and a borrowing facility.Select Digital Currencies: In line with its vision to provide traders with a highly secure and reliable exchange, blockchain.io will make sure that cryptocurrencies that will be listed on the platform will be vetted to ensure that they are sustainable, of sound protocol, and of infallible technical makeup.
ICO Execution & Token Listing: In line with the saying, “in a gold rush, sell shovels”, blockchain.io will be offering ICO campaigns and token listing supports services to the highly increasing and properly vetted cryptocurrency startups. For campaigns that blockchain.io will be directly involved in, their tokens will be listed on the blockchain.io platform to help provide liquidity for them. These tokens would have been vetted and confirmed to be genuine and of true utility value.
4.0 – BLOCKCHAIN.IO SOLUTIONS TO DEFINED PROBLEMS
4.1 – Solution to security breaches
By applying the proven security measures in Paymium which has operated since 2013 without any hack, blockchain.io will be able to protect investors against hackers. The hack-free record of Paymium will be implemented in the blockchain.io platform. This will help protect investor's funds from DDoS attacks and social engineering attacks.
4.2 – Solution to Non-Compliance
Taking a cue from Paymium’s current practice, blockchain.io will ensure that its account gets audited by a registered professional external auditor, so as to maintain the integrity of the platform. Also, blcokchain.io will comply with all European union AML and KYC regulations so that investors will not have their funds confiscated.
Through compliance with these regulations, blockchain.io will be able to assure investors that their funds would not be confiscated by regulatory authorities, hence attracting more investors and traders to the platform
4.3 – Solution to Opacity
The major reason why exchanges don’t have functioning customer service is because they don’t have an in-depth knowledge of the workings of cryptocurrency protocols.
Blockchain.io on the other hand has the advantage of being founded and operated by a team who are well-versed and knowledgeable in cryptocurrency protocols. They have proven this knowledge by pioneering the first European Bitcoin exchange, Paymium, in 2011, operating hack-free since 2013.
Through the knowledge gained from operating the Paymiuim platform, the team will be able to handle any complaints as it has always done on the Paymiumplatform platform.
4.4 – Solution to Outages
As discussed above, one of the features of blockchain.io is its reliable infrastructure. Through these infrastructure, blockchain will be able to provide the necessary resilience to handle high traffic, volume, or even DDoS attacks.
With this reliable infrastructure the exchange will run seamlessly without any service outages, except for minimal downtime during events like server maintenance, application upgrades and database migrations.
5 – BLOCKCHAIN.IO TOKEN
Just the same way companies sell shares so as to fund their operation, blockchain.io will fund its exchange operation through the funds raised from its Public Token Sale.
5.1 – BCIO Token use
>BCIO Token is the local currency of the blockchain.io platform, aimed at incentivizing platform participation, hence fostering liquidity on the exchange. Tokens may be used in the following ways on the exchange:
Fees: All forms of fees on the blockchain.io platform will be paid through BCIO tokens or other cryptocurrencies.
Discounted trading: Platform fees paid through BCIO tokens are subject to discounts. These discounts depend on the amount of BCIO tokens held in users wallets.
Survey Participation Rights: In its quest to build an ever improving platform, blockchain.io will conduct surveys frequently, so as to get public opinions on how to take the platform to the next level.
Loyalties & Rewards: BCIO tokens will be used as incentive to dedicated platform participation.
5.2 – BCIO Token distribution
>5.3 – Use of proceeds
5.4 – BCIO Token Crowd sale
Blockchain.io token (BCIO) crowd sale is LIVE! BCIO token crowd sale began on 27th September 2018, with a bonus 25% that decreases to 0% as the crowd sale ending date 25th October 2018 approaches. This time bound reduction in bonus price necessitates the need to partake of the crowd sale on time.
Despite the current cryptocurrency market conditions, in just 7 days of the crowd sale, a total of $1.2 million has been raised, showing the public acceptance of the project.
The images below shows the key metrics of the token sale and its bonus scheme:
NOTE
- A softcap is the set minimum amount of capital anticipated to be raised during a crowd sale for the venture to proceed as intended. BCIO on the other hand has no softcap, meaning that the project must surely proceed as intended, irrespective of the amount raised during the crowd sale.
- Unsold tokens will be burnt. This means that the value of the other tokens in circulation will have a high chance of increasing.
- Finally, a 5% contribution bonus and an additional 5% referral bonus will be given to any investor who contributes above 100 Euros in the crowd sale using the referral code: emwinVWrVCzugXiWVP3z.
To partake of this crowd sale, visit this link and create an account. Paymium users who want to participate in the blockchain.io project can use their Paymium login details to sign-in, not needing to sign up again.
6 – Conclusion
Blockchain technology has been the vehicle upon which a major 21st century financial revolution is taking place. It is achieving this through a technology called cryptocurrencies. Through this technology, the internet of value has been born, where value can be easily transferred from one person to another, just they way information is easily transferred in the internet of information. These cryptocurrencies are traded on a platform called an exchange.
Despite the numerous convenience and advantages that current exchanges have provided, they are still experiencing some problems that have hindered their full performance, and has in turn hindered investors from coming into the crypto trading market.
Blockchain.io is going to proffer a solution to these problems, by providing a highly secure, reliable, and accountable exchange platform, where investors and traders' funds will be secured, leaving them to focus on what truly matters - TRADING
7 - My YouTube Video on the blockchain.io exchange
For more information,, you can visit any of the following channels:
- Blockchain.io website
- Blockchain.io Token Sale Page and Details
- Blockchain.io Token Sale Contribution Guide
- Blockchain.io Whitepaper
- Blockchain.io Medium
- Blockchain.io YouTube
- Blockchain.io Telegram
- Blockchain.io Twitter
- Blockchain.io Reddit