How Komodo and BarterDex can Upend Crypto Trading

Trading crypto coins like Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP) and Ethereum (ETH) at times can be difficult and other times confusing. The current markets are disconnected geographically separated which creates a wide rage of prices like we see from South Korean markets compared to every other exchange. Hacking of markets like YouBit and Mt. Gox shows that holding coins at exchanges may not be secure.

Recent interest in limiting trading and collecting taxes has cause some governments to take action to regulate or limit trading of digital assets. Recently the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the Unites States won a court decision granting it access to large accounts from Coinbase to pursue tax collection. Just this week we get rumors South Korea may be looking to limit or further regulate trading in what is the largest market in the world.

An example can be seen comparing prices from the largest South Korean exchange with Bithumb compared to Coinbase. Today Litecoin is trading at $310 per coin on Bithumb and $240 at Coinbase. The 30% spread creates arbitrage opportunities for those who know how to legally move money between countries. As South Korea recently limited new trading accounts to legal residents the spread has only grown. Bitcoin (BTC), Ripple (XRP), Cardano (ADA) and Stellar (XLM) are some of the hottest coins with large spreads found between the exchanges.

BarterDex and the Decentralized Exchange

Komodo is currently testing BarterDex which is based on lightning swaps in hopes to change how digital assets are traded across the internet. Rather than sending coins to a centralized exchange, BarterDex will run on traders and coin owners computers which then connect to the network. Coins are held in the owners wallets rather than exchange wallets meaning control is never lost by the coin owners. Buyers can then submit orders and purchase the coins directly from the owner vs through the centralized exchange which allows for near direct transfer to the buyers wallet.

Check out the Komodo Whitepaper released today

For those who have not used online exchanges, they can be riddled with fees. From transfer in fees, trading fees and transfer out fees which can easily consume 10% or more of any coin transfer. In addition each transfer of coins takes time for the respective blockchain which can be hours making trades take days to complete. As volume increases blockchains can slow to a crawl as we saw recently with Ethereum and the CryptoKitties.

BarterDex is now large enough to be added to CoinMarketCap and contribute to prices and volume for traded currencies. The announcement was made today but we could not find it reflected yet. In the next few days we assume CoinMarketCap will be updated. This is big news as more exposure should bring more users helping the new exchange to grow.

barterDEX – our decentralized (crosschain atomic swap) exchange is finally on coinmarketcap! https://t.co/kV47UZXGPS … #coinmarketcap #KMD #DEX #ETH #komodoplatform

— ca333 (@0xca333) January 14, 2018

Competitors

Waves Decentralized exchange is the largest with current trading volume. Rather than true decentralization, Waves uses a centralized matching platform but similar to BarterDex, coins are maintained on the owners wallet. Stellar has launched a decentralized trading platform with limited trading pairs (6) at time of publishing a low volume of 36 BTC per day. Several other smaller markets have popped up with new platforms.

Where BarterDex differs is through the use of true atomic swaps. Now over 22,000 such swaps have occurred on the network making BarterDex the leader in the near instant trade of coins between blockchains. Recently they became the first to complete Ethereum atomic swaps and will launch the service soon on the exchange. Atomic swaps make the market truly decentralized by allowing swaps from one coin to another rather than using a matching service on a server.

See how Litecoin (LTC) dominates Market Volume vs Ripple (XRP)

As no central server is needed, the Komodo team feels they can ramp up volume much higher than current trading platforms. Despite the recent growth developer jl777 announced the current network was only operating near 0.1% of what they feel total capacity is. As the network is peer-to-peer, most computing power is provided by those using the platform. As more connected traders grow so to should the capacity.

An Initial Coin Offering Platform

As we saw with the recent EOS announcement, large value could also be found in the Komodo platform through bringing initial coin offerings (ICO) to market. The first announced project on Komodo platform is with credit card issuer Monaize. The project has been delayed since November without updates with rumors of regulatory concerns. The only announcement from the Komodo dev team is works continues on the front end of the platform. Check with the Twitter feed for the update and restarting of the ICO countdown.

We are working hard together with @monaizeuk to restart the #dICO countdown. In short: backend runs smoothly; frontend has few problems remaining. More information will follow.$kmd $mnz #monaize #komodo #ico #cryptocurrency #blockchainhttps://t.co/jCMhkYajSw

— $KMD (@KomodoPlatform) November 12, 2017

BarterDex, an ICO Platform and Komodo Coin

With three streams for income the Komodo project is grand in undertaking but so far the team has progressed along hitting milestones despite the delay with Monaize. Komodo coins are now worth $8.36 on CoinMarketCap with the largest markets on Binance and Bittrex. Total market cap is over $800 million after retreating from the recent highs over $1 billion.

Anyone looking to invest should check out the whitepaper which was re-released today.   Compared to other projects it is quite lengthy at 79 pages and contains lots of technical info about the project and should be considered a must read for investing. If successful, Komodo would look to jump to the top of  market value in the crypto universe.

Graft Network ICO Launches January 18. Read about it here.