There is 1 issue with the exchange model though, and this is not the fault of Shapeshift, this is just an issue with OTC markets.
The problem is that they always need a liquidity provider, since all exchanges happen on the spot, and people also put limit orders or pending orders, so there is no orderbook in spot trades.
I believe they use Bittrex and Poloniex as their LP, so without a centralized exchange acting as main LP, an OTC market can't exist. It's like how you can exchange foreign currencies at currency exchanges, but they all need to have a bank to give them liquidity and they put a premium on the price. It's the same business model for all OTC exchanges.
So we will need the centralized exchanges unfortunately to act as LP, but this OTC exchange business model that Shapeshift uses is very very useful for many people. I am happy to pay an extra premium for an instant exchange with no account needed.
Great point. One way to mitigate that problem is to network with as many points of exchange as possible to decentralize and make use of the distributed order book.
They seem to be smaller to I guess Shapeshift has better spread, but we will see.
Although blocktrades supports SBD and STEEM POWER, so it's very interesting.
There is 1 issue with the exchange model though, and this is not the fault of Shapeshift, this is just an issue with OTC markets.
The problem is that they always need a liquidity provider, since all exchanges happen on the spot, and people also put limit orders or pending orders, so there is no orderbook in spot trades.
I believe they use Bittrex and Poloniex as their LP, so without a centralized exchange acting as main LP, an OTC market can't exist. It's like how you can exchange foreign currencies at currency exchanges, but they all need to have a bank to give them liquidity and they put a premium on the price. It's the same business model for all OTC exchanges.
So we will need the centralized exchanges unfortunately to act as LP, but this OTC exchange business model that Shapeshift uses is very very useful for many people. I am happy to pay an extra premium for an instant exchange with no account needed.
Great point. One way to mitigate that problem is to network with as many points of exchange as possible to decentralize and make use of the distributed order book.
Yes a distributed order book technology would be cool, some kind of blockchain ledger that would keep the order books in a distributed way.
don't forget about me when you launch this venture!