2009 witnessed the birth of first cryptocurrency called Bitcoin which works on the top of a Blockchain technology. Since then many cryptocurrencies have been invented and the development regime of consensus mechanism of a particular chain has also been improved. The primary aim of the Blockchain technology is the basis of decentralization where it ensures a trustles transaction in which the requirement of a third party is completely eliminated. Fundamentally Blockchain technology is not just limited to implementation in monetary transaction rather anything that is of value to an individual which can be transacted with another peer without having to have a central authority/third party.

Therefore fundamentally cryptocurrency with a Blockchain technology should be the best store of value as compared to the traditional model we have, yet the mass adoption, the actualization of cryptocurrency in larger domain of the society is not happening owing to the major issues like: "interoperability", "scalability", "security".

Ever since the invention of Internet, especially speaking in a regime of 4th generation, the Internet is enabling us to send data, images, emails or any digital thing to send to another friend or peer and that is happening momentarily at a lightning speed, but that is happening through a central server. So it is not trust-less, because you being able to send via a third a party. The moment the third part is eliminated it becomes trust-less and more secure where a real peer-to-peer transfer becomes a reality.

Blockchain technology aims to enhance the peer to peer transaction without a third party, where the value can be transacted as freely as information. Value can also flow like information in this digital world through Blockchain technology. It can be possible only when we will be able to operate within the chain and across the chain.

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There are so many Blockchains of different cryptocurrencies. Leading cryptocurrencies are BTC, LTC, ETH etc. As on date there are thousands of chain and 5 years down the line, there may be millions of chains. But is it possible for an individual to go chain by chain even if someone has interest in a bucket of 15 or 20 cryptocurrencies. Is it not a headache for individual on its part to handle so many chains individually. That is where we need Interoperability, where the intra-chain and inter-chain transactions can be possible and then only the crypto space will have the real and dynamic "Internet of Value".

Therefore the multitude of public Blockchains can only be a real value to crypto Ecosystem, when it will be in a position to execute intra-chain and inter-chain transactions with a faster speed and in a more secure environment. Then the Ecosystem will become more liquid and dynamic.

Blockchain.io focuses on solving the issue of interoperability in a decentralized manner. Because as of now users/traders are making inter chain settlement by depending upon either a "centralized exchange" or through an "Escrow". Both the type can be attributed as a third party. That is the reason why Blockchain.io leverages on technology like "Atomic Swap" so as to make inter chain transaction a reality in a decentralized manner.

Atomic swap

With Atomic Swap, the cross chain transaction can be possible by eliminating a centralized exchange or an escrow.

Atomic Swap enables the exchange of values between two Blockchains without restricting the autonomy of the individual Blockchain.

Time Lock

Funds can only be spent after a certain time period. It could be 1 day or 2 day or 7 days etc.

Hash Lock

Funds can only be spent after a question hidden by hash is discovered.

"Time Lock" & "hash Lock" verifications in a combination is known as "HTLC"(Hashed Timelock Contract) protocol.

Example

Let's us understand with the following example how the cross-chain transaction happens with Atomic Swap.

"Eoin" will send 1 BTC to "Hales" and "Hales" will send 25 LTC to "Eoin". So here the chains are BTC and LTC chain.

(1) Eoin sets a time lock of 72 hrs.
Eoin executed a hash function(secret value).

(2) Eoin creates a transaction to Hales on BTC chain that includes the hash (Here the condition is that the transaction can only be executed when the secret value to the hash is revealed and within in the set time lock).

(3) Hales creates a transaction to Eoin on LTC chain which includes the same hash as a part of the condition. Hales does not know the secret value yet. Here Hales sets time lock of 48 hrs.

Note:- Please note that here the time locks are distinct, this is because, if there will be same time lock then it may be possible for Eoin to redeem LTC at the end of the deadline and still have the possibility to refund his 1 BTC if Hales do not redeem quickly.

(4) Eoin publishes the secret value to the hash and transaction of Hales to Eoin gets executed on LTC chain.

(5) Now the secret value is public, so Hales can execute the transaction of Eoin to Hales on BTC chain.

In case of a timed out operation: like if Hales does not create his contract, then in this case, Eoin will get his 1 BTC back after 72 hrs and in a similar manner Hales will get his 25 LTC back after 48 hrs in this case if Eoin does not reveal the secret value.

So in this way, with the technology like "Atomic Swap", a trust-less peer to peer cross chain settlement can become a reality. That is why Blockchain.io is leveraging on "Atomic Swap".

Crypto Exchange is a marketplace where a user/trader can be able to trade between different cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies works on the top of a Blockchain technologies which emphasizes on the spirit of decentralization. But sadly due to various issues and challenges, traders have limited choice when it comes to centralized and decentralized exchanges. At the moment we have both centralized exchanges and decentralized exchanges. Both the type of exchanges have their pros and cons. As per statistics around 98% of exchanges are happening in centralized exchanges where as only 2% are happening in decentralized exchanges.

Let's have a look at the comparison of centralized and decentralized exchanges.

So from the above comparison it can be understood that there is a need of such a crypto exchange which can optimize on the advantageous aspect of both centralized and decentralized exchanges and formulate a model which can be a real time solution for the "Internet of Value" to become a ground reality and also enhance a more liquid and dynamic crypto space.

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Blockchain.io is a model of crypto exchange which combines the advantageous aspect of both centralized and decentralized exchanges.

Blockchain.io functions like a centralized exchange when it comes to: "low latency", "custody service", "order booking", "efficient order matching" etc.

Blockchain.io functions like a decentralized exchange when it comes to trust-less cross-chain settlement through Atmoic Swap.

Apart from the above, Blockchain.io leverages on latest developments to overcome issues like scalability, transaction cost etc. It is equally committed to security and compliance as well.

It is highly essential on the part of the exchange to create a trusted environment where the users/traders can feel safe while using the platform. But unfortunately the crypto exchanges have been facing certain challenges from time to time and some of the major challenges are:-

Security Breaches

There have been instances in past that the high volume crypto exchanges were attacked by hackers and/or DDoS attack. So fraudsters, hackers always tend to attack high volume exchanges with malign intentions.

Non-compliance

It is on the part of the exchanges to comply with the law of land and regulation. In past there have been many instances where the users/traders lost significant amount as a result of freezing up of the exchange account by regulatory and government bodies.

Opacity

Because of improper customer service and communication protocol, the users/traders get exposed to high risk and uncertainties owing to opaque nature of management & operations of exchanges.

Outages

Because of lack of proper server infrastructure, the users/traders are subjected to significant loss at times as a result of outages in the period of high volatility.

Blockchain.io looks forward to address these issues and focuses on to provide more stable and trusted environment for the users/traders/institutions.

Blockchain.io aims to overcome the aforesaid issues in the following ways:-

It relies on highest standard of cryptographic technology

It is committed to regulatory compliances of the law of land and international obligations

The team of Blockchain.io have in depth knowledge of cryptographic protocols

Its parent company Paymium is well known in maintaining highest standard of security, reliability and accountability and it is also hack free since 2013

When it comes to a region like European Market then there is no doubt that it has a vast potential when it comes to tap the potential of crypto space and it is also evident from the fact that the individuals and institutional players have shown a great appetite in regard to crypto and blockchain technology. In addition to this, the regulating bodies of the region are also open to the implementation of blockchain technology.

So the time in near future is going to converge to a point where there will be a frame to regularize the crypto space and a bridge will be established to connect with the legacy financial institutions and at that point of time the real actualization of crypto in day to day life can happen and in a region like European Market, Paymium and Blockchain.io will pioneer in providing a market place to enhance the reality of "Internet of Value".

Better Liquidity

It will enhance the liquidity in following ways:-

The parent company Paymium has a user base of 170,0000. So Blockchain.io will have an incentive program to ensure a smooth transition of these users to the services of Blockchain.io. Community members are the valuable resources and here Blockchain.io will have a readymade community base of 170,0000.

It can generate revenue from Custody and Brokerage services from institutional players

It can also generate revenue from listing of ICO and non-ICO token

Leveraging on Advanced cryptographic Protocol

First of all Paymium is already a seasoned entity in crypto space since 2011 and the team is quite experienced and have in-depth knowledge of cryptographic protocol and advanced technologies. So Blockchain.io aims to leverage on advanced cryptographic protocols like Atomic Swap though HTLC, payment channels, side chain, Lightning Network, Tumblebit etc in order to ensure seamless cross-chain transaction through various heterogeneous Blockchains. In addition to that it has improved scalability and the transaction cost is also lowered.

Compliance and Mass adoption

It is fact that, in past some of the countries/regions, put a ban on cryptocurrency, but at the same time it is also a fact that some of the countries have legalized cryptocurrencies. The major developed countries like US, Europe have already recognized the usefulness of Blockchain technology and also seeking to define framework where the crypto space will be able to operate with legacy financial institution and that day is not that far where the next version of cryptocurrency will come as a regularized one and that will be the day when the "actualization of cryptocurrencies", liquid and more dynamic "Internet of Value" can happen to its full potential.

Blockchain.io stands in a position to believe that for a successful and seamless marketplace, compliance to regulations and international obligations is equally important and this will also factor on mass adoption. That is the reason why Blockchain.io is also engaged in regular discussions with various regulatory bodies of the region.

Compliance and Security has to go hand in hand, so as to tap the unexplored potential of crypto Ecosystem and that will fuel the mass adoption and then only the institutional and major player will also show serious interest to participate in crypto Ecosystem on a large scale.

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Secure & Decentralized

In Blockchain.io 98% of the cryptocurrency reserve is held in cold storage which requires multiple signature and also a cold wallet key is split and held in different vaults at multiple location, thereby enhancing the security of the platform. Apart from that it conducts intensive periodical audit so as to update the accounting database in a timely manner so that any tampering attempt can be negated. The inventory asset is always matched with liabilities, with cryptographic proof, there by making no room for any kind of manipulation. Last but not the least, Atomic Swap will definitely eliminate the third part risk for cross chain transaction.

Reliable Infrastructure

Blockchain.io focuses on "no technical debt". It is highly important when it comes to listing an altcoin or a new token without ascertaining the background of the coin, sustainability, technical viability and software protocol etc. So Blockchain.io always aims to make a proper assessment of a coin by a team of experts before listing it into the exchanges so that it will not result in any kind of bugs and security loopholes. Apart from that, altcoin technical review will be published from time to time and will be informed to the users/traders/stakeholders.

It has features like "FIX API" and "borrowing facility" which will definitely help in high volume of trading and also attract potential traders. The first phase capacity is up to 2 million orders per day.

FIX API- It is an international standard protocol which enhances the overall experience of institutional players in regard to privacy, fast execution and multiple channeling.

Downtime is restricted only to server maintenance and application upgrades, so that it should not cause any inconvenience to the traders/users.

ICO Execution and Token Listing

Blockchain.io will also offer consultancy services to the new projects, who are willing to be assisted by a group experts, so as to help them planning and execution of ICO.

Apart from this, some of the credible ICO projects will be short listed by a team based on market potential, compliance, quality, viability, utility etc and will be listed only after approval/voting by the community. So it obvious that the listing of a ICO token will bring liquidity to the ICO project.

Revenue Generation

The business model of Blockchain.io will generate revenue from:-

Trading

Both buy & sell order conducted through the market place attracts a certain fee.

Lending

Lending will be interest based and will help to make potential traders more resourceful.

Withdrawal

The processing of withdrawals incur a modest fee.

E-commerce Transaction

Any e-commerce transaction through Blockchain.io will also incur fee.

ICO Services

ICO planning and execution will also have a certain consultancy fee.

The Blockchain.io trading and charting platform will be available as:-

Mobile Application(iOS, Android, HTML5)

Desktop Application(Mac OSX, Windows, Linux)

Web based Application

Note-Blockchain.io also allows the development of DApp through programming language called Elixir.

Paymuim was launched by Pierre so as to unlock the potential of crypto and Blockchain technology. As of now, Pierre has 7 years of experience, knowledge and expertise in crypto space which he leveraged on to build Blockchain.io, with an aim to enhance the mass adoption and to make "Internet of Value" a reality.

The role of Paymium and Blochain.io will be like:

Paymium will handle crypto-fiat exchange

Blockchain.io will handle crypto-to-crypto exchanges applying with advanced cryptographic protocols to address the issues of traditional crypto exchanges.

So with a combination of Paymium+Blockchain.io, the users will definitely have the access to fiat gateway and will also experience the "Internet of value" within crypto Ecosystem.

Again as it is a European based exchange and fully compliant with the European regulations, the traders and institutional players will definitely find it most user friendly and convenient to actualize the crypto space in the larger domain of the society.

The native token of Blockchain.io is BCIO token and it is a ERC20 token. It can be used as utility token for performing various operations in exchange platform and the main intention of this token is to enhance the liquidity of the exchange through token sales and in addition to that an incentive program is formulated by Paymium to ensure optimal use of the token by the users/traders/community members.

Utilities of BCIO Token

The various utilities of BCIO token are:-

Fees

For various operation in exchange like trading, borrowing, transfers, user/traders can use BCIO token to pay the platform fees apart from the option to pay with other conventional cryptocurrencies.

Discounted Trading

Community members can enjoy discounted trading which is directly in proportional to the BCIO Token balance held by a user/trader.

BCIO Token Balances are categorized into 4 tiers and discounted percentages are determined based on the token balance of a user mapping to a particular tier. It may please be noted that the discounted percentages associated with each tier is decided by Paymium Management.

Survey Participation Rights

Blockchain.io will organize opinion polls, surveys from time to time, in order to improve and upgrade the infrastructure, token listing, suggestions on a particular project etc. For that Blockchain.io will collect the suggestions of the community members in the form of votes. Each user's voting rights and voting weight will be in direct proportion with the amount of BCIO token balance of a particular user.

Loyalty and Rewards

BCIO Tokens will be used to reward developers, existing Paymium users, early adopter of Blockchain.io

Token Sale

The major take from the key matrix of token sale is that there is no soft cap and the unsold tokens will be burnt. Apart from that the accepted cryptocurrencies to buy BCIO token are BTC and ETH and minimum buy amount is 100 euro.

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You can earn a 5% bonus if you contribute more than 100 Euros in the Blockchain.io crowdsale using the following code:

emwinVWrVCzugXiWVP3z

Further you can earn 5% additional bonus for referring and introducing new people to Blockchain.io

STEPS

1. Log in to your account on ico.blockchain.io.
2. On your “Dashboard”, copy your personal referral code.
3. Share it with your friends, family, and throughout your social networks!
4. Get a 5% bonus on the total amount of contribution made by your referees. Your dashboard will be updated on a regular basis with your referral bonus.

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Alex is a regular crypto trader and he has been trading crypto since 2015. He own a lot of crypto assets and basically he emphasizes those as store of value and he keeps on selling one crypto against other when it rises and based on this he usually makes a lot of income. Further Alex loves cryptocurrency and Blockchain technology because of its decentralized nature. He has tried both centralized exchanges and decentralized exchanges. But due to lack of proper infrastructure, issues like scalability and liquidity, he is left with no other option than to trade in centralized exchanges like Bittrex and Binance. But he remains concerned about security most of the time. Recently one of his friend Mirro told him about Blockchain.io and he is now curious and he has started evaluating more about Blockchain.io.

In this Use-case, enlist those features of Blockchain.io which can provide a true solution to the issues of Alex. Will Alex find it sufficient to switch to Blockchain.io.

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Here in this use-case Alex is basically trading one cryptocurrency against the other, that means he is doing "cross-chain" transaction. Alex is concerned about "security", because he is trading in centralized exchange like Bittrex and Binance, so here the trust is dependent upon a central authority. Alex has tried decentralized exchanges also, but left due to issues like "scalability" and "liquidity".

So the issues with Alex in this use-case are:-

Corss-chain transaction

Scalability

Liquidity

Security

After taking reference from his friend Mirro, Alex has already started evaluating Blockchain.io on various issues he has been facing with centralized exchanges and he found that:-

(1) Blockchain.io leverages on latest cryptographic protocol like Atomic swap which can enable a trader to transact between different chains without a third party or centralized authority.

(2) Blockchain.io leverages on advanced cryptographic protocols like Atomic Swap, Lightining Network etc which can significantly improve scalability.

(3) Blockchain.io derives liquidity from multiple sources like, consultancy services to ICO projects, BCIO Token sales, custody services to institutional players, altcoin listing, ready made Paymium user base of 170,0000 etc.

(4) Blockchain.io ensures highest standard of security with "cold storage(of 98% of crypto reserve)" and "cryptographic proof of reserve" aided with enhanced periodic audit of account data base.

These finding about Blockchain.io was sufficient enough for Alex to take a final call to switch to Blockchain.io.

The core team of Paymium has really done a lot of ground work to analyze the challenges of traditional exchanges and tried to address those issues in Blockchain.io so that the "Internet of Value" can become a reality in the larger domain of the society which has the potential to make mass adoption a reality where the individuals/institutional players can find it convenient to connect to the crypto space and that day is not far when the entire crypto Ecosystem will look more dynamic and more liquid in a decentralized manner with advanced cryptographic protocols. Blockchain.io will definitely play a pivotal role to provide a secured and real time solutions to the user/trader/institutional player.

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Roadmap

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BCIO Token Distribution

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Team

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Advisors

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Partners

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More Information & Resources:

• 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

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This article is written in response to @crypto.hype sponsored writing contest and the details of the link is given below.
https://steemit.com/blockchain/@crypto.hype/blockchain-io-sponsored-writing-contest-usd310-usd-steem-bounty-reward-pool

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