So, to begin with my mission here is to provide you with clear and precise information relating to crypto projects. I spend hours every day researching and now I have decided it is time to put my hard work to good use, what better way than breaking down projects into their key points. You should all be aware this is solely my personal opinion and you should do your own research.

Introduction to Local Coin Swap (LCS)

Simply put- this is a Decentralised ecosystem/exchange owned by the community- Yes you heard me; we all own a part of it if we buy their token. Imagine if Binance did this? Didn’t think so. They will allow you to directly trade any cryptocurrency, using any conceivable payment method, in any geographical location.

Essentially they aim to solve the problem we all face with other exchanges. At present I would say we have all fallen prey to the many loops we need to jump through to set up an account on a new exchange. This includes providing ID, verifying ourselves then having to deal with edgy banks that all too often make sending fiat to them difficult. We should not need to go through these steps as this is our way of moving away from a centralised world and I for one welcome this project.

Local coin swap gives the power back to the investor, sharing 80% of the exchange’s profits (The other 20% goes to admin, maintenance and security costs- which is fair). I would personally be very sceptical of a project which suggests they can afford to give 100% profits because there are significant running costs, 80% is a huge starting point, and as pointed out in the whitepaper these percentages will be reviewed in line with growth of the exchange.

This is true decentralisation; crypto is about sticking it to the man, taking the power back into the individual’s hands. Local coin swap achieves this, there is much competition in this space, however I believe this approach will gain traction. I personally joined crypto because I was sick of banks and paying fees for terrible service. I wanted to be part of something which flips the power back to the individual, coupled with the fact that a lot of ICO’s lately are full of people just cashing in on peoples dream of making it rich in crypto, most of these projects give no power to the investor (pure utility tokens being a good example).

This is the reason this project has caught my attention, as an investor I can be part of a profit share (dividends), airdrops when new coins are listed on their exchange, be part of a ventures for new projects and vote on the listing of new assets.

Ecosystem

As this is a true decentralised exchange there are no restrictions on who can or may use it, this is what I love about it, too often I have been stalled on exchanges by having to pass cumbersome KYC processes etc… Which bores me and annoys me. Why should I have to provide ID for something I do in my private time and wish to keep private?

This is essentially a P2P exchange, where local coin swap will provide an escrow type platform, who will hold the crypto side of the transaction until fiat payment is made, what is better too is that one should be able to pay in a broad array of methods- which is a huge pain point in crypto today. This effectively ensures there is a multi-signature method for trades- thus providing a low level of risk. I also like the way that the escrow system will allow for disputes to be resolved fairly- we can issue supporting docs in the event of a dispute- genius because let’s be honest it will definitely happen.

From what I can make out from my research LCS will only charge commission to the “market maker” of the transaction (trader giving his services), this advertised rate will be the rate paid in the transaction — this means no withdrawal or deposit fees- which is great, it is also mentioned they hope to “match or beat” competitor exchanges in terms of fees (which is around 1% on most exchanges).

Local coin Swap will also provide a full-time security team, which has been another green flag for me as an investor, even though it is a decentralised exchange which is harder to hack, it is good to see security being one of their core areas. It is great to see that 5% of profits will go to security- this will be used for audits of the system and penetration testing and additional measures. I also like that 95% of deposits will be held in offline wallets to minimise losses in the event of hacks, they will also ensure there are regular security audits to ensure the system is up to standards, on top of this there will be 3rd party monitoring systems on servers to allow for shutdown during intrusions.

Token economics

The ways in which the tokens work are as follows. They are an ERC-20 token utilising the Ethereum blockchain, however unlike most tokens the LCS tokens are effectively “crypto shares” which entitle a holder to a stake in the profits of the exchange. What I really love about this is that this also extends to profits made by new ventures on the platform and entitles a holder to airdrops of cryptos which are listed on the exchange. What is ingenious about this exchange is that, in a way it replicates shareholder voting in traditional companies, holders of LCS tokens receive all the previous mentioned benefits and also get a chance to take part in the democratic running of the exchange (Via a proof of staking consensus), this “replication” and above mentioned benefits are what really draws me to this project. This traditional way of doing things but coupled with blockchain and decentralisation is what crypto is all about for me.

The way it works it as follows, a user’s buys LCS shares during the ICO with ETH and they are sent to your wallet. At the end of the financial year you are given LCS dividend tokens which are fully tradable like any other token. What I love is that as a holder of LCS dividend tokens I can then “sign them” with any crypto address I like and receive my dividend payment in a crypto of my choosing. Once they are signed they are then burnt to prevent duplication. The voting tokens work similarly and all will be the same total supply as share tokens (1:1 basis). The top 10 crypto will be tradable upon launch.

See the below charts from their whitepaper:

Simply put, this is how cryptos shares works (very unique)

1. Invest- Purchase shares via ICO-starts 15th march (Ongoing at time of writing)
2. Profit- LCS exchange makes profits from the escrow fees in all of the currencies traded on the platform
3. Distribution of dividends- At the end of the quarter 80% is distributed to crypto shareholders
4. Equal weighting- If investor holds 1% of LCS they receive 1% of profits
5. Airdrops- When new ICOs listed on platform each LCS share holder will receive a small amount of that token for each share held
6. Income- Essentially LCS holders receive a continuous stream of income in multiple currencies just from holding a single asset. This gives intrinsic token utility.

Roadmap

1. Dec 2015- Company incorporation
2. September 2016- Initial team members established
3. March 2017- Concept development
4. August 2017- Development on exchange begins
5. February 2018- Official whitepaper launch and Pre ICO
6. March 2018- Presale
7. April 2018- ICO
8. May 2018- Submission for exchange listings
9. June 2018- Early investor access to platform
10. July 2018- First crypto shareholder vote
11. August 2018- Launch date for exchange
12. October 2018- Integrated REST API
13. January 2019- Mobile trading application
14. February 2019- Start of dividend distribution

Other notable points

• Aim to offer a wider selection of cryptocurrencies than any existing peer to peer exchange
• Provide lots of payment methods including custom options chosen by community
• Incorporates social media interactivity into trading- customer user profiles, friends list achievement badges and special awards
• Holders run system in proof of stake approach- voting etc
• Multi signature transaction options
• 95% of funds held in offline wallets
• Special escrow system and global support team

Conclusion

This is a project that really excites me, it is not very often that I read a whitepaper which encapsulates me and excites me to this extent. We all believe we are “part of the decentralised era” but why not actually benefit from it as well?. Why use the larger exchanges which only want to line their own pockets? This is a project which deserves to make it in this space. I feel the team is experienced enough and has a great team of advisors to make this successful.

I would sum it up as “an exchange by the people, for the people creating a family of traders under one exchange” and as mentioned in the whitepaper with its core being “SAFE, EASY and ENJOYABLE”- essentially we get a fully decentralised peer-peer secure exchange., this will allow people to directly trade any cryptocurrency using any conceivable payment method in any geographical location.

We get an exchange set up by users who have felt the pains we all endure today, we get the ease of “starting/trading right off the bat” similar to EtherDelta (Not a great exchange in my opinion but anyone can trade on it without any checks), We get the efficiency of Binance, Bitfinex, Kucoin etc… In terms of the scope of coins on offer (These are flawed because the hierarchy are concerned with taking all the profits off the table). We also get the “ease of entry capability” of CoinBase (fiat to crypto minus the fact CoinBase sucks and only has 4 coins). This is a true one solution fits all- which gives back to the users, which is what crypto is all about. All in all this seems like the most inclusive cryptocurrency marketplace I have ever seen-A true Peer to Peer trading ecosystem.

And lastly guys I hope you liked this brief overview of this project, and I urge you to research this yourself. The token sale ends on June 15th so don’t miss out.

Website: https://www.localcoinswap.com/

Whitepaper: https://www.localcoinswap.com/LocalCoinSwap_whitepaper_v1.0.pdf