Cryptocurrency/Fiat Entry Conversion

At MyBit we want to make the platform accessible to users who have fiat and any other cryptocurrency than Ether. At this time, the platform functions using Ether meaning that users will need to convert their altcoins/fiat before being able to use the platform.
This can be done through many different exchanges, but is a lengthy process:

-Register on Exchange
-Deposit altcoin/fiat
-Wait for lengthy deposit
-Exchange altcoin/fiat for Eth
-Withdraw Eth(not instantaneous with a time delay attached)

An alternative to this is to use a coin conversion service that directly converts from one currency to the other instantly. The most well known conversion services are: Shapeshift, Changelly and Evercoin. All three of these options have been implemented, and will be discussed today highlighting our main method for conversion and why.

ShapeShift Conversion
Shapeshift is the most well well known service in the industry and supports 78 currencies to date (06/02/18) with no fees. This service is legally correct when stating they have no fees, however that does not mean that they offer the cheapest service as they typically make 0.5% profit on each exchange, by choosing a profitable exchange rate that works in their favour.

Nonetheless, we experimented quite a bit with Shapeshifts API and the full implementation can be seen here. Overall, Shapeshift seemed to live up to its name and offered: reliability, most amount of supported currencies and API calls. However, more often than not I would be stung with a hidden fee on a regular basis, and would be getting a lot less funds than was presented initially.

Pros:
0.5% transaction fee
Reliable service/support
Well known
Easy API integration
Cons:
Hidden fees
Medium amount deposit limit
No Credit Card purchase

Evercoin Conversion
Evercoin is a the new kid on the block founded in late 2017, and supports 20 currencies to date (06/02/18) with no publicly disclosed fee and on their website they state that the price includes ‘our fee and miner/blockchain fee,’ meaning there is a fee attached but they have not disclosed this. Leaving a sour taste for the lack of transparency.
From experimenting with Evercoin it is clear that it has the highest transaction fee, lowest deposit limit, non existent support and general lack of industry support. At this time, we believe Evercoin is not established enough at this moment in time to be integrated for our user’s use. Regardless, the full implementation is available here.
Pros:
Easy API integration
Cons:
Very high transaction fee
Non existant support
Very new
Low deposit limit
No Credit Card purchase

Changelly Conversion
Changelly is a conversion service that I believe to be leading the new industry standard by supporting credit cards in Euro and USD. By supporting credit cards they are making DApps more accessible to non-crypto users, opening a whole new user base for DApps at very easy usage. This is not the only reason why we will be integrating Changelly as our conversion service, but also that it has the lowest transaction fee for their services and a very high deposit limit(1000 BTC+). Changelly functions like a professional business, and any questions are answered in their extensive FAQ.
We have implemented API calls for Changelly here but after much discussion it is evident that we may be legally liable for any issues with the service as we are making API calls on behalf of the user. Leading us to choose the most legally safe option by choosing to just integrate Changelly’s widget:

Changelly widget that has their own terms and conditions attached.

Pros:
Easy API integration
Low transaction fee
Very high deposit limit
Credit Card purchase
Most professional
Cons:
Support seems to be lacking
Only 25 supported currencies

To conclude, it was very difficult choosing between Shapeshift and Changelly due to them both being brilliant services. However, the main reason for Changelly being integrated is that it offers Credit Card purchases, meaning we can easily demonstrate to users who are not crypto literate of how to get crypto to use the platform, and this expands our user base dramatically. On a more legal point of view, Changelly have their own terms and conditions publicly displayed on their widget, meaning we are not legally liable for any issues with their service.

Resources Used:
Shapeshift API
Evercoin API
Changelly API
Ajax
Request

Example Git repo — Contains fully functional localhost web pack. Sometimes
depending upon your browser configuration you will be presented with: Cross-Origin Request Blocked: The Same Origin Policy disallows reading the remote resource
The simplest way for resolving this issue is to use this plugin for chrome. I recommend only using this on your localhost website for testing and disable it for any other website, or what I have done is completely remove the plugin once I had completed the project.

Connor Howe, Blockchain Engineer @ Mybit