Trade.io: Review of a New Crypto Exchange

blockurator (65)in #trade-io • 6 years ago (edited)

As editor of two niche publications serving blockchain/cryptocurrency enthusiasts and the alternative lending sector, I've seen a lot of interesting and not-so-interesting business models in the fintech space. Some ideas come and go, others stick around for awhile and improve, and then there's the majority of ideas in the middle that show up and don't go much farther than that. There's a new crypto exchange on the block, however, that I hope will take off. In this post, I'll give an overview of Trade.io and point out what I think are some of its strengths and weaknesses.

What Is Trade.io?

Trade.io promises to be the next-generation crypto exchange, but does it live up to that promise?

I'll say right at the outset that if you're expecting a decentralized exchange, you'll be disappointed. There's nothing decentralized about Trade.io. They have a typical corporate structure with a CEO, board members, and even a chief strategy officer, though I'll have to express a little dissatisfaction with the listing of only four officers of the company on their website. Either they're very small or they've chosen to go the minimalist route in showing us who is behind the platform. That said, the four members represented do have the requisite experience in financial services that you'd expect of a company that makes the promises Trade.io is making.

Image taken from Trade.io website

There are several things I like about Trade.io. For starters, the ease of signing up for the service is refreshing. There are no long forms to fill out. It's a simple form that asks for your email address and a password, no more than is necessary. Then you're promptly told where you are in the line up for approval. I am somewhere down in the 20,000 range, which indicates my wait could be long, but that's just a guess.

Another thing I like is the ability to customize one's dashboard. This is a simple thing really, but judging from the gif on the home page, it looks like a drag-and-drop interface allowing a trader to move the elements around to suit them. How far that customization goes in terms of color arrangements, hiding the elements (or removing them altogether), etc. is difficult to tell as I could find no information regarding those choices. Still, I like being able to put the information I want to see where I want to see it.

There is a color mode button on the home page that allows me to switch from day view to night view, but it has a slow response time. Nevertheless, it's there.

None of these features, while valuable, compare, however, to the real benefits of Trade.io.

The Meat and Potatoes of Trade.io

What I find most interesting about Trade.io are its profit-sharing features and service options. Trade.io is attempting to be more than just a cryptocurrency exchange. It aims to be a financial services provider. Let's take a look at some of these services and offerings:

Investments - As far investments go, Trade.io promises to deliver ICO investing opportunities for its customers. In this regard, it's more like #Binance than #Coinbase, but I could find no information on which tokens will be available upon launch. There are promises of #airdrops, contests, and pre-ICO opportunities.
ICO Service - For blockchain and crypto projects planning an #ICO, Trade.io promises a nice selection of ICO services that include white paper creation, adviser recruitment, smart contract creation, #token auditing, roadmap preparation, fundraising assistance, ICO marketing and community management, and token listing. These are all valuable services to companies planning an ICO, but I could see nothing on the website that addresses how the company plans to balance the interests of ICO issuers and investors. There is a fine line to walk when playing both ends of the spectrum.
Liquidity Pool - One of the more interesting offers of Trade.io is what they call the Liquidity Pool. This pool is essentially a lending pool consisting of Trade.io's proprietary ICO token (they raised $31 million). Investors purchase tokens (TIOs) and earn returns based on how many tokens they hold. In essence, they can share in Trade.io's profits. Liquidity Pool is backed by up to $50 million USD. As of this writing, TIO is trading at $0.249805 and has a market cap of $22,462,852 giving it a rank of 234 at CoinMarketCap.

From CoinMarketCap.

There is a part of me that is somewhat underwhelmed by the promise of a next-generation crypto exchange that isn't decentralized since that seems to be the current industry trend. Even Coinbase has its own decentralized exchange. On the other hand, I like the idea of a crypto exchange sharing its profits with its members. In addition to Liquidity Pool, the company has an affiliate program.

In the coming days, I'll go into more detail about some the services, investments, and other offerings of Trade.io. In the meantime, feel free to learn more for yourself through the following information links.