This article will focus on the lower and mid level crypto exchanges. The ones that tend to get hacked the most and experience the most DDOS attacks. The ones that pull off the elaborate exit scams that leave innocent people with nothing. And let’s not forget the ones trying to change all this by bringing the trust back to the lower-scale projects in the crypto space.
So let’s be honest 2019 was filled with many scams and lot’s of hacks. Because of these type of incidents the new wave of crypto currency enthusiast have really had to take different measures to protect their investments in the crypto world. Many of the previous users have taken the route of flat out just exiting the crypto currency industry and not putting no more money into it. All of this apparently started back in July of 2010 with a big player in the trading scene called Mt.Gox. Around Feb 2014 it halted trading due to the possibility of a hack. A hack that many seem to think was an inside job by the then CEO Mark Karpeles.
Later that same year another popular exchange called Cryptsy went down. This one was founded and run by an individual named Paul “Big Vern” Vernon and many people who have knowledge of this case suspect that this was an inside job. This unfortunately was a common occurrence, just never from exchanges with that level of volume. Unfortunately this time around It’s not my job to figure out whether this was or wasn’t a scam. But it is something I look to explore and write a bit more on in the future. So lets just assume that it was an inside job. Jaja..
The industry lasted a few years before once again a top exchange goes down. This one was called Cryptopia. And like the previous two, Cryptopia closed down everything and ceased operations. Just when people were starting to trust these places again this mess happens. Many users lost everything due to this particular hack, even currencies that weren’t affected by the hack were also lost. This was due to Cryptopia being forced to go into liquidation because of debts it amassed while operating the exchange and undergoing platform upgrades to keep up with the wave of new users registering at Cryptopia. Users are still till this day trying to get access back to cryptos they had on the platform that were not effected by the hack with not much success.
I chose to bring up these exchanges because they compare greatly with the ones I’m choosing to share with my audience in this article. These failed exchanges all offered one thing that in my opinion made them very successful. They each offered a wide variety of crypto currencies to trade, with many different pairs to trade on. They were not limited to the more established cryptos backed by the heavy weights in the industry, but offered the cryptos made by crypto enthusiast and freelance developers. The clones as I like to call them. Those that helped evolve the industry to what it is today. Especially when it comes to implementing true privacy into blockchains. Zcash for example… Our first runner up is called EREX.IO it was introduced to the world around Feb 2020 on the popular Bitcoin forum called BitcoinTalk. EREX.IO exchange is offering a wide set of options to every new users that decides to register and trade there. Some of these options include common stuff like Faucets, Referrals, and Voting. And more unique stuff like Investing, ICO’s, Dice Game, and a few more that I recommend my audience to register and check out. If you register using the link in this article and deposit your first $1.00 worth of Bitcoin, you and me both get 1,000 EREX which you can use to create buy orders in the exclusive EREX markets on EREX.IO.
This is one of the smaller exchanges in this line up in terms of volume and trading options. Although I see this one growing quickly throughout this year. Especially if they can keep developing and rolling out different functions for the exchange. One particular function that I personally am enjoying while trading on EREX.IO is the Investing function of this platform. It allows for users to invest into certain currencies at a rate set by the users offering the investment opportunity. Genius!
The way security is set up on this exchange is also very unique. For example, many of the other exchanges offer a 2fa option, but lets say you forget your password and want to reset it using your email, you can’t on EREX.IO You need to use a recovery code that is offered to you in the user account section of your account on the exchange. It’s important that every user that signs up to EREX.IO takes the time to write down this code and keep it in a safe place. The most recent function to be mentioned by admins is one that will ensure a cryptocurrency will never be delisted from EREX.IO after getting listed.
The next exchange on this list has a very unique name in my opinion. This exchange is called Unnamed.Exchange and is owned by an individual known in the crypto world as Tillkoeln. This platform is a bit higher in my list due to the level of expertise I’ve seen in the team that keeps this platform going. Unnamed Exchange or UE as we like to call it has one of the lower listing fees of this bunch of exchanges in this article. It also has one of the more interesting functions of all the exchanges I’ve mentioned in this article for sure.
This exchange has a unique feature called tipping. This specific feature works throughout the whole exchange platform, but most importantly through their troll box. In the close to one year I have interacting with different crypto communities I’ve realized that tipping is something that every user likes. Especially those users that like free crypto. On Discord and Telegram developers have built bots that gives crypto away to those that are active most on those specific social platforms. I’ve realized that for some reason where ever free coins are being given away people will come along and try to get some so it was a smart and bold plan for UE to add this feature to their exchange. This exchange has a lot of work to do on cosmetics, but I’m sure they are one to last a very long time in the crypto industry.
Finally let’s not forget that UE is also filled with many currencies that you wouldn’t really see anywhere else. UE allows you to trade many of these unknown currencies towards many of the higher end currencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Monero, just to name a few. This is important for projects of this value and nature, it allows investors to inject value into those projects utilizing currencies that are already established and have some type of monetary value.
References
Cointelegraph — https://cointelegraph.com/news/former-bitcoin-exchange-cryptsy-ceo-ordered-to-pay-82-mln-in-class-action-lawsuit
Cryptopia.CO.NZ — https://www.cryptopia.co.nz/