Eric Voorhees and his 7 member team at ShapeShift.io have sure been busy. A recent round of investment that raised 525,000 GBP from Roger Vers and Barry Silbert in March. Come June and voila, this new iOS Cryptocurrency app. A closer look at the app and it becomes evidently visible that the app carries the same DNA of the ShapeShift.io web platform, not just in the interface and simplicity, but also in the strategy and philosophy towards cryptocurrency.
No Accounts, No Sign-in
The last time anyone tried converting their cryptocurrencies in a traditional exchange- the user for sure knows the time and waiting that goes into the approval and clearance process. Not with ShapeShift. Shapeshift claims to be the fastest and the easiest way to convert altcoins. The skeuomorphic analogy that Shapeshift’s users on Reddit have been associating with is that of a vending machine. A vending machine doesn’t ask the user for a name, address, ID Proof and doesn’t want to know the customer. An anonymous decentralized network should work just the same. This is what Shapeshift practices.
Shapeshift Supported Coins
Shapeshift, at the time of writing supports the following coins:
– Bitcoin
– Litecoin
– Dogecoin
– Dash (formerly Darkcoin)
– Ripple
– BitShares
– CounterParty
– NXT
– Nubits
– Tether
– Swarm
– Storj
– Feathercoin
– Namecoin
– Startcoin
– Monero
– Gemz
– Clams
– Mastercoin
– And more!
To stay updated on the status of new coins added, the iTunes store’s app page is a good place to visit.
The Internet has gone mobile and it makes logical sense for the cryptocurrency products and exchanges to go mobile as well. Shapeshift CEO Eric Voorhees has spoken in the past about how ‘archaic’ the process of cryptocurrency exchanges are.
CryptoCurrency In, Cryptocurrency Out
Shapeshift as an exchange is an important step in the long journey of the digital currency industry. Specifically, for the lack of a better term, let’s just call it Cryptocurrency-In-Cryptocurrency-Out(CICO). This idea takes fiat and conventional currencies out of the picture, there by paving way for a purist digital currency exchange. Which enables Shapeshift to have the advantages of speed, security and the ease of a vending machine. Exchanges have been acting as banks and ATMs. A vending machine might just be the right analogy to look behind and progress forward.
READ MORE: BitExchange Plans to Install 20 Bitcoin ATMs at Universities