What is ShapeShift?

ShapeShift Overview:

ShapeShift is a private and for the most part, convenient way to swap digital currencies, quickly and without hidden fees (this does not mean cheaply). ShapeShift is an anonymous cryptocurrency swap exchange. 

Pros:

• No sign-up required. Just pick the cryptocurrency you want to swap and the cryptocurrency you want in return. 
• ShapeShift is well used online. Despite some speed and failure complaints the service is active and still very much a popular way to swap cryptocurrencies anonymously.
• ShapeShift is integrated into other services like BitPay - and is coming to numerous Wallets.

Cons:

• The cost to swap is high, so find the best rates at Coinswitch.co first.
• There are complaints about long wait times and failed swaps. Yet these complaints appear for all similar services. 
• If you are in New York (USA) you can’t use ShapeShift as they do not have a BitLicence (a business licence of virtual currency activities).  

Official Video:

Comparison:

• The best real-world comparison we can give is perhaps the Bureau de Change. The reason we say this is because you pay to swap fiat currencies. This is how ShapeShift, Changelly and others work but focused on cryptocurrencies.

Competitors:

• Changelly.io
• Evercoin.com
• Blocktrades.us
• Godex.io
• flyp.me

Intellegentsia:

• Erik Voorhees, Founder and CEO of ShapeShift, co-founder of Coinapult.
• Pamir Gelenbe, Investor in ShapeShift, Kraken and Ledger.

Milestones:

• August 2014, ShapeShift is founded.
• September 2015, $1.6m in Seed funding from Digital Currency Group
• April 2016, ShapeShift loses $200k USD in hack (the story for this is bizarre).
• March 2017, $10.4m in Series A funding from Earlybird Venture Capital.
• August 2017, Acquired KeepKey, a hardware wallet that secures Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Dash, and Namecoin for undisclosed amount.  

Roadmap:

• There is no roadmap for ShapeShift, 
• ShapeShift does appear on other tools and token roadmaps as it’s API is integrated elsewhere.

Function:

• ShapeShift is both a web platform and API.  
• Users do not have to create accounts, deposit funds or provide any private personal information. This keeps identity safe.
• ShapeShift has a strict “No Fiat” policy, meaning no banks or political currencies in its operations.  
• ShapeShift lets you quickly swap between cryptocurrencies (allegedly).
• The exchange rate is based on miner fees and the final cost is visible upfront. Which is an advantage over services like Changelly.

Conclusion:

It works. It has costs and they aren't hidden. It's anonymous! It's hard to give more of a conclusion because it does exactly what it says despite some of the issues people encounter. What I can say is that it doesn't look like ShapeShift is going anywhere, their API settles that. For a review on how to use it head over to this Steemian's page and share the upvote love.

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