All About Bitshares (BTS)

Atomars Exchange
5 min readNov 3, 2019

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What is Bitshares?

Bitshares is a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange that forms part of the Microsoft Azure blockchain. It was created in 2014 as a brainchild of CTO Dan Larimer, who is also the co-founder of Steem and EOS, along with Charles Hoskinson, co-founder of Ethereum and Cardano. Just like Steem, Bitshares uses a Graphene layer and is part of the most active blockchains on the market.

Introduction to Bitshares (BTS)

Bitshares has gone ahead to the forefront of the battle to regulate cryptocurrencies. The Securities and Exchange Commission has been reviewing Ethereum and Bitcoin to determine what differentiates a crypto token acting as a security. Many crypto exchanges are in a mad rush to submit the proper forms to get SEC approval and some are pulling out of the U.S market completely.

The subject of cryptocurrencies as a security, commodity or currency is being debated for many of the top 100 cryptos. In the U.S., regulators like SEC and DOJ are being careful to research and classify cryptos, blockchains, ICOs and exchanges on an individual basis.

Enter Dan Larimer, with a clear vision of building towards a massive section of the decentralized exchange market. Legal issues would prove to be nothing if the cryptocurrency exchange is competitive. Bitshares is based on a delegated Proof-of-Stake verification system and the blockchain technology of the network is revolutionary.

Benefits of Bitshares

Transaction speed: Bitshares’ blockchain offers transaction speeds of less than 5 seconds to conclude.

Decentralization: The Bitshares exchange is fully decentralized which ensures users are protected. Hacking is impossible and the cryptocurrency is seen as highly reliable.

Minimum commission: Bitshares offers special solutions that make transactions in the system very fast and cheap. One of the main goals in the development of the BTS cryptocurrency was to reduce transaction fees.

Real value: Bitshares is not like other cryptocurrencies that are not backed by anything. Bitshares comes with the benefits of the trading platform as well as its services. Thus, predicting the value of assets is much easier than for example, Bitcoin.

Increased throughput of the system: The trading platform’s technical capabilities allow for more than 10,500 transactions per second. Bitcoin, on the other hand, can conduct no more than 7 financial transactions per second.

Breakdown of BTS

The total supply of Bitshares is 3,600,570,502 BTS with the price peaking on January 2, 2018, at $0.907259. BTS cannot be mined. It is regarded as a legacy coin because it existed long before most exchanges and is responsible for the concept of crypto trading pair. Bitshares is the first delegated Proof of Stake blockchain and is governed by community-elected delegates.

Bitshares runs a referral rewards program to drive mass adoption. At the moment, opening a Bitshares account is free, but a lifetime members account costs $100 and comes with 80% fee discounts. Also, lifetime members earn $80 for referring another Lifetime member.

BTS coins cannot be mined. Tokens can be created on the Bitshares network and can be converted to BTS, then converted to BitAssets, which are tied to real-world markets.

bitUSD, bitEUR, and bitCNY are based on real-world fiat currencies, U.S. Dollar, Euro, and Yuan, respectively. Meanwhile, bitGOLD and bitSILVER are based on gold and silver prices.

People in volatile markets such as South America where hyperinflation is rife will enjoy the stability this crypto option provides at a time local fiat currency is struggling.

What is BitAsset?

Online exchanges are centralized and databases are stored on servers only the exchange can control. To use their services, you must first create verified accounts which often involves scanning an ID. Bitcoin and altcoins are still relatively new and this is why they suffer wild swings from time to time. This essentially necessitates converting crypto coins into a stable asset, usually USD. This need is served by exchanges as they allow users to buy and sell crypto coins by converting to and from fiat currencies like USD, EUR, YUAN, and so on.

Bishares’ answer to this is BitAsset. A BitAsset is a coin pegged to a real-world asset. Its value is a mirror of the value of the real-world’s asset. For instance, the BitAsset BitUSD mirrors the value of USD. This means BTS can be converted into BitUSD, and BitUSD to BTS without exiting the blockchain.

How to Buy and Store BitShares (BTS)

BTS can be bought and sold on several crypto exchanges which include Binance, HitBTC, Huobi, OpenLedger, CoinEgg, and Poloniex. However, the coin is not offered by many. Most of the active work is done on lesser-known sites. One in particular is zb.com, which executes transactions in the BTS/ZB pair reaching over $600,000 in total. Still, on the same platform, the BTS/USDT pair is traded for only $300,000 in total. More than $5 million BTS is traded every day in trading pairs with BTC, ETH, and USDT. Bitshares can be stored through the official Bitshares wallet.

Difference Between BitShares and Other Cryptocurrencies

The key difference Bitshares has with other cryptocurrencies is that it is based on Delegated Proof of Stake. Other systems utilize confirmation of financial transactions involving miners. However, rather than pay millions to people for this, the BTS team thought differently. Special delegates are called on to confirm financial transactions. These delegates are selected by the holders of the coin. In theory, anyone with a Bitshares account can become a delegate. There are currently 101 delegates in total.

Each delegate can sign at most 1% of transactions. For Bitcoin, most financial transactions are confirmed by 4–5 major users. If you aren’t satisfied with your delegate, you can refuse his services and choose another delegate.

Conclusion

Crypto investment can be really profitable, but with profit comes danger. In financial services, transparency is the watch-word, and while the other cryptos aim to redefine banking, BTS is focused on Wall Street. It remains to be seen whether it is a kill shot or they will both learn to live together.

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Atomars Exchange
Atomars Exchange

Written by Atomars Exchange

Fast and Secure Digital Assets Exchange Platform https://atomars.com

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