Cryptocurrency exchanges are legion, but one thing ties the majority of these trading platforms together: They rely on linking value to Bitcoin.
After Coinage recently announced the launch of its mobile-friendly cryptocurrency exchange, I asked the company’s CEO, Chad Pankewitz, about the future of cryptocurrency trading.
“From a long-term perspective, we want to take a stand, and the first steps toward moving the market away from being tied to Bitcoin,” Pankewitz said. “There are thousands of projects in cryptocurrency — distributed apps, blockchain use cases, and smart contract platforms across every industry vertical. Each has their own project, company, team, utility, levels of funding, traction, community, and business model. We believe these companies’ valuations should not be tied to Bitcoin and should be valued on their individual merits, much like a traditional stock market.”
That’s an unusual view, now that Bitcoin has become so crucial to the entire blockchain ecosystem. Coinage, however, sees decoupling from Bitcoin as a necessary step.
“For our customers, this approach brings a couple of things,” Pankewitz said. “When trading and investing, it is much easier to understand numbers in dollar terms versus Bitcoin terms. It is crazy that we are made to figure out these difficult decimal numbers, such as BTC 0.0014758, when trading. We want to bring simplicity back to trading crypto.”
But ease of use isn’t the only goal here. Stability is an essential part of Coinage’s approach.
“By having one stable side to the trading pair, it allows the exchange to manage risk better and offer customers more advanced products, margin trading on alt-coins, short selling, and — in the future — derivatives on a wider range of assets,” Pankewitz said.
With such an alternative approach to running a cryptocurrency exchange, is the plan to usurp existing players in the market, like Coinbase and Binance?
“We think there will be room for several large crypto financial companies in the market,” Pankewitz said. “Yes, Coinbase will be a competitor, but globally there are many opportunities for several companies to offer a range of financial products for both Main Street and Wall Street.”
Coinage Exchange is also breaking away from the pack by making itself a mobile-first platform.
So are there any plans to deliver a desktop edition, which would bring it in line with the majority of other exchanges?
“There are no plans for a web version,” Pankewitz said. “It is mobile-only for retail customers. There will, however, be a professional grade API for algorithmic, high-frequency, professional, and institutional investors.”
Other than that API, what’s next for Coinage?
“We are busy launching our initial products, a crypto portfolio tracker, and our mobile cryptocurrency exchange,” Pankewitz said. “After that, we will release our alt-coin margin and short-selling products.”
