Decentralised cryptocurrency exchange (‘DEX’) ShapeShift released a press release on November 20, 2019 which details the launch of its FOX exchange token, which enables users to take advantage of the ShapeShift platform’s trading capabilities “with no commission or trading fees”.
ShapeShift promises trading “for free with over a thousand asset paids when you hold FOX tokens”. It claims to be continuing its mission to “change the cryptocurrency industry” by offering free crypto trading users, and says it is the first platform to implement free cross-crypto trading as a means of “entic[ing] users away from custodial exchanges”.
ShapeShift was originally launched back in 2014, and describes itself as a self-custody trading platform with a vision of making “a borderless, decentralized financial system a reality”.
“ShapeShift’s platform enables customers to access deep liquidity, now with some of the best rates in the industry. The company is even displaying the rates of its competitors, which are often 1-2% worse than what ShapeShift platform users now enjoy with its new pricing engine.”
Shapeshift, press release
‘Custodial exchange’ refers to the most common and traditional form exchange: the centralized cryptocurrency exchange. A custodial exchange is a platform upon which purchasing and selling traders exchange funds via a centralized intermediary – through which the funds will be processed.
Conversely, a non-custodial exchange enables each party to directly trade and interface via smart contracts over blockchain, removing the requirement for such intermediaries. These platforms act as a broker, although does not process or hold traded funds (except for fees) at any point.
“We believe that tokenized assets create powerful new mechanisms for customer engagement.
ShapeShift’s FOX token, which perpetually grants zero-commission crypto trading to those who hold it, is our initial demonstration of this thesis,”
Erik Voorhees (ShapeShift, Founder and CEO)
The FOX token will integrate into ShapeShift’s latest trading platform, which was released in July 2019. It’s an ethereum ERC-20 token, and was released in tandem with the November 20 press release. New users who sign up are stipulated to receive 100 FOX tokens for free, the holding of which allows for “perpetual zero-commission trading”.
This enables free trading with no time limit, with the maximum periodical trading volume limits increasing based on the amount held. Furthermore, the token is interoperable: being compatible with a range of wallets including KeepKey, Trezor and Portis Integrated portfolio management dashboard.
Each coin is worth:
“$10 of free trading volume on a rolling 30-day basis, and thus holding 100 FOX tokens gives a user the equivalent of $1,000 fee-less trading per-month. The tokens aren’t spent or consumed; customers just hold them in their wallet…
Your free trade volume refreshes on a rolling 30-day basis as long as you hold FOX in your platform wallet.”
ShapeShift, press release
