Exenium has garnered worldwide attention of late as their innovative new trading platform – a fully functional cryptocurrency exchange in a chat-bot – has caught the interest of the entire crypto community. Bitcoinist sat down with Exenium CEO Mike Zevakin to learn more about the project and find out how they put so much security and functionality into such a tiny package.
Bitcoinist: Where did you get the idea of building a crypto exchange in the form of a messenger chatbot?
MZ: We saw a few services for exchanging cryptocurrency appearing on Telegram, and they were quite popular. However, they were simply aggregators for money changers, not really different from Localbitcoins. We thought that the idea could be pushed further, to provide an actual exchange that can be used with Telegram and other messengers.
Exenium CEO Mike Zevakin
Bitcoinist: How does Exenium compare to traditional crypto exchanges?
MZ: Exenium improves on every aspect of a traditional exchange. The most important ones are the ease of use and security. The messengers provide a very useful layer between the end user and our servers, and their simple interface means that our exchange is immediately accessible to all.
Bitcoinist: Can you tell us a bit about the Exenium team?
MZ: Our team is composed of well-known specialists in the Blockchain and IT industry. On our website, you can find links to the Linkedin profiles for every member of the team, detailing their previous work history.
Bitcoinist: Security is at the forefront of any trader’s mind when choosing an exchange. How secure is Exenium and what measures do you take to keep users’ funds safe?
MZ: Our exchange core is hidden safely behind the messenger servers. This means that an attacker would need to completely break the security of one of the messengers even just to discover the IP address of our core, which only works with whitelisted IP addresses anyway. Beyond that, we use a hot and cold storage approach, as 90% of our reserve is held in a cold wallet, completely disconnected from the internet. A potential hacker wouldn’t be able to steal more than 10% of our funds, even if he broke our security somehow.
All user accounts have a transaction pin required to withdraw funds, which protects from client or device-based attacks.
Bitcoinist: What cryptocurrencies does the chat-bot exchange currently support?
MZ: At the moment of launch we will support BTC, ETH, BCH, USDT and obviously XNT. We are planning on adding many more coins and tokens in the months after that, as well as fiat pairs. Once the system is fully ready, we will be able to add several coins per week.
Bitcoinist: One of Exenium’s many features is its ICO/ITO module. Can you tell us a bit about that?
MZ: The ITO module is designed to allow other projects to run their ICO/ITO in our exchange, solving the hassle of creating a specialized web dashboard, and leveraging our user base of crypto enthusiasts and investors. A significant advantage is of course that once the ICO is over, the project will already have an exchange available to trade its token. In the present-day ecosystem, it is very difficult for new projects to get listed anywhere.
Bitcoinist: What is Exenium’s listing process for new tokens and how does it compare to other exchanges?
MZ: Exenium’s listing process is quick and affordable. We don’t ask for ridiculous sums of money, in fact, our XNT-only listing package is free. We carefully vet the projects we allow in our exchange to ensure the safety of our users’ investment. Finally, we pledge to list platform-based tokens in under a week, with full support for all of the well-known platforms (ETH, NEM, Waves, Bitshares etc.)
None of the exchanges on the market today are able to list anything in a timely fashion, and 5-10 BTC is the minimum price.
Bitcoinist: What messaging applications is the Exenium crypto exchange chat-bot compatible with?
MZ: Currently, just Telegram. In our next plans are Facebook, Whatsapp, Wechat, Discord.
Bitcoinist: Will third-party developers be able to integrate Exenium’s chat-bot into their own messaging applications?
MZ: We are always welcome to introducing more messengers, but in that case, the developers would need to cooperate with us.
Bitcoinist: Exenium’s ITO is currently ongoing. What are the terms of the ITO and when will it end?
MZ: The ITO will end on April 15, currently we give a 15% bonus for contributors. The price is 0.05 ETH and the hard cap is $50 million.
Bitcoinist: How is the Exenium token (XNT) used on the exchange?
MZ: XNT can be used to pay for all of the services we provide, such as listing fees, trading fees etc. with a 10% discount on the current market rate. All tokens used for this will be removed from circulation. The token will also be tradable for every single coin on the exchange, some of them exclusively. In this way, the token is guaranteed to rise in value as the exchange grows.
Bitcoinist: What are Exenium’s future plans after the ITO is complete?
MZ: We plan on launching the exchange soon after. After one-two months we will integrate fiat funding and trading. Having done that, we will focus on adding useful functionality to our exchange such as API, margin trading, our proprietary Portfolio Management system (allowing indexes and funds on the exchange) and many other features outlined in our roadmap. All of this while constantly adding new coins!
For more information about Exenium, please visit exenium.io. Be sure to download the project’s whitepaper and stay in touch for the latest news and updates on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Telegram.
What do you think about being able to trade crypto right in your favorite messenger app? Do you have any other questions about Exenium or its ITO? Post them in the comments below!
Images courtesy of Exenium
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