I will be giving you a complete review on ShapeShift.

ShapeShift is an instant Exchange Cryptocurrency exchange.

It lets you swap one crypto (say Neo) to another (say EOS) instantly. This direct swap for coins like Neo to EOS is not available in most exchanges.

Today you will learn what ShapeShift is and how to swap cryptos at the lowest fee possible.

Post Summary and Company Overview

Shapeshift was founded in August 2014 by Erik Voorhees supported by a team of highly trained individuals.

The company is headquartered in Switzerland and currently has over 100 thousand users across the globe.

Its platform allows you to swap crypto-assets (e.g convert Bitcoin To Ethereum) in a seamless and highly secured environment.

Starting on the 1st of October 2018, Shapeshift required it’s users to provide personal information before they could make any transactions.

This system goes out of line for a typical instant exchange; yes, these exchanges are known for their anonymity.

But ShapeShift had its reasons, stronger security measures had to be employed.

According to Voorhees, in  April 2016, the company’s hot wallet was hacked 3 times in 2 weeks and lost 5800 ETH, 1900 LTC, and 469BTC.

He revealed that an employee had conspired with an external hacker to create a back door in one of the developer systems.

he then used his own credentials to clear out the company’s hot wallet, but no customer funds were lost since it does not store your funds.

No hacks have been recorded on ShapeShift ever since.

To help you better understand this post, here is an outline of what I’ll go over.

1. Overview of Instant Exchanges
2. Shapeshift Products & Services
3. Shapeshift Currency Support
4. Transaction Fees
5. Shapeshift Vs Changelly
6. Pros and Con
7. Frequently Asked Questions
8. Conclusion

Overview of Instant Exchanges

Instant exchanges act as intermediaries between you and the trading platforms. Every trading platform has an exchange that allows its users to swap coins.

Doing this on the trading platforms has been known to come with too much delay, high transaction fees and always requires user identity verification for the least crypto swap.

There’s zero or no danger at all in using these instant exchanges because they are also non-custodial i.e they do not provide wallet services.

This is good for people who do not trust an exchange to store their funds for them.

There is never a 100% guarantee that these trading platforms are secure, the best thing for you is to store your funds by yourself.

ShapeShift Product and Services

Shapeshift offers the following services and Product

• Crypto Swap
• Coincap
• Keepkey Hardware wallet

Crypto Swap

This is primarily what you do on shapeshift exchange, swapping directly any two coins of your choice.

For instance, if I have Bitcoin but need Ethereum, I can directly swap both on shapeshift.

Yes, you can exchange ETH for BTC on trading platforms and traditional exchanges but to exchange XEM for ADA, you will have to exchange XEM for BTC then BTC for ADA. 

But instant exchanges like ShapeShift lets you swap XEM for ADA directly.

CoinCap

Coincap is a platform developed by ShapeShift. It offers real-time market data for cryptocurrencies and keeps you informed on the latest market activity.

Coincap is totally free, all you have to do is go to coincap.io.

The platform features the following;

• Exchange pair and volume listings.
• Price market changes.
• A comprehensive API (Application Programme Interface) with more endpoints.
• A trading view that allows users to manipulate and investigate the trends.
• Timestamped Status updates showing the freshness of data feeds.

KeepKey Hardware Wallet

In August 2017, shapeshift acquired KeepKey. At the time, this was a necessary security strategy to encourage users to store their coins in a more secure environment. Remember that the exchange does not hold your funds.

KeepKey is a battle-tested hardware wallet that provides support for over 40 digital assets.

The device costs about $70 but ShapeShift to buy for as low as $10 when you sign with ShapeShift. Click here to find out more.

Also Read KeepKey Review here.

ShapeShift Currency Support

As of June 2015, the platform allows you to swap 25 different cryptos. But now (2019) increased it to over 50 digital assets and 980 trading pairs. Some of the coins supported are;

• Bitcoin
• Bitcoin Cash
• Bitcoin Gold
• Ethereum
• Ethereum Classic
• Litecoin
• Zcash
• DogeCoin
• Dash
• Bancor
• Basic Attention Token
• Monero
• Polymath ETC….

Transaction Fees

Shapeshift does not have any specific fees aside from the miner’s fee. It offers an exchange rate for each coin that changes every 30 seconds depending on the market conditions.

It generates its revenue by charging a 0.5% fee or less on all transactions. This is automatically added to the exchange rate. Aside from this, there is no other transaction recorded by ShapeShift.

Shapeshift Vs Competitors

Shapeshift Vs Changelly

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Low fees
• It does not hold your funds making it more secure.
• It is user-friendly.
• User identity verification provides another layer of security to its users.
• Great customer support

Cons

• The number of coins supported is not much compared to its competitors
• It does not have a specific exchange fee, it varies.

Frequently Asked Questions

Learn How To Trade

If you want to learn how to trade cryptocurrencies profitably, sign up for free on Afibie.

You can join our Telegram channel, where we hold live sessions and give trade signals.

Conclusion

That’s it on ShapeShift review. If you have been wanting to get some cryptos and exchange them for another, then ShapeShift is the right place for you. The platform guarantees fast, easy, and secure transactions for its users.

Now tell me…

Have you ever wanted to swap two cryptos directly but don’t know to do it? How did you finally do the swap?

Have you used Shapeshift or its alternatives?

Let me know in the comment section. Don’t forget to give us a share on your social media by clicking on any of the icons below.

Cheers