Disclaimer: All the analyses and reviews are personal opinions of the author. The information provided must be used for educational purpose only.
What is it?
It's a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange built on the Ethereum Blockchain.
Why this field (again)?
Isn't it that there are already dozens of projects working on this area? Why should there be another exchange?
Firstly, I need to address that this project would not be just another ordinary decentralized exchange.
Secondly, the cake is still delicious. Yes there are many projects on this, yet none of them actually satisfy the market demand or truly fulfill its potential. Just a few of them really work. And the market is still growing. Especially the Peer-to-Peer market. Here, have a look at this graph showing the weekly trade volume on LocalBitcoins.com solely:
See how potential this market is? And that is just one site.
Thirdly, there are still tons of vital problems that current choices couldn't solve all: like security, transparency or platforms performances
How is it different from others?
Have a look at this video explainer for a general view:
A lot. Here are the most outstanding novelties that this platform offer
1st: 100% of the profits (after being extracted for maintenance fee like administrations, system running or other operation costs as well as security charges) is calculated and distributed back to the LocalCoinSwap - LCS token holders entirely through a smart contract Cryptoshare system equivalently to the proportion of the amount they hold compared to the LCS total supply at the end of each fiscal period. It's about 80% of the site revenue.
Besides, when new ICO’s are listed on the platform, all LCS token holders would receive an amount of that token in return for each Cryptoshare they own, meaning a possible continuous stream of income in multiple currencies, just from holding a single asset
2nd: A wide selection of cryptocurrencies, payment currencies and payment methods on the table:
The LocalCoinSwap project’s goal is to provide users with the majority of cryptocurrencies and digital assets to benefit as many people as possible. Together with it, the marketplace accepts a wide range of currencies in payment as well as payment methods
With that, they claim themselves as “The world's most inclusive cryptocurrency marketplace”, which is true if they could deploy all their roadmap. LocalCoinSwap will offer all conceivable payment methods for purchasing or selling, including custom options added by the community.
At first, popular ones would be listed there, then the platform will gradually integrate more coins and tokens, payment currencies and methods. They do not do it instantly due to the development progress as well as budget and most important: waiting for responses from the community. “Where do those responses come from?” you wonder? It's the 3rd feature I’d like to mention:
3rd: Cryptoshare Voting system:
Cryptoshares holders are the core of the LocalCoinSwap community. They are, therefore, involved and entitled to provide input in all important aspects such as site development, new business ventures, as well as having complete ownership of their respective share of profits.
The total issuance of dividend and voting tokens will be the same as the total supply of LCS Cryptoshares on a 1-to-1 ratio. Worried of votes manipulation? No need: After dividend and voting tokens are redeemed, they are destroyed by the contract and they are then broadcast to in order to prevent malicious attempts to claim extra funds or manipulate votes.
All holders who wish to participate will vote in a proof-of-stake system handled by the issuance of a voting asset which can then be used in a public and transparent democracy contract. The democracy contract is open source and the outcome of votes publically tallied
4th: Security.
In addtion to the decentralized computer networks competency with the blockchain technology, the LocalCoinSwap's security is beyond other decentralized exchanges (not to mention the inferior centralized exchanges which would soon enough reveal theirs inefficiencies).
Primarily, the platform has been developed with the fundamental customer-centric value: users' security. Extensive researches are careful attention have been undertaken to ensure that. Moreover, they deploy a full-time dedicated security team to safeguard all vulnerable data 24/7/365.
Specially, 95% of cryptocurrency deposits will be stored in cold wallets to prevent fund hacks and the multi-signature transaction options are available for some supported currencies. Hence, penetration specialists would frequently conduct regular security audits to update the system security. Besides, in case of intrusion detected, all servers will be automatically and immediately shutdowned by a third party monitoring system to prevent any loss.
Furthermore, the platform introduce the escrow system into practice to prevent scams and ensure a healthy P2P marketplace to happen: the LocalCoinSwap would hold the crypto of the transaction until the payment arrives, so no one from any side can run away with the assets without paying for it.
5th: Built-in Social Media
One of the team's consideration, and of equal importance compared to the features mentioned above, is that the platform is enjoyable for the user. The development team, therefore, plans to integrate social media features to the site to enhance the user experience, including sections like “trending coins” (with interactive charts & graphs), “achievement badges” - for the gamification factor in the network, “custom profile pictures”, and a fully integrated forum.
Token information:
Just like what they claim, the biggest proportion of token allocation is reserved for the investors through pre-ICO/Pre-sale/ICO. Besides, only a 10% of the total token supply is distributed to the team with a smart contract lock in a period of 1 year for gaining trust from the contributors.
Roadmap
They have quite a clear roadmap with implemented points and others are about to be realized in 2018 and 2019. Please be noticed that they started their company in 2015 and the LocalCoinSwap’s concept has been developed since March 2017 - that’s what I call a visionary. And for those who're concerned, the first batch of dividend distribution will start in Feb 2019 - around 6 month after exchange launch.
Links:
Telegram channel
Reddit
Twitter
Medium
BitcoinTalk announcement