1. Abstract
About 9 years ago a person or a group of people known as Satoshi Nakamoto created the first ever digital currency, Bitcoin, using the revolutionary technology called the blockchain. A decentralized* P2P* transaction system cuts out the middleman and high fees associated with transferring assets, which proves profitable to any party involved in the transaction. Over recent years many other alternative coins have emerged on the market, utilizing this technology, but all have failed to gain access to mainstream use, because of the difficulties involved in handling these coins. Newcomer investors find it hard to buy and sell digital currencies, due to the lack of easy-to-use trading platforms. Existing platforms require thorough knowledge of the technologies involved in cryptocurrencies, which makes it difficult for non-technical people to make use of such platforms. As the technology matures and inevitably makes its way into the mainstream, it is essential to have a simple and reliable trading platform for all types of people and not just the tech savvy. A person shouldn’t have to understand the bits and pieces of how the technology works in order to be able to participate and make profit. Only a few understand how the internet, smartphones and computers work, but this doesn’t prohibit them from using them.
* Decentralized — Software, website or application which does not rely on one centralized server. It is rather served from multiple sources.
* P2P — Peer to Peer
2.1 Exchanging Cryptocurrency to Fiat* Currency
Some of the most popular ways of earning cryptocurrencies are via mining, trading and selling goods or services. Although cryptocurrencies are being accepted in more places than ever before, there’s still the need to exchange them to fiat currency, which is a complex and expensive process. For example if a person wants to exchange Bitcoin to USD, he has to use an online service (that works like a traditional banking system) and requires the following steps:
- Going through a long registration process and entering personal data (first name, last name, date of birth, email, mobile number etc).
- Providing sensitive data, like Passport/ID/Driving license photo, current residence and living address. One of the main strengths of cryptocurrencies, is anonymity, which is lost when information identifying the user is entered.
- Identity confirmation, where the verification process might take some time. If the photo quality is not high, the user might not be able to complete the registration process.
- If the user completes all of these steps successfully he is ready for the following steps:
* The user should add all the details of his bank account.
* The user should make a transaction from his bank account in order to verify it.
* The user should wait until the transaction is complete (usually takes 3–5 business days) and the bank account is verified.
Only after completing these steps successfully, can the user exchange bitcoin to USD and withdraw the amount which usually takes 3–5 business days.
* Fiat currencies — money established and regulated by government and used by citizens on a daily basis (USD/EUR/GBP).
2.2 Complex UI for Non-Technical Users
All of the current trading platforms have complex UI* with poor UX*. User dashboards are filled with charts, numbers and technical acronyms, which makes it very difficult for non-technical users to navigate their way. It becomes hard to interpret so much information that may be crucial for their investments. All inexperienced people have an intrinsic fear towards complex UIs and have a hard time understanding the information, simply because of bad design. At Ushba, we believe, that UI should be minimalistic and simple, in order to enhance the user experience. Traders should only see the information they truly need. Complex data and detailed information will be just one click away, depending on the user’s need. Making our platform highly customizable depending on the client’s level of expertise. Cryptocurrency trading should be accessible by everyone despite their past experience.
* UI — User Interface
* UX — User Experience
2.3 Different Currencies, Different Platforms
There is a plethora of new emerging cryptocurrencies that many traders are eager to buy, but the majority of trading platforms only offer options to trade the most popular ones. People willing to trade to fiat currencies, will also have a hard time finding an easy way to do so. The usual flow involves trading the less popular cryptocurrency to a major one like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin, only after which it’s possible to trade to a fiat currency. More transactions means more commision fees for the user. Altcoin prices are also heavily dependant on major coins because of this reason. We, at Ushba, think this process can be simplified. Users should be able to change any cryptocurrency to fiat currency and be given the opportunity to search the market for new emerging coins that might see the historical profit that bitcoin once saw.
3. SOLUTION
Ushba is a go-to platform for trading cryptocurrencies.
3.1 Competitive Advantages
There is only a handful of cryptocurrency trading platforms that offer users the ability to exchange coin-to-coin and coin-to-fiat currency. These services can be sorted into three main categories, decentralized, semi- centralized and centralized. Those that are decentralized, offer only coin- to-coin exchanges, while those that are fully centralized offer coin-to-coin and coin-to-fiat, with a high commission fee.
Fully decentralized platforms put the user in charge of the security of their own coins. In today’s world, where malwares, trojans and ghost programs infect personal computers on a daily basis, this proves to be difficult. If the user’s computer is irreparably damaged, than the coins are lost, with no way of retrieving them. For this reason decentralized platforms are often intimidating for non-technical users.
Fully centralized platforms offer a more user friendly environment. Platforms using this approach often don’t apply the best practices when it comes to safety and privacy. Centralized trading services need to earn the trust of the users in order to operate. If an attacker somehow gets their hands on the username and password of the account, they will be in full possession of the funds associated with the account.
Ushba will operate as a centralized platform with semi-centralized modules, that’s why Ushba will be much more secure than fully-centralized and fully-decentralized platforms. Below is a list of major advantages this platform will hold, over today’s systems.
3.2 Automate Monotonous Tasks
We think that trading can be automated. Currently none of the trading platforms allow users to automate the boring selling and buying tasks. We think that this key functionality is the future of trading platforms. Users should be able to create automated tasks for selling and buying coins. For example, let’s say Alice is a user at Ushba. She owns 5 Ethereums with a current value of USD $1,570. She would like to buy a new laptop which costs $2,000. Instead of checking the price of Ethereum everyday, she can create an automated task that will sell her coins after the exchange rate has passed a certain threshold. After a successful transaction, Alice will receive an email and mobile notification of the event and will finally be able to buy her favorite laptop.
3.3 Automate Tasks for Miner Owners
Ushba will give the option to integrate miners and use our platform as a wallet, which will ease the process of selling coins. Miners will also be given the choice to automate the exchange of their coins into fiat currency, and have a percentage sent via their preferred payment option. For example, let’s say Bob has a Bitcoin miner which transfers mined Bitcoins to Bob’s wallet on our platform. By the end of each month, Bob wants to sell a concrete amount of his mined Bitcoins, exchange them to fiat currency and withdraw the amount with his preferred method. Bob will need to create a task, specify the date and choose a payment option. Finally a notification will be sent, which will confirm that the sale was made and the task was completed successfully.
3.4 Cold Storage
We, at Ushba, take security very seriously. There is always the possibility that a user’s account can be hijacked and funds stolen. For this purpose, we have devised the cold storage safe concept, which minimizes the risk of having funds stolen from an account. The user can transfer coins to his cold storage instantly, but it takes 24 hours to withdraw and start trading again. During these 24 hours the user will receive text messages and emails informing him about the withdrawal every 3 hours. At any point during the withdrawal process, the user can decide to stop. For example, let’s say Alice has 100 BTC. She feels uncomfortable having such a huge amount in one centralized service. She wants to feel more confident and secure by transferring part of her BTC to the cold storage (saving) account. For that reason Alice transfers 95 BTC, where they are secure. In order to withdraw assets from the cold storage Alice should make a request and only after 24 hours she will be able to receive these assets. Alice can cancel the order if this wasn’t requested by her. This concept minimizes the risk of having coins stolen by an attacker.
3.5 Coin-to-Fiat and Fiat-to-Coin
One of our milestones is allowing users to exchange crypto assets directly into fiat currency and vice versa. What does it mean? As a user Bob will be able to exchange bitcoin to USD, EUR to Litecoin, GBP to ETH and so on. This concept will allow Bob to make an exchange which will be most profitable and flexible for him. Bob doesn’t need to exchange every altcoin to bitcoin in order to buy a fiat currency and vice versa. This concept will decrease the number of transactions the user has to make. Less transactions mean less comission fees. Also it will allow altcoins to have their own value, independent from bitcoin.
3.6 P2P Trading
We are in favor of an independent economy, which is why a peer-to-peer platform is the basis of Ushba. A lot of companies offer users to buy and sell directly from them, which leads to higher fees. These type of companies become big players and will have a huge influence on exchange rates. A P2P exchange doesn’t face this problem and prices will be solely depended on the two parties between which the transaction is taking place.
3.7 Security Best Practices
A lot of big companies have already implemented best security practices. Building on top their experience, we will adopt the following methods: 2FA (Two-factor Authentication), Bot protection, DDoS protection, login notifications (with IP address included), immutable session history and hardware keys.
3.8 UX and UI
User Experience and User Interface are the most crucial factors for non- technical users. Complex UI is the biggest problem of today’s trading platforms. Numbers and charts confuse and scare users who are not familiar with it. We will provide a simple, elegant, minimalistic and clean design with the best user experience. Ordinary users should not be able to feel the complexity of the technology. But the advanced users should have the ability to acquire as much information as they need.
3.9 News on the Dashboard
Ushba will provide all sensitive news directly onto the user’s dashboard. This service will help users make better forecasts and make their own guesses about which currencies are worth buying, selling or holding. Major blockchain and cryptocurrency news websites will serve as a source for the news.
3.10 Fees per Trade
Ushba trading platform will charge a fee of 0.2% (for each side) per trade between different cryptocurrencies, which will happen directly between two users.
3.11 Fiat Management
Ushba will provide a true P2P system for fiat-currencies. We will never be in possession of the money at any given stage of the transaction. We simply provide the platform for two parties to trade between each other. Users will be able to choose the cryptocurrency and amount they want to obtain, transfer funds to their account via their preferred payment method and make the purchase from another user. Cryptocurrencies with the market cap over $1,000,000 will be eligible for P2P trading. Ushba’s commission fees will be much lower in comparison with any other trading platform and bank like establishment.
3.12 Cloud Mining Service
Ushba is ready to handle the difficulties people face during mining. Our users will be able to invest in miners and get paid on a daily basis, without having to take care of electricity costs, noise, and cooling systems. Our top of the line facilities will offer investment options for all types of budgets.
Please find more information, regarding our UshbaCoin distribution during the ICO which will be starting on the 1st of August, in our whitepaper.
Website: Ushba.io
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