Don't believe? Try it yourself: https://bitshares.org/wallet/#/market/BTS_USD

---

Bitshares Blockchain Information

Consensus algorithm: Delegated Proof of Stake DPOS "Graphene"
Block time: 3 sec, ~1.5 sec latency for 99.9% irreversibility certainty
Block reward: 3 BTS (from treasury)
Irreversible blocks: (2 * BLOCK_INTERVAL * WITNESSES / 3) ~ 34s
Coins not in reserve fund: 2,599,900,000 BTS (2017 Sept 30)
Coins in reserve fund: 1,000,668,097 BTS (2017 Sept 30)
Maximum Coins: 3,600,570,502 (constant)
Maximum Transactions Per Second: 100,000-180,000
Operational since: 2014

Fees: [on bitshares.org] (go to treasury)
Witnesses: [on cryptofresh] [on bitshares.org]
Seed Nodes: [open port search] [select list]
Committee: [on bitshares.org] [Info]
DEX volume: [from cryptofresh]

White papers: [bitshares 2.0 papers] [dpos]
Github: [General] [BSIP's] [Wiki] [More #1] [More #2]
Technical Documentation: [New] [Current]


Main Pages

[bitshares.org]
[bitshares.foundation]

[bitshares.eu]
[OpenLedger]


Types of coins & tokens
[info]

Bitshares cryptocurrency		a trustless base coin unit used for blockchain consensus incentives i.e. BTS
Market Pegged Assets "MPA"		Asset whose value is meant to track the value of an arbitrary asset via witness feeds, collateral, settlement. Smartcoins w/ "bit" at start of name are created by the committee, use witness fed price feeds, thus trustless. e.g. bitUSD, bitCNY, bitRUBLE, bitSILVER, bitGOLD, bitBTC, bitEUR,  bitJPY, bitMXN, bitGBP
User Issued Assets "UIA"		user created custom token registered on the platform for any purpose e.g. CVCOIN, open.BTC, WHALESHARE, SPIES
Exchange Backed Assets "EBA"		UIA that serves as "I owe you" "IOU" to withdraw some amount from trusted gateway e.g. open.BTC, open.USD
Privatized Bit-Assets		A flexible mixture between UIA and MPA that allows 3rd parties to create their own customized MPAs e.g. BTWTY, HERO
Fee Backed Assets "FBA"		portion of generated fees is distributed to asset holders e.g. STEALTH
Prediction Market Asset		an MPA that can be settled for 0x or 1x of collateral based on outcome of an event e.g. ETFBTC

Wallets, web wallets, phone wallets, nodes

(all clients operate on same orderbooks & blockchain, but can be different in layouts)
Common security advice: (1) not to use wallets without source & review, (2) web-wallets susceptible to domain hijack attacks,
(3) read how to avoid phishing attacks, (4) if you lose or accidentally share your private key (i.e. password) you lose all your money

[bitshares.org interface] (src)^A
[openledger interface] (src)^B
[bitshares.eu interface] (src)^C issues
[freedom ledger interface] (src)^D
[crypto-bridge interface] (said source soon)^E


MagicWallet (Chinese) (src?) (new)
[btsabc interface (Chinese)]^F
[hellobts interface (Chinese)]^G
[1001 ICO interface (Chinese)]^H
[RuDEX interface (Russian)] (src)^I
[door.one web, IOS, android] (src?) (new)

[BitShares Wallet & Trade (Android)] (src)^J  (new)
[Smartcoins wallet(Android)] (src)^K


[Light Wallet] (src) (new) ^A
[Light Wallet by RuDEX] (src)^I

[Paper Wallet] (src)

[Full node]
[Witness node]


[Blockpay payment request interface]

In development

Jaxx (soon)

Gateways: A↔gateway.A

(are provided by 3rd party businesses that exchange
 any cryptocurrencies or fiat for on-chain IOU tokens and back, often for a fee)
Security: always make sure (1) the gateway is transparent about liquidity (2) check with gateways if unsure which assets it issued and supports
(3) be aware of its asset permissions and properties [look up]

Want to see more coins added?
(1) contact existing gateways or (2) have someone trustworthy (like a coin dev or yourself) create a transparent gateway.

OpenLedger [home] [email] [support desk] Supported interfaces: A,B,C,I		Coins: ARGS, AMP, BTC, DASH, DGD, DOGE, EOS, ETH, ETP, EURT, EXCL, GAME, GBG, GOLOS, GRC, INCNT, LISK, LTC, MAID, MKR, MUSE, NXC, OMG, OMNI, PPC, PPY, SBD, STEEM, USDT, WAVES Fiat: USD, EUR, CNY
RuDEX [home] [support email] Supported interfaces: I		Coins: PPY, GBG, GOLOS
Transwiser [home] Supported interfaces: A,B,C,I		Fiat: CNY
crypto-bridge [home] [support email] Supported interfaces: E		Coins: BCH, BCO, BTC, DASH, DGB, DOGE, EOT, EQT, LEO, LTC, PIVX, SMART, XIOS, XVG

Supported interfaces are marked with letters corresponding to web-interfaces and wallets above. List is very likely out of date or incomplete.

Benefits of becoming a Bitshares gateway instead of making a new exchange

coming up gateways: hellobts.com, apasia.tech

Bridges: A↔B

(are provided by 3rd party businesses that trade
 a coin for a completely different coin, like shapeshift)

Blocktrades [home] [support email] Supported interfaces: A,B,C,I		From external coins: BTC, DASH, DOGE, ETH, LTC, SBD, STEEM, USDT   To bitshares assets:: BTS, bitCNY, bitEUR, bitUSD , OPEN.DASH From bitshares assets: BTS, bitCNY, bitEUR, bitUSD , OPEN.BTC, OPEN.ETH, OPEN.DASH, OPEN.USDT To external coins:: BTC, DASH, DOGE, ETH, LTC, STEEM, STEEMPOWER (automatically powers up)

Supported interfaces are marked with letters corresponding to web-interfaces and wallets above. List is very likely out of date or incomplete.


Explorers

[cryptofresh.com] [backup]
[bitshares-explorer.io] (Currently being developed. Add suggestions here)

[bitshares.org/wallet/#/explorer]
[openledger.io/explorer]
[wallet.bitshares.eu/explorer]
[stats.bitshares.eu]
[Bitshares Witnesses Log, Feeds]
[Rich List]


Exchanges

[bitshares.org DEX]^a,b,c,d
[openledger.io DEX]^a,b,c,d
[bitshares.eu DEX]^a,b,c,d
[Crypto-bridge DEX]

[Poloniex]
[blocktrades.us]^a,b
[shapeshift.io]
[bisq]^a,b

[aex]^a,b,c,d (new)
[ZB.com] (new)
[big.one] (new)
[Yunbi]
[btc38]
[19800]
[BTER]
[szzc]
[chbtc]

[Remittio VISA card]
[UQUID VISA card]
[OCASH VISA card]^a,b (soon)

^{also has (a)bitCNY (b) bitUSD (c) bitJPY (d) bitKRW}

Social Media and News Links

[Bitshares discord chat]
(new attempt to unify all chat in one place)

[Bitsharestalk official forum]
[Bitshares DEX telegram channel]
[Bitshares Twitter]

[State of the Network]
[Bitshares Subreddit]
[bitsharesTV]
[Beyond Bitcoin Community]
[Steemit bitshares topic]
[Openledger specific telegram]
[Trader specific telegram channel]

[Russian Bitshares Telegram]
[Russian Rudex Bitshares Telegram]
[Chinese Openledger Telegram]


FAQ

What is Bitshares?		DPoS graphene blockchain built with a native cryptocurrency, custom tokens, built-in decentralized exchange, and more. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSgsbBTxNfo
How do I create an account/sign-up/register?		Use one of the wallets. For example: reference wallet instructions.
How do I stake coins?		Bitshares is not typical PoS blockchain where anyone can produce "mine" blocks. In DPoS anyone can validate blocks, but producing and corresponding block reward is limited to peer reviewed witnesses anyone with bitshares can vote for or vote against by removing votes or voting for others. Some block producers may choose to reward voters with portion of income but it's not common.
What's the difference between openledger and bitshares?		Bitshares is the blockchain with bts, tokens, the DEX, and the orderbooks. Openledger company does several things  on top of bitshares, like provide one of several user interfaces, provides a gateway to external blockchains,  and help build some projects on top of bitshares. They even have their own FAQ.  All typical user interfaces to bts blockchain like openledger.io use same blockchain and thus same order books and accounts.
Is bitshares a cryptocurrency or a decentralized exchange or a decentralized organization?		It's the name of a blockchain & name of base currency used for incentives. The bitshares blockchain just happens to have a native integrated decentralized exchange. The blockchain also happens to have the very first DAO (they called DAC originally) that runs it.
What do you use BTS for? What does it do?		1. Approval voting weight in the worlds first DAO/DAC (decentralized autonomous organization/corporation) 2. Used to fund block producers (witnesses) by the blockchain to secure it. 3. Used to fund workers (people who want to work for blockchain & get voted in). 4. Transaction or action fees. However, fee pools allow some fees to be paid in other coins. 5. Used as collateral for creating pegged tokens like bitUSD, also used for margin trading.
Someone said bitshares/dpos is centralized or has master nodes?		Bitshares is designed to be extremely decentralized & attempts to reduce influence of wealth concentration. The approach & tech metrics are extremely different from others causing confusion and difficulty in comparisons. There are almost no similarities between "master nodes" and block producers (witnesses) in bitshares/dpos. 1. Every account with BTS (37641 @ 2017-10-19) can vote and influence the blockchain either directly     or indirectly by conditionally selecting or delegating to another while they best represent them.     This is more than almost all blockchains have full nodes and, by # of participants, much more decentralized.     Barrier to entry for decentralized participation is lower so entry of enormous numbers of bts holders is easier.     Every part of the blockchain (each block producing witnesses, each worker, committee member, proxy,     and their choice for fees, incentives like rewards or punishments, upgrades via forks, validation, security)     is controlled by holders of bts, and spread, i.e. decentralized, across many accounts. 2. Approval voting makes it very difficult for large stake holder to take over the system. 3. Each holder delegating security enforcement to ~20 block producers is more decentralized than to typical far fewer dominant mining/staking pools.     Full nodes still have validation importance and additional formalized votes are quantifiable and clear resulting in effective blockchain governance.     Instead of allowing those holding 51% of weight (or less if lucky) to attack, 2/3 witnesses + 1 required for a fork.     Additionally their influence is forced to be equal in weight reducing wealth (equipment or stake) influence (attempt at breaking Pareto principle).     Witnesses elected not by wealth but by merit/performance and are under continuous peer-review.     Becoming a prospective witness or worker is permissionless for entry. 4. Stake at risk if voted out is vested salary paid to witnesses over potentially unlimited amount of time in future.     Instead of producers competing and diluting each others profit, good compensation makes bribing them expensive. 5. Bitshares was fairly distributed via PoW and wide airdrops (never sold from a liquid pool) for maximum decentralization.     Fair and wide permissionless low-entry distribution avoids security flaws with bad distributions like via standard ICO's.     Free market trade of bts, including via built-in decentralized exchange, punishes stake grab attempts with high prices.
What's the difference between wallets and accounts?		Account model is new and easier: https://i.imgur.com/Ty0uoqS.png
Am I logging in with account model or wallet model?		Try switching login options like this https://i.imgur.com/qSeDFiu.png to login with wallet option first time, have to hit gear button, settings, Restore/Import, upload file, put in pass, hit restore
How to convert from wallet model to account model?		https://i.imgur.com/wKCo0xx.jpg
What do I do if the node I connect to is lagging?		Switch node like this or can try another interface mentioned above
Still lagging?		Try disabling chat https://i.imgur.com/XFhBn57.png
Where do I report issues with UI?		https://github.com/bitshares/bitshares-ui/issues
How to add your own external coin to the DEX?		Create a gateway or request current one to do it for you li (e.g. ask openledger)
How to create your own assets / tokens on Bitshares?		Quick way to make tokens and ico: https://i.imgur.com/3pBmAab.jpg detail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-z4RnM0kgs
How to buy Bitshares the easy way?		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cynr6zDTCBI
How to send money with Bitshares?		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QBR2Ae4Ddc
How do I deposit/withdraw coins?		example: https://i.imgur.com/0mNHDIV.jpg
What are the fiat gateways to the DEX?		USD, CNY, EUR, JPY - OpenLedger (https://openledger.io/) CNY - Transwiser (https://www.transwiser.com/) TRY - BitKapital (https://bitkapital.com/) RUB - ruDEX (https://rudex.org) [beta] NOK - BitGate (https://bitgate.no/) [in progress] CNY-BTS pairs on CHBTC, Yunbi, BTC38, Jubi, 19800, BTER
How to vote through proxy?		http://favs.pw/bitshares-how-to-proxy-vote/
Are there referral links?		YES. http://favs.pw/bitshares-how-to-earn-money-with-the-referral-program/
How do I import wallet backup? (for wallet model, not account model)		http://favs.pw/bitshares-how-to-import-your-wallet-backup/
What is the inflation rate or emission of bitshares?		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohx46JlRzjc
How do I trade on the DEX?		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWxTLesvJhI
Can you profit from trading on the DEX?		Depends. http://favs.pw/bitshares-how-to-make-profit-on-the-dex-video/
How to margin trade, short sell, etc?		Helpful guide & documentation
How do I find some pair I want to trade?		like this or like this
Do I need BTS to pay fees?		NO. You can pay fees in many currencies including open.BTC https://i.imgur.com/LfLr8kW.png However it's possible fee pool is temporarily empty or you don't have enough and might get an error message, so often safest to use BTS you are sure you have
I tried sending bts but got an error, why?		It's likely you didn't have enough left for fees, try sending a little less. Fees can be paid in several currencies
How do I check assets and fees?		https://steemit.com/bitshares/@ash/bitshares-how-to-check-assets-and-fees
Does trading cost fees?		Sometimes. Unfilled orders, when canceled, receive a 100% refund on fees. Partially filled orders are not eligible for a refund. Claim refund on vesting page. Fees allow decentralized funding of development in the DAC: https://cryptofresh.com/reserve
How to switch from 0.9.3c old client to new bitshares?		for really old accounts http://favs.pw/bitshares-how-to-sync-the-old-client-0-9-3c/
How to request payment in bitshares?		Blockpay or Wallet Merchant Protocol or shapeshift
How do we code on top of bitshares?		Can interface with API as shown here. Python library here. Javascript library here. Public API instructions here.
Where's help?		https://bitshares.org/wallet/#/help

or ask for help in chatrooms listed below[/td][/tr]
[/table]

 
Informational Media

Coffee on the Blockchain - A Step by Step Guide to Bitshares and SmartCoins for Absolute Beginners (steemit.com)

[Basic Connections Layer]
[BitShares Assets Basic Overview]
[Short Selling BitUSD]
[Cashflow Basic Overview]
[Stakeholder Basic Overview]


Trading Bots

https://btsbots.com , https://github.com/pch957/btsbots-demo-2016 , tutorial
https://steemit.com/bitshares/@linouxis9/liqbot-0
https://github.com/xeroc/stakemachine


Tips and Tricks

Order books look thin? Place limit orders and let bots fill your position or find a more liquid pair. Soft pairs by volume on the right to help.

You can find a market for any 2 coins on bitshares blockchain. Simply replace names in the URL e.g. ".../USD_CNY" to names of assets you want separated by "_".
The bit* trustless assets (only the committee can create) are abbreviated: bitUSD=>"USD" bitCNY=>"CNY" bitBTC=>"BTC" and BTS is just "BTS"
IOU assets from gateways are just written out in full: "OPEN.BTC_OPEN.USD" "OPEN.WAVES_BTS" "RUDEX.PPY_USD"


Voting

[Stakeholder Proposals]

Voting to fund workers tutorial: [part 1] & [part 2]

[Voting through a proxy]

[Workers by bitshares.foundation]

[Ballot History]