What have you been looking at that makes the Tangle seem like a blockchain? It is a completely different approach to verifying transactions. Here are some videos you may find useful: https://coinscabin.com/videos/iota/.

I wanted to report that I decided to send an email to hello@wcex.co to describe my problem, and they helped me right away by manually making the withdrawal to the address of my choice. In spite of some things that cause me concern, I will say they have always been very responsive over email. 

The trading works, it is just extremely low volume so unless you match an existing offer you might have to wait and wait and wait for your trade to happen. My concern is that the exchange did not change in the past month of "development." They want to be the best exchange ever but there is no indication that they can deliver. They did a brilliant job at generating interest, but now that everyone is here there is very little to show.

I have been having the same problem, except that the amount is not minimal and I do care about whether or not it is lost! I was able to withdraw BTC, but XRP and ETH withdrawals have not gone through after several days.

Ah, HamnChess, if nothing else I can pop in every few days for some amusement.  If you look at my history you will see that in my first post I worked out the math of how many tokens would be issued, before any official word was given. I also told everyone I had made contact with the escrow and confirmed his involvement. I commented "I love the clear mission and the generous profit-sharing program." In my second post I revealed that I had made an investment, and said, "I too would like more details regarding the team and how they will execute their plan, but am willing to take the risk at this point in spite of sparse details." In my third post I confirmed that the exchange was working, expressed my enthusiasm, and shared a link to their roadmap (which had not been shared). 
{Regarding the WCX roadmap (https://trello.com/b/596LMpPZ/wcx-product-roadmap), it's nice to see a list of things they are working on. I could express a concern that only one person is listed for doing the work (John Reyes), but maybe he is a one-man wonder. I might mention a concern that the last logged activity is Sept 12, but if I did that you would have to come up with a new way to insult me and I don't want to tax your vocabulary.}
In my 4th post I shared the email regarding refund of investment. In my 5th post I confirmed that I had received my refund. I also said, "Although I would like more transparency regarding team members and the company overall, to this point they have done as they said they would do." But I did start to express some concerns about the potential for success, saying "there are a lot of unknown variables" . . . In my 6th post I wrote to @wcxofficial, thanking them and wishing for their success, but also asking for either a multi-sig wallet or an escrow before reinvesting. However, it was not until my 7th post that I became one of your targets! My transformation into a "useless troll" was when I said, "What I love about this project is the profit-sharing model--I think that is just brilliant! I also love that they want to become the world's leading exchange. I think with the right team they could reach this goal. But there is the Achilles's heel--we simply do not know the team! We don't know how many people are working on reaching their goals, what problems they are running into, or anything else." So, yes, I'm very clearly trolling! I even raised it up a notch and became a "bloody schmuck" when I listed some potential competitors!! And for me to give responsible disclosure by listing which of these companies I did or did not have a stake in, I became a shill as well. You, on the other hand, have not disclosed your financial incentives that could affect your judgment. I can only assume you have a large stake in WCX; otherwise why spend so much energy knocking down anyone who presents a concern?

By the way, to my knowledge I do not have an alter-ego who publishes under the name of @benjismarket--but for me to deny any connection to him probably just makes me more suspicious. Besides, (s)he does seem to understand rational argumentation so there could in fact be a connection between us. Here is another intriguing possibility: Have you considered that @benjismarket and @wcxofficial could be one and the same?? They both are starting exchanges, they are both anonymous, they are both trying to address the problems with existing exchanges and promising better user experience, . . . if they are not the same person, then one should hire the other and work together rather than compete!
 

Just to add to the list: We repeatedly hear that WCX has no connection whatsoever to WhaleClub. It is interesting that it has taken this long for someone from WCX to say "WCX stands for World Cryptocurrency Exchange." (see https://help.wcex.co/hc/en-us/community/posts/115001620352-What-is-the-relationship-between-this-site-and-Whaleclub-co). I am quite confident Petar Zivkovski, COO of Whaleclub is involved and yet his name has never been disclosed. I am not going to reveal my reasons for this assertion, so I am sure this will be denied. But my question is, why hide? HamnChess is so adamant that the explanation given for not revealing names (security of clients' money) is valid. Money managers and financial advisors around the world are known entities--this does not endanger their clients' funds, so why would the WCX founder be any different? If he holds private keys--WHY? Why not simply have his clients move their funds to a safer situation so he can work full-time on WCX?

Another very strange move was when they did away with the escrow arrangement and instead promised that refunds will be available. Umm, great, I can give my money to an unknown entity and if I am not happy they will give it back to me. What could possibly go wrong with that?? What about an escrow situation are they trying to avoid? How could no escrow possibly be better for investors?

One last point: people talk about how great the exchange is. Well, trades can be made on it, true. I was able to make a deposit and trade amongst the 3 options. In trying to withdraw, however, I have only been able to withdraw BTC, not ETH or XRP. Withdrawals were approved after I gave email confirmation, but no withdrawal actually occurred. With such low volume I don't want to sell back to BTC if I can avoid it.

I would love for WCX to rocket to success, and I would be quick to join them, but so far I am not seeing how they are set to become the world's #1 exchange. Maybe if HamnChess swears a little more and belittles a little louder then I will feel much better about this venture--after all, what good could possibly come from a rational discussion when we have the option of slandering and swearing?

Your defensiveness does not strengthen your position, nor does the fact that you are insulting a company without spending any time looking into them. Should I mention that Cobinhood has a page about their team? Or that the Leverj team is led by someone who is well known? You say team identity does not matter, but in my experience having a great idea is relatively easy but executing that idea is incredibly difficult. It takes a team to succeed--a very good team. I am at the point where if I see a great team with a mediocre idea I will pick them over a mediocre team with a great idea--the great team will execute well and can always pivot to bigger ideas while the mediocre team will likely self-implode. I mentioned Mingo because they were putting the team members in front of the world to talk about their philosophy, their vision, etc. I wanted to point out that it is not difficult to be more open. WCX only said that the leader needed to remain anonymous, but that is no excuse for hiding the identity of the entire team. I don't see why you are OK with their behavior. If a stranger stops me on the street and wants to sell me a great looking watch for an incredible price, it is highly unlikely I will have faith in that watch because I have no reason to trust this person. You seem to be saying, "Look at how shiny the watch is! The identity of this man does not matter--he has a shiny watch, and if we buy it now we will be rich!"

Full disclosure: I have invested small amounts in both Cobinhood and Mingo; nothing invested in Godzillion or Leverj or Kakao. I had invested much more with WCX because I was so enamored about the possibility of sharing in profits, but have chosen to not reinvest unless I see dramatic improvements to the exchange, much greater volume, and better communication from team members (I really don't care whether or not I know their names--I do care whether or not they are responsive and accountable).

I am someone who bought in to the pre-ICO, but then they did away with the escrow service and refunded my money. I have not reinvested at this point. Even though they say they will refund, and even though they actually DID refund my money, I would really prefer to have an escrow service or a multi-sig wallet. I would not have invested initially except that they had a reliable escrow, and I confirmed that person's involvement. To reinvest at this point would be to hand money over to an unknown identity with only my hope that I will get it back if I ask.

What I love about this project is the profit-sharing model--I think that is just brilliant! I also love that they want to become the world's leading exchange. I think with the right team they could reach this goal. But there is the Achilles's heel--we simply do not know the team! We don't know how many people are working on reaching their goals, what problems they are running into, or anything else.

For a stark contrast to WCX, consider the Irish start-up Mingo: https://mingocoin.com/ They are having a pre-ICO tomorrow and the team membesr have been super-active for days on Telegram https://web.telegram.org/#/im?p=@GoMingoCoin and will be live-streaming for 24 hours on YouTube (starting in 3 hours): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0fMImhnp28 and they have a working project (a messaging app) with 50,000 who have already downloaded the app and are using it. They have partnerships, which they discuss, which will potentially give them access to 1.5 million new customers and have a plan for educating the masses about cryptocurrencies. I'm not saying do not invest in WCX and I am not saying do invest in Mingo, but I am pointing out the big difference that openness makes!

Great to hear from you again, @wcxofficial! I do appreciate the refund you provided, and I have held that money aside in case I decide to reinvest. I do wish you would go with an escrow service since a 3rd party is a nice safety feature. If not escrow, how about a multi-sig wallet? It's nice to trust people, but in crypto we strive for trustless systems, do we not? In a worst-case scenario where I decided I wanted a refund, I really am not in any position to get that refund if you refuse. You could take down your website, disappear, and I would have no recourse (I would not even know who to try to go after). If, instead, you had a multi-sig wallet I could deposit into and wait to sign until end of ICO then I would feel I had some protection.

To be clear, I really want this project to succeed--for purely selfish reasons! Not only would I like a better exchange than anything else out there (you are not there yet), but I would love to have a stable and growing monthly payout in a mix of cryptocurrencies. I love the option of being able to seek a refund all the way until the end of the ICO if you can make it "set in stone" in some manner. By the end of the ICO we should have some real numbers of transactions/day and get a sense of how much we may earn on returns each month. If I had some sort of safeguard in place (escrow or multi-sig wallet or ??) then I would reinvest right away. Without that I am quite hesitant, having lost money before to people who had given every reassurance that my money would be safe with them.

I was the one who posted the email I received that said my BTC investment would be returned:
"We recently switched escrow managers and the payment you made during the presale was actually sent to the old escrow manager address. This happened to a few folks who bought during the presale while the old escrow address was displayed on the site. Do you have a refund address we can use to send you . . ."

I am just posting to let everyone know that my full investment WAS refunded to the BTC address I provided.

"You can resend those at a later date to our new escrow address. The WCXT tokens in your balance will remain intact."

I have not heard back from them at this point with a new address, but it is true that my WXCT token balance has remained intact (I'm sure if I do not reinvest they will disappear). Although I would like more transparency regarding team members and the company overall, to this point they have done as they said they would do. Since my funds were returned I have to consider whether to trust them a second time. It really comes down to whether or not I think they can reach their goal of becoming the leading exchange. That is a very lofty goal. I do like the profit-sharing program--that gives token holders a huge incentive to help the exchange be a success. If they are truly customer-centric and have the expertise to build according to customer wants, then I think they have a decent chance of success. Of course, there are a lot of unknown variables, including the recent regulatory moves by the Chinese government.

Received this email from WCX:

Dear XXXXX,

We recently switched escrow managers and the payment you made during the presale was actually sent to the old escrow manager address. This happened to a few folks who bought during the presale while the old escrow address was displayed on the site.

Do you have a refund address we can use to send you the:

X.XXX BTC

you used to purchase WCXT during the presale?

You can resend those at a later date to our new escrow address. The WCXT tokens in your balance will remain intact.

Best regards,

Paul Kaplan
Customer Support
---------
I sent them a BTC address and am told my funds should be there within 24 hours. I will then get to decide whether or not to send those funds back. Considering the flurry of bad sentiment right now it is a great sign if all pre-ICO money is returned.

Hey folks--it's an actual exchange!    I was glad to receive an invite and dove right in. Depositing some ETH went very quickly. I have been playing around with little trades, selling ETH for BTC, selling BTC for LTC. The main problem right now is super low volume, but the mechanics of it seem to be working just fine. The chart options look great--again, they will be much more interesting when there is more volume and more trading history.

Not only is there an actual exchange, but there is a roadmap on Trello. It says it is public, so I am sharing the link https://trello.com/b/596LMpPZ/wcx-product-roadmap.

Addressing the Important Question of Coin Cap I did the math!  

From the calculator on their website, if you say you hold 250,000 coins and you set daily volume = $1B, then your monthly payout is $1,500.

• $1B/day in volume, with a fee of 0.1% yields fees of $1,000,000/day * 30 days/month = $30 million/month in profits
• 20% of $30m = $6 million/month to be shared with token holders
• $1,500/$6,000,000 = 0.00025. That proportion of money is based on my proportion of coins. Hence, 250,000 coins/.00025 = 1,000,000,000 coins total

So the calculator is running on an assumption of 1 billion coins, which would let them raise about $100,000,000 (not that much due to bonuses, coin retention, etc).

Although I too would like more information, I did receive confirmation from Fran Strajnar that he is indeed acting as escrow. His involvement adds a lot of legitimacy to what they are doing and was enough to keep me interested. Details are definitely lacking, but I love the clear mission and the generous profit-sharing program.

I'm not sure if "Einsteiniums" is the proper name for group members, but I just wanted to say "Howdy." I'm a biologist living in a small town in south Texas, and I have been getting more and more interested in cryptocurrencies (I've noticed that I'm not the only one). Einsteinium is a cool concept, and I would like to help spread awareness. I was wondering if there was a way I could use it as a sort of reward system in the classes I teach--for example, if I had my students set up with wallets could I have them all just bring a printout to class of their wallet QR code, and in class I could then award them a few coins here and there for participation, helping each other, etc. Or maybe they could do group projects, publish them someplace, and have people vote on their projects for a reward of EMC2.

I'm just throwing out ideas. I'd love to hear what others think for ways to involve students who are brand new to cryptocurrencies.

Thanks,

~Kevin