How does shapeshift/changelly work?

[andy_nyc]

They are not full-blown exchanges, like Binance. What's their architecture look like?

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[nc50lc]

They are still connected to an exchange (or multiple) to trade your coins, the only difference is: They are the one who's in charge of the whole process.

Read this (quote from changelly):

Changelly’s trading algorithm is integrated into the largest cryptocurrency exchange platforms, including Binance, Poloniex, Bittrex etc. In the span of milliseconds, Changelly makes bids and asks on the platforms, then selects and suggests the best available rate and displays the estimated rate on our site. The rates remain approximate until the transaction is actually made on the blockchain. The exchange rate at the time of a transaction may differ slightly from the estimated rate that you see when you begin a transaction.

This should be moved to Service Discussion.

[andy_nyc]

Does it mean that they hold some money on those exchanges? Otherwise they would have to transfer my coins to the destination exchange, make a trade and withdraw to my wallet, which would take quite some time and the rate could be significantly off from the original one.

P.S. Apologies for posting it to a wrong sub-forum.

[nc50lc]

They definitely hold money in those Exchange and at the same time they must have multiple dedicated wallets for sending out the computed amount, receiver addresses and hodler of balance for/from day trading.
They base the current best exchange rate from those exchanges as the quote said then trade the amount using their own balance
but the sent coin to the user didn't came from the exchange, it's also from their own wallet.

If that's not the case, exchanged outputs will come from those exchange's addresses and would take hours to days since most exchange do "batch withdrawals".

[socks435]

I suggest you to check the both website and I am sure they have their own explanation if how does their exchange works.

Look at this one "How does changelly works?"

Another here "How does shapeshift works?"

[jvdp]

I suggest you to check the both website and I am sure they have their own explanation if how does their exchange works.

Look at this one "How does changelly works?"

Another here "How does shapeshift works?"

Even he can access to such while he is trying to use both the exchanges. LOL.

We need to share our thoughts I believe. Let's explain your own review about shapeshift and changelly. These both are useful convert cryptos to other cryptos instantly.
Better to use in these I suggest to changelly for fastest convertion.

[Bitcoin_Arena]

Does it mean that they hold some money on those exchanges?

 Otherwise they would have to transfer my coins to the destination exchange, make a trade and withdraw to my wallet, which would take quite some time and the rate could be significantly off from the original one.

P.S. Apologies for posting it to a wrong sub-forum.

Absolutely, they do have money ready to be traded off as soon as you make an order.

Delays which happen could be transaction related for example they could first have to wait for a confirmation of your payment and you would also have to wait for the sent crypto transaction to be confirmed in order to receive the digital assets in your wallet.

Best exchange rate is displayed at the time you execute an order and that the amount you get to receive whether after 10 minutes or 30 minutes

[andy_nyc]

Got it. It makes sense. Do you think they run full nodes to interact with wallets or use some sort of SPVs?

[shield132]

At first the great thing changelly offers is no need of verification. They work like any service, for example gambling website which has built in exchanger but difference is following: shapeshift/changelly makes procedure super easy for you but with high fees. For example you need to exchange 1000$ worth bitcoins into etheteum, you deposit and get 960$ ethereum instantly. But they exchange that money on exchanger or have direct provider and do 1:1 rates.

[DireWolfM14]

I've never used changelly, but ShapeShift used to be anonymous.  Now ShapeShift requires some KYC information.  Since they are merely middle-men between you and the full-blown exchanges, charging you middle-men fees as well as the fees the exchange is charging, I don't know why anybody would use them.  

If you have to submit KYC anyway might as well register to a full featured exchange, control your buy and sell orders yourself, and save money on fees.  

[Lanatsa]

I've never used changelly, but ShapeShift used to be anonymous.  Now ShapeShift requires some KYC information.  Since they are merely middle-men between you and the full-blown exchanges, charging you middle-men fees as well as the fees the exchange is charging, I don't know why anybody would use them.  

If you have to submit KYC anyway might as well register to a full featured exchange, control your buy and sell orders yourself, and save money on fees.  

Have the same questions on my mind too why there are people who do really tend to make use of these exchangers if there are full featured ones.
I cant deny the fact that this do give somehow the convenience yet you do just directly sent out your coin and exchange it into specific coin that you want without
too much hassle.Shapeshift already goes to the path of KYC that's why I shift up on changelly.

[andy_nyc]

Has anyone seen open-source solutions similar to ShapeShift/Changelly?

[Bitcoin_Arena]

Try to check out https://coinswitch.co
Not really sure whether it's open source but it does allow you to select your preferred wallet and exchange (binance, huobi inclusive)

[Zalaster]

I've never used changelly, but ShapeShift used to be anonymous.  Now ShapeShift requires some KYC information.  Since they are merely middle-men between you and the full-blown exchanges, charging you middle-men fees as well as the fees the exchange is charging, I don't know why anybody would use them.  

If you have to submit KYC anyway might as well register to a full featured exchange, control your buy and sell orders yourself, and save money on fees.  

Have the same questions on my mind too why there are people who do really tend to make use of these exchangers if there are full featured ones.
I cant deny the fact that this do give somehow the convenience yet you do just directly sent out your coin and exchange it into specific coin that you want without
too much hassle.Shapeshift already goes to the path of KYC that's why I shift up on changelly.

You can try Changenow, which do not require KYC up to 11 BTC, as far as I know. I use exchangers because it is much easier and reduces the risk. Any exchange, even Binance, can be hacked, or they can block an account, as Bittrex does sometimes. In both cases, the funds will be lost, so exchanges without registration are more secure.

[magneto]

They obviously have accounts with the major exchanges.

However, I wouldn't doubt that they probably have their own hot wallet and cold wallets for each of the coins to facilitate these exchanges so quickly, and also to avoid the counterparty risk of using exchanges. In regards to how much they actually hold in their own reserves, you would have to ask the services themselves.

You can try Changenow, which do not require KYC up to 11 BTC, as far as I know. I use exchangers because it is much easier and reduces the risk. Any exchange, even Binance, can be hacked, or they can block an account, as Bittrex does sometimes. In both cases, the funds will be lost, so exchanges without registration are more secure.

There was a case recently where Changenow asked Bitblender to submit ID even though they were advertised as "anonymous". For that simple reason, I will not be using them regardless of what their current promises are, nor would I blindly believe anything put out there right now by any exchanger because government policy is completely out of their control.

[Ave_Maximus]

They obviously have accounts with the major exchanges.

However, I wouldn't doubt that they probably have their own hot wallet and cold wallets for each of the coins to facilitate these exchanges so quickly, and also to avoid the counterparty risk of using exchanges. In regards to how much they actually hold in their own reserves, you would have to ask the services themselves.

You can try Changenow, which do not require KYC up to 11 BTC, as far as I know. I use exchangers because it is much easier and reduces the risk. Any exchange, even Binance, can be hacked, or they can block an account, as Bittrex does sometimes. In both cases, the funds will be lost, so exchanges without registration are more secure.

There was a case recently where Changenow asked Bitblender to submit ID even though they were advertised as "anonymous". For that simple reason, I will not be using them regardless of what their current promises are, nor would I blindly believe anything put out there right now by any exchanger because government policy is completely out of their control.

on changenow you can refuse to pass kyc and get a refund within 24 hours

[carlfebz2]

They obviously have accounts with the major exchanges.

However, I wouldn't doubt that they probably have their own hot wallet and cold wallets for each of the coins to facilitate these exchanges so quickly, and also to avoid the counterparty risk of using exchanges. In regards to how much they actually hold in their own reserves, you would have to ask the services themselves.

You can try Changenow, which do not require KYC up to 11 BTC, as far as I know. I use exchangers because it is much easier and reduces the risk. Any exchange, even Binance, can be hacked, or they can block an account, as Bittrex does sometimes. In both cases, the funds will be lost, so exchanges without registration are more secure.

There was a case recently where Changenow asked Bitblender to submit ID even though they were advertised as "anonymous". For that simple reason, I will not be using them regardless of what their current promises are, nor would I blindly believe anything put out there right now by any exchanger because government policy is completely out of their control.

They would really have that own wallet yet transactions are almost instant where it wont really need for the user to wait for them to trade up the amount into their exchange accounts before making any transfer.

About Changenow,im well awared about that Kyc asked to Bitblender.So, i wont be surprised that these implementations will happen on near future.

[leowonderful]

Does anyone have more information on the Changelly and Bitblender situation? I've tried to look for these two terms online through Google and I've come up dry. I'm interested in this as I've used Bitblender consistently over the last two years and even more recently and this just might be what makes me switch over to another blender.

Changelly definitely doesn't look too great to me considering all the negative trusts sent to the account representing the site on Bitcointalk (click for link).

[mrdeposit]

Try to check out https://coinswitch.co
Not really sure whether it's open source but it does allow you to select your preferred wallet and exchange (binance, huobi inclusive)

Coinswitch offers the best rates from various exchange services. They mainly promote the changelly as the best in the list but in reality, some alternative exchanges can beat their rates and fees. FixedFloat also has better rates after testing the ETH>DOGE on both sites. The difference is clear but speeds are almost instant on both service.

[sammyp]

I've never used changelly, but ShapeShift used to be anonymous.  Now ShapeShift requires some KYC information.  Since they are merely middle-men between you and the full-blown exchanges, charging you middle-men fees as well as the fees the exchange is charging, I don't know why anybody would use them.  

If you have to submit KYC anyway might as well register to a full featured exchange, control your buy and sell orders yourself, and save money on fees.  

This is very true and a good piece of advice especially to new in cryptos. Most of us were not well privileged to have known that ShapeShift is operating as middlemen. I used their services some years back and I was so pleased that I would have rated them 100% if I was asked to even though I paid so much as fees to have my LTC converted to BTC. If I had this piece of information by then, I wouldn't have paid that kind of money as fees.