I'm starting an exchange | Need some help with features/ideas

[a1dan.lol]

Hey all,

I'm starting an exchange that connects to other exchanges as a proxy and preform the exchange without the logged data. Let me explain...

You choose an exchange partner -> We collect data about the exchange (address, amount, etc) -> We send it over to the exchange via API -> You send crypto directly to the exchange -> They send you the crypto -> You earn rewards from us in crypto!

This is technically not beneficial (monetarily speaking), but functions as an introduction of me (as a person) to the crypto community, and a tool for crypto "noobs" (I would love to have this 3 years back  )

Let me know any ideas or concerns you have so I can let this project take off!

The code will be published (and public of course) on GitHub and my website.

Thanks!

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[PX-Z]

So this is just another instant exchange? Do you require KYC? Doe fees varies from coins to coins, OR just depends on you, OR it depends on the partner exchange?

KYC and fees are the ones that concern users why they choose to use an instant exchange instead on traditional cex, so what your take on this.

Btw being an open source is a good decision too. Also, welcome to the forum.

[noorman0]

Some parts I don't understand:

-snip-
You choose an exchange partner ->

You mean you have a list of partners and users just have to choose one when they want to trade?

-snip-
We collect data about the exchange (address, amount, etc) -> We send it over to the exchange via API ->

Why collect exchange data? I think this is precisely the request to the user as the normal exchange process without intermediaries.

-snip-
You send crypto directly to the exchange -> They send you the crypto -> You earn rewards from us in crypto!

(Cmiiw)So, basically you are only facilitating users with your (verified) accounts, or otherwise how do you get around that? Most of the top exchanges are implementing KYC at the moment. The risk of freezes is also greater because users can send directly to exchange addresses without you guaranteeing that it's "clean" money.

[mk4]

You choose an exchange partner -> We collect data about the exchange (address, amount, etc) -> We send it over to the exchange via API -> You send crypto directly to the exchange -> They send you the crypto -> You earn rewards from us in crypto!

I'm confused with this part. Which ones are the exchange partner and which ones are your "exchange"?

Also, is your "exchange" somewhat similar to what the likes of 3Commas are doing?

[Apocollapse]

I think your project is similar like Bestchange.com since you're just become a third party who connect a customer with supplier with some criteria like the better rate, many payment option, etc.

Actually Bestchange.com alone is already good, but there's a case where they're not transparent with every customers feedback since they can remove 1 negative feedback with 1 positive feedback, it would become neutral. Actually it's not correct to do that, maybe you can improve in this feedback part?

[hugeblack]

I'm starting an exchange that connects to other exchanges as a proxy and preform the exchange without the logged data. Let me explain...

It depends on the type of service you are trying to provide

* If you act as a proxy for CEXs --> you will register with new account --> perform KYC --> then make that account available to unknown people using your API without asking them for KYC then You are providing a service closer to money laundering and may not be legal or in accordance with TOS of most CEXs.

* If you act as a proxy for DEXs & your code is open source then it is a good experience and may get some attention (try uploading the code anonymously)

* If it is just advice and recommendations, you provide a service similar to BestChange.

[Potato Chips]

From what I understand, it's a cashback/rewards program? You integrate a swap exchange in your website - pretty much referring people, get a % from the trade and share some to your users, correct? 

Then I suggest letting your users know what they're getting into e.g. if the exchange may at some point request for kyc, who to contact when problem arises, the prohibited uses to take note from the chosen exchange, etc. You could set up an easy to read pop-up box and/or have them as filters to help users pick an exchange.

[a1dan.lol]

So this is just another instant exchange? Do you require KYC? Doe fees varies from coins to coins, OR just depends on you, OR it depends on the partner exchange?

KYC and fees are the ones that concern users why they choose to use an instant exchange instead on traditional cex, so what your take on this.

Btw being an open source is a good decision too. Also, welcome to the forum.

Yep! This is another instant exchange that doesn't require KYC! The fees depend on the partner, yes, but the fees will be transparent, so you can select an exchange partner with the lowest fees (or if you had a bad experience with a partner, then you can choose another partner). This also will have a dollar (or local currency) amount that you are paying for fees (for ease of use). Thanks for the welcome!

[a1dan.lol]

From what I understand, it's a cashback/rewards program? You integrate a swap exchange in your website - pretty much referring people, get a % from the trade and share some to your users, correct? 

Then I suggest letting your users know what they're getting into e.g. if the exchange may at some point request for kyc, who to contact when problem arises, the prohibited uses to take note from the chosen exchange, etc. You could set up an easy to read pop-up box and/or have them as filters to help users pick an exchange.

Technically, it is a rewards platform only, I didn't really think about having referrals as a way to distribute funds. My initial idea was to simply act as a proxy and not earn a cut at all, but I think that could help fund the hosting, domain, and dev work. That sounds like a great feature to implement, maybe you could get paid in a crypto of your choice instead of exchange tokens (like $UNI).

I also love the idea to add some notices so users know the terms of each exchange partner, and an easy-to-use filter to find an exchange with the requirements they are comfortable with.

Thanks for the advice!

[a1dan.lol]

I'm starting an exchange that connects to other exchanges as a proxy and preform the exchange without the logged data. Let me explain...

It depends on the type of service you are trying to provide

* If you act as a proxy for CEXs --> you will register with new account --> perform KYC --> then make that account available to unknown people using your API without asking them for KYC then You are providing a service closer to money laundering and may not be legal or in accordance with TOS of most CEXs.

* If you act as a proxy for DEXs & your code is open source then it is a good experience and may get some attention (try uploading the code anonymously)

* If it is just advice and recommendations, you provide a service similar to BestChange.

CEX: I plan not to use CEXs due to the fact, like you mentioned, that I would be providing a service like money laundering. If I think of implementing this, I would most likely find a CEX that allows this (and the support confirms), but the legality on my side (money laundering) might still be an issue. I don't plan to implement CEXs anytime soon unless I have good reason to.

DEX: I plan to implement some ETH DEXs to start off (first DEX would be 1inch and UniSwap), then move to some other DEXs which provide services for other cryptocurrencies. The code will be open source, so I think this will gain some traction from that factor alone.

BestChange: BestChange seems like a solid site, don't get me wrong, but they lack the functionality (which as a crypto noob would be difficult) to preform the exchange themselves, they seem to only be a comparison, non-interactive exchange database. A lot of features (like exchange rates in USD) will be some features I plan to implement. Another user mentioned the fact that their feedback seems suspicious, and I think it might be a cool idea to have feedback sent to IPFS in JSON format so anyone can query feedback and ensure I am not changing feedback to be positive in my, or an exchanges favor.

Thanks for the advice and feedback, it means the world!

[a1dan.lol]

Some parts I don't understand:

-snip-
You choose an exchange partner ->

You mean you have a list of partners and users just have to choose one when they want to trade?

-snip-
We collect data about the exchange (address, amount, etc) -> We send it over to the exchange via API ->

Why collect exchange data? I think this is precisely the request to the user as the normal exchange process without intermediaries.

-snip-
You send crypto directly to the exchange -> They send you the crypto -> You earn rewards from us in crypto!

(Cmiiw)So, basically you are only facilitating users with your (verified) accounts, or otherwise how do you get around that? Most of the top exchanges are implementing KYC at the moment. The risk of freezes is also greater because users can send directly to exchange addresses without you guaranteeing that it's "clean" money.

1st Question: That's correct, let's say there's FixedFloat, ChangeNow, and Coinbase (I wouldn't adopt Coinbase, just an example of a CEX) available to trade for BTC/USDT. My exchange would say that FixedFloat is offering $1 in BTC for 0.98 USDT, ChangeNow is offering $1 in BTC for 0.975 USDT, and Coinbase is offering $1 in BTC for 0.89 USDT. Let's also say that the user had a bad experience in the past using FixedFloat, so they decide to use ChangeNow. This means that they know how much USDT they are receiving, and which partner they are connecting to in order to preform an exchange from a partner.

2nd Question: By exchange data, I mean the rate the exchange is offering, and the address to send it to (and so on). I should have been more clear there, I won't collect any PII like IP addresses.

3rd Question: I will not be using any exchanges (unless there is a way to do this legally and safely, and people would like to have those exchanges as an option, CEXs that is) that require KYC or disallow 3rd party payments via API endpoints. DEXs and no-KYC instant exchanges would be the only exchanges avaliable. In the future, I might possibly add functionality for a user to use our site (for fee calculation, maybe an easier UI to use) to connect their API keys to the exchange's API to preform trades. Those keys wouldn't be stored, only as an ease-of-use feature (although I am not sure there is any demand for that).

[a1dan.lol]

I think your project is similar like Bestchange.com since you're just become a third party who connect a customer with supplier with some criteria like the better rate, many payment option, etc.

Actually Bestchange.com alone is already good, but there's a case where they're not transparent with every customers feedback since they can remove 1 negative feedback with 1 positive feedback, it would become neutral. Actually it's not correct to do that, maybe you can improve in this feedback part?

It's simular to BestChange, but also way differnet than what they're doing. BestChange is a directory of exchange rates and payment methods, which takes you to third-party sites where you can exchange your crypto. BestChange doesn't facilitate trades on their site, which is what I'm doing. My site connects to the third-party exchange and fetches fee information for that specific amount, not a general $1 USD value. They also don't seem to have the best exchanges listed (ones I've either never heard of, or don't seem trustworthy to me) for exchanging crypto-to-crypto. I also plan to allow fiat-to-crypto exchanges through LocalX (X being the crypto, like LocalBitcoins, or LocalMonero) to make it easy to see rates and do trades on one platform.

Don't get me wrong, BestChange seems like an awesome site, but I also noticed that when browsing their site a while ago, which concerned me too. I plan to upload feedback to IPFS to make sure the reviews can't be skewed in my favor, or in favor of another exchange. Reviews (on any site) I am always wary of, you never know what people's motives are for leaving reviews, so hopefully the power of IPFS might fix that solution, and my site can help easily browse the feedback on third-party exchanges, and my exchange as a whole.

Thanks for the feedback!

[a1dan.lol]

You choose an exchange partner -> We collect data about the exchange (address, amount, etc) -> We send it over to the exchange via API -> You send crypto directly to the exchange -> They send you the crypto -> You earn rewards from us in crypto!

I'm confused with this part. Which ones are the exchange partner and which ones are your "exchange"?

Also, is your "exchange" somewhat similar to what the likes of 3Commas are doing?

Question 1: My exchange is mainly an interactive directory of sorts, where you put in what you want to exchange. Then, my site queries different exchanges for their rates and trading pairs to determine where you can trade, and how much fees you will pay. My site then facilitates the trade by giving you the amount to pay and where to pay it (to the exchange partner you chose).

TLDR: I'm not exchanging your funds, I'm providing a service to act as a proxy to lots of exchanges, and make it easy to see how much in fees you will be paying.

Question 2: (Correct me if I'm wrong) My exchange isn't similar to what 3Commas are doing, I'm familiar with KuCoin Trading Bots, but they don't really do the same thing, since all trades will be manually created by the user, and won't be a full-on exchange platform with charts, more an instant exchange (with lots of built-in instant exchanges)

TLDR: It's not what 3Commas are doing, I'm merely acting as a proxy to provide manual trades to instant exchanges and DEXs.

[examplens]

TLDR: I'm not exchanging your funds, I'm providing a service to act as a proxy to lots of exchanges, and make it easy to see how much in fees you will be paying.

you should be quite careful here, especially if you add more exchanges to the selection. I would suggest you look at this thread https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5424907.0 while paying attention to the user fixedfolat. He represents the same exchanger. where they have very twisted rules for KYC, retention of "suspicious" coins, their own AML policy etc...
it can easily happen that someone's funds are retained by a third party and you, as an intermediary, are responsible.

[hugeblack]

Thanks for the advice and feedback, it means the world!

How will the data be logged? Do you intend, in the current period or in the future, to connect to centralized platforms? Or what is the mechanism to ensure that?
If the data works using blinded bearer certificates or anything similar then I'd be interested.

In general, it is difficult to guarantee privacy, with the possibility of connecting to several platforms (CEXs) and with cheaper fees, and therefore the combination of the two terms may not be accurate.

[a1dan.lol]

Thanks for the advice and feedback, it means the world!

How will the data be logged? Do you intend, in the current period or in the future, to connect to centralized platforms? Or what is the mechanism to ensure that?
If the data works using blinded bearer certificates or anything similar then I'd be interested.

In general, it is difficult to guarantee privacy, with the possibility of connecting to several platforms (CEXs) and with cheaper fees, and therefore the combination of the two terms may not be accurate.

The data isn't logged at all for the first release (released at github.com/RealDoodles/SRVE), it basically uses the server's IP to connect, as if this was a mixer.

For example, let's say we have 1000 people who make an exchange on SRVE, these all come from the server's IP instead of your IP address. This means, if a corrupt government was looking for who is exchanging so much money to privacy coins on FixedFloat, they will go to FixedFloat asking "Let's see a copy of your logs, we want to investigate the largest transaction volume from your exchange on each wallet." FixedFloat (if they complied) would provide (presumably) transaction details, IP address, and location data (possibly) to the government. They have no clue what country made the transaction since thousands of transactions have the same IP address. Therefore, the transaction origin is obfuscated, except for the obviously logged transaction details (only sent to FixedFloat, we don't store it as of now).

If you have any further ideas for privacy, I'd love to hear them!

[Tabani Pierson]

In my opinion, not entirely clear what you're looking for, but I'm happy to provide some insights based on the provided web search results.

The search results appear to relate to troubleshooting issues with connecting to an Exchange server, so they may not be directly applicable to your project.

However, it's always a good idea to verify your account settings, especially if you're working with APIs or other connections. Make sure your account settings are correct and that you're using the right credentials.

If you're having trouble connecting to an exchange, try to connect from another Exchange application, such as Outlook Web App, to verify that everything is working correctly.

It's great that you're planning to publish your code on GitHub and your website. This will allow others to view and contribute to your project. It may also be helpful to engage with the crypto community and ask for feedback or suggestions.

For more join and promoting, I think consider posting on relevant forums or social media platforms and inviting others to try out your exchange.

[kelonmusk]

I think it could be helpful for those who are new to crypto and want to avoid leaving logged data on exchanges. Probably, there will be some concerns regarding the security and privacy of the collected data, so it would be important to address those.

Generally, open-sourcing the code on GitHub is a good approach to build trust within the crypto community. I means, this project may not bring in a lot of monetary benefits, but it could be a valuable tool for education and introducing yourself to the community. Good luck with your project.

[RapTarX]

Are you talking about something like Bestchange? I guess not but I can't understand what you are going to offer exactly. My bad if I'm missing info like a stupid. I guess you would add more information in the OP so that users wouldn't have confused.

This is technically not beneficial (monetarily speaking), but functions as an introduction of me (as a person) to the crypto community, and a tool for crypto "noobs" (I would love to have this 3 years back  )

If there is no monetary benefit at all; I guess you would rather think of something else. Eventually, at some point, you will lose interest in the project.