WAVES - exchange review, cryptocurrency, forecast

Waves Exchange

, launched
by Sasha Ivanov
in 2022, was a decentralized exchange system. The exchange then received a 2-year competition and was changed to a hybrid crypto exchange platform in December 2022. The hybrid nature of this exchange includes both decentralized for security and centralized with advanced features of a standard crypto exchange. The platform also allows users to transfer, bet, trade and more.

Waves offers its clients a unique experience by offering modified features compared to a traditional crypto exchange. What sets it apart from the rest is that it is built on its own blockchain, offers fast and secure trading, betting options, cheap trading and aims to provide more than a decentralized network such as an API for mobile app selection.

In addition to supporting fiat currencies, Waves offers BTC, ETH, XRP, WAVES and over 30,000 coins. Waves, a decentralized exchange, avoids any national laws and regulations that may apply to cryptocurrency exchanges.

You can easily learn about the Waves Exchange team, which reflects the platform's commitment to maintaining transparency.

Characteristics and features of Waves cryptocurrency

Initially, Waves was perceived as a less effective alternative to Ethereum, since it appeared 3 years later than the project of Vitaly Buterin. For example, until 2022, the Waves platform did not have smart contracts that allow you to control funds without the intervention of third parties.

However, the creators quickly equipped Waves with the necessary options. The platform has its own exchange and licensed fiat gateways, thanks to which users can easily exchange currency for real money.

Mining is carried out by a small group of people; there are no forks, since the main goal of the developers is to create a reliable platform for financing startups.

The advantage of Waves is the maximum simplicity of tokenization. In other words, creating your own asset does not require technical knowledge or a deep understanding of blockchain technologies.

Important! In addition to creating their own currency and developing crowdfunding, project participants use Waves as an ordinary cryptocurrency.

General characteristics of the cryptocurrency for April 2022:

49th place in the ranking of currencies by capitalization;
total capitalization – 7,435,643,804 rubles;
daily trading volume – 4,707,293,092 rubles;
the total number of coins is 101,575,240 WAVES.

In December 2022, the price rose to 1,293 rubles, but subsequently the rate gradually dropped: as of April 2020, one coin costs 73.2 rubles.

This cost does not deter buyers, since the project focuses on the Waves platform, and not on its own currency.

The history of the creation of the waves cryptocurrency

The founder of Waves is Russian entrepreneur Alexander Ivanov. In 2016, he was interested in the decentralized NXT platform and decided to create his own project, which would correct the shortcomings of such platforms.

Reference ! The Waves platform was created in the spring of 2016.

By June 2016, the developers had collected 30 thousand bitcoins through crowdfunding. At that time it was over 16 million dollars. The team spent this amount on issuing its own currency and further developments. The first issue of coins took place on June 7, 2016.

Waves quickly attracted the attention of cryptocurrency market participants. On March 25, 2022, the creators added the ability to purchase bitcoins through a bank card, and on March 29 they launched a decentralized exchange platform - the DEX exchange.

On May 3, 2022, the developers enabled mining using the Proof-of-Stake algorithm. After a short time, the creators integrated payment gateways that allowed the use of dollars and euros.

Waves developer manifesto

The platform developers are pursuing ambitious goals. They want not only to make a profit from the product, but also to create a platform that will bring tangible benefits to other participants in the crypto market: business, government, and, ultimately, ordinary people.

The ideas of the Waves creators are reflected in a short manifesto consisting of 7 interconnected points:

The authors report that the Waves platform is a serious product that will find wide application in the near future. The developers do not intend to be in the cramped inner world of the relatively few cryptocurrency lovers.
Traditional banks have every right to continue to operate, but they must introduce new technologies and bring transparency to their activities.
Cryptocurrencies and the very idea of blockchain should become as widespread and decentralized as possible.
The use of blockchain is not limited to the sphere of financial relations; the technology should be used in all areas of life due to transparency and decentralization.
The Waves platform is designed to create and process all kinds of crowdfunding projects.
Waves cryptocurrency forecasts are positive, but the platform does not focus on its own currency and does not engage in intensive mining. Its task is to give a start to the functioning of other cryptocurrencies.
Blockchain, decentralization and cryptocurrencies should be seamlessly integrated into existing financial and government institutions.

The main point of the manifesto is the spread of blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Waves sees itself as an "incubator" for creating currencies and supporting unique projects.

How does Waves cryptocurrency work?

It has been repeatedly noted before that Waves is not only a cryptocurrency in the usual sense. Native tokens are required to support the platform that is used to create digital currencies.

So, on the Waves platform, currencies are exchanged and their own projects are launched (including withdrawal to ICO).

Any user can create their own token, and this does not require specific knowledge and skills.

Transactions with tokens are, of course, encrypted using blockchain technology. If necessary, currencies are easily converted into other tokens, popular cryptocurrencies and fiat (real) money.

Main pros and cons of currency

Waves was originally created as an alternative to Ethereum, and therefore has some undeniable advantages:

Easy to use. The user does not need to be a programmer or cryptocurrency expert to create a token.
Own exchange. On the DEX platform, you can easily exchange personal tokens, digital and fiat currencies, and the transfer fees are low.
High speed. Blockchain technology on the Waves platform has been greatly improved.
Rich functionality. For user convenience, a mobile application and special browser plugins have been developed.
Interesting Waves mining method. Coins are awarded as a reward for renting tokens to other users.

of disadvantages can be noted:

User tokens must comply with legal requirements. At the same time, this nuance is a headache for the project participants, and not the owners of the Waves platform.
Reduced level of anonymity. Users must verify their identity, but this reduces the likelihood of fraud.

In addition, the platform sometimes experiences technical glitches. So, in June 2022, the site suffered from a phishing attack, but hackers still did not get to user tokens.

On April 17, 2022, there was a sharp collapse in the Waves rate on the Binance exchange: the price dropped by 99.9%, and then returned to its previous values within a few seconds. This phenomenon was not observed on other exchanges; the reasons for the collapse remained unclear.

Risks of Waves

All risks from using the Waves platform are divided into several categories:

Technical. Errors occur in the operation of any software and computer code, which lead to a decrease in the price of tokens.
Human. Some unscrupulous people are trying to create a project on the platform for openly fraudulent purposes.
Legal. The laws of different states have ambivalent attitudes towards cryptocurrencies and projects arising from them.

The risks listed above apply to any digital currency.

Waves - what is it?

The technical motivation behind the WAVES platform is to make it easier for nodes to not load the blockchain. The classic Bitcoin approach does not have good scalability, since it is difficult to store the history of all transactions on each node. There are different ways to mitigate this inconvenience - bidirectional payment tunnels, off-chain transactions, etc.

However, with the simplest approach, a two-tier architecture is formed in the network - low-capacity nodes are forced to rely on higher-capacity nodes. This is the initial stage of centralization. This results in trust issues because light nodes must trust full nodes and can fall prey to malicious full nodes.

WAVES is based on the Scorex platform, which takes an approach based on using the current state of the network as an alternative to storing a complete history of transactions. Light nodes use simplified payment verification procedures, but have an additional layer of security.

At first glance, the approach implemented by Waves seems extreme to supporters of classic cryptocurrencies. Light nodes do not load the blockchain at all, as they rely on full nodes for network communication and payment. The Nxt platform has been operating in a similar way for several years now.

Where and how to buy Waves

Waves is primarily traded on its own decentralized exchange, the DEX, but the coins are also traded on other cryptocurrency exchanges. For example, Waves can be traded on the decentralized exchange Uniswap. But there you cannot pay for transactions with a card - only with other tokens. Waves is most actively traded in pairs with USDT. If you already have this coin, you can exchange it for Waves through Uniswap in one click.

If you don’t have the coins you need, the easiest way is to buy them on the Binance exchange. There you can purchase USDT from ruble cards Visa, MasterCard, MIR or through the AdvCash payment system. And then on Uniswap, exchange it for Waves when you need it.

As for its own Waves DEX exchange, at the end of 2022 it switched to the Waves Exchange platform, which combined all the tools - gateways, wallets, mining, tokenization.

On the exchange, even without registration, you can see the rate of the selected pair (for example, WAVES/BTC), see the general history of transactions, and analyze the order book. BTC can also be purchased on the Binance exchange. There you can pay for tokens in rubles using a bank card.

How to buy BTC on Binance:

register on the platform using your email address;
undergo passport verification;
on the “Buy Cryptocurrency” page, enter the required number of BTC coins;
Click the “Continue” button and select a bank card for payment.

It is important to note that investing in cryptocurrency involves risk, just like any other investment activity.

Description of the project, history of creation

The Waves platform was launched in March 2016. The creator is Russian businessman Alexander Ivanov, who was inspired by the experience of the NXT platform.

The development of the project began with an ICO, and by July 2016 it was possible to collect almost 30,000 BTC, which made Waves the best ICO of 2016. It is believed that such success was achieved thanks to a combination of innovative technologies and the actual idea of the project itself.

In the spring of next year, users were able to buy Bitcoins directly for fiat, thanks to cooperation with the Indacoin trading platform. And soon the DEX exchange was founded, aimed at exchanging cryptocurrency tokens among themselves without the participation of Bitcoin or Ethereum.

The introduction of payment gateways in the form of euros and American dollars had a strong impact on the growth of the Waves cryptocurrency - now many large investors are interested in the asset.

What does Waves platform do? Areas of work

So, the main priority of the developers is not to create their own currency, but to support a special platform for crowdfunding and the issuance of custom tokens.

To this end, the creators of the Waves Platform actively cooperate with various organizations and attract clients who are interested in blockchain technology.

Reference! Back in May 2022, the platform shell was transferred to Microsoft Azure, which made it possible to use serious projects.

In 2022, the developers briefly outlined the list of upcoming tasks:

creating an extension for the Waves Keeper browser, which simplifies interaction with various services and stores confidential information;
development of applications for a mass audience (taking into account the principles of tokenization, transparency and decentralization);
implementation of a decentralized voting platform (the project has already been used at the municipal level);
construction of a tokenized social network, the priority of which is the storage of personal user data.

Waves also launched the Tokenomica project, which connects investors and companies. Investments are made by attracting digital assets.

Projects in Russia

Waves is a Russian product that has been collaborating with a wide variety of companies and organizations since its inception. Back in 2017, the developers attracted the Growth Party to their platform and even released the Upcoin token for it. The project included the widespread introduction of blockchain technologies for internal voting, fundraising, and a rating system.

Important ! On April 12, 2022, Waves created a separate project, Vostok, the purpose of which is to create a closed platform for the needs of state corporations and authorities.

During 2022, Vostok entered into many agreements with well-known Russian companies (Sberbank, Rostec, Transmashholding, Dom.rf, Gazprombank, and others). The project owners are seeking wide dissemination of digital methods and developments in all spheres of life (industry, information technology, housing and communal services).

In the Nizhny Novgorod region, Vostok launched a smart voting system, thanks to which the population distributes part of the taxes for necessary needs.

The project turned out to be so successful that already in July 2022, the GHP Group acquired the platform from the founders of Waves. As a result of the transaction, Vostok became fully owned by GHP Group, which intends to continue introducing digital technologies into various assets. At the same time, all Vostok managers and developers will continue to work, as they have proven their mastery in the field of decentralized projects.

The creator of Waves, Alexander Ivanov, said that Vostok is becoming an increasingly independent system. After selling this asset, he plans to focus on the Waves Platform, which should become the basis for large-scale projects and the Web 3.0 system.

In October 2022, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of GHP Group and Alexander Ivanov announced that it was decided to abolish the Vostok brand. All previously launched projects and the development team will move to the Global Chain enterprise. In turn, Global Chain was placed on the Waves Enterprise platform.

Waves Enterprise Product Director says that the platform wants to offer blockchain technologies that can be easily integrated into the work of any enterprise. The second area of activity is the development of our own ecosystem (for example, voting or identification services).

Waves Enterprise cooperates with such organizations as Kaspersky, Microsoft, X5 Retail Group, Rosneft, Skolkovo, Alfa-Bank and develops special projects for them. At Skolkovo, the company conducts training events and expands its circle of partners.

Advantages and disadvantages

Strengths of Waves cryptocurrency:

Convenient and intuitive wallet interface.
An original scheme for receiving coins. Only nodes with 10,000+ tokens participate in mining, and small investors can “rent” their tokens to larger ones, in return receiving passive income in the form of a percentage of profits.
Own cryptocurrency exchange service with low commissions.
Wide functionality of the site. There is support for plugins for Google Chrome.

Weaknesses of the Waves cryptocurrency:

Creating your own tokens requires a deep understanding of the law in order to avoid legal claims.
Anonymity is reduced due to the connection of the KYC (know-your-customer) system. True, in this way the creators also reduced the risks of fraud.
The platform has not yet been perfected, although most of the initial bugs and inconveniences have, of course, been eliminated.

Decentralized exchange Waves DEX

In April 2022, the project team launched a decentralized platform for exchanging digital tokens and fiat currency - DEX. All the main functions that are available in Waves are implemented there.

Pros and cons of the DEX cryptocurrency exchange from Waves

pros

High level of security. An advantage that distinguishes any decentralized exchange from its centralized competitors. Decentralized platforms operate on the basis of a distributed registry. This means that neither user funds, nor their keys and wallet addresses are stored on the servers of the exchange itself. It simply acts as a system for finding matches between buy and sell orders.
Support for fiat currencies. Not all cryptocurrency exchange platforms work with fiat money (this means that in order to top up your account balance, you need to purchase cryptocurrency through a third-party service; you can also only withdraw cryptocurrency from the exchange). This may not always be convenient for everyone.
Availability of a mobile application. An important tool for those who want to have control over their assets 24 hours a day.
High speed. The Waves-NG protocol has been implemented on the platform, thanks to which transactions are carried out almost instantly.
Low commissions. The transaction fee is only 0.0003 WAVES.

Minuses

Possibility of issuing counterfeit and unregistered tokens. Due to the fact that anyone can issue tokens, panic and negativity towards Waves DEX often arise in the crypto community.
Lack of some trading options. For example, it is not possible to place a stop loss order on the exchange. In the current high market volatility, this tool can save you from large losses.

The exchange interface is simple and intuitive, in addition, there is a version in Russian.