Many people like to compare the new emerging cryptocurrency market to the traditional trading of stocks. Since Aximetria’s goal is to bridge the gap between the traditional fiat financial system and the emerging crypto-ecosystem, let’s consider the common grounds of the two worlds.

In many respects, those markets are indeed very similar. First and foremost, the value of each individual asset in both markets is determined by demand: the more people are willing to pay for an asset, the more expensive it will become. Similarly, when no one on the market is willing to pay the asking price and someone agrees to sell for under the current market value, the price goes down.

Of course, the trading process is very similar as well — if you want to make a profit you need to buy low and sell high. Besides that, there are certain trading instruments that both markets have in common and, perhaps most importantly, being actively involved in trading on either one of those markets can either make you rich of lose you life-savings if you’re not being careful.

However, in the current state of affairs, there are more differences between the markets than there are similarities. Interestingly enough, when mainstream media starts talking about the stock market every single day, it usually means that there was a massive crash and we’re in for another financial crisis. In contrast, when cryptocurrencies make national news it’s usually with stories of the value doubling and even tripling, and traders becoming millionaires within a couple of weeks.

Perhaps the main difference between the two markets and at the same time the reason why many stock brokers, including the legendary Warren Buffet, are denouncing cryptocurrency trading is the fact that traditional stocks are based on a business behind them. That is an actual working international company with an actual fully-functioning product. Cryptocurrency assets, on the other hand, are often created out of thin air with only an idea of a newly-assembled startup behind them. Still, people seem to be putting a lot of trust and, most importantly, money into them.

That’s partly because the cryptocurrency market is so incredibly volatile. If you bought $1000 worth of Bitcoins in November 2017, just one month later that investment would’ve tripled as Bitcoin reached the unprecedented $20,000. Of course, this works both ways, as people who gave in to the fear of missing out and bought Bitcoin at top prices are now suffering significant loses, as Bitcoin is currently back below the $7000 mark.

Evidently, trading cryptocurrencies entail enormous amounts of risks. While the stock market is no stranger to fluctuation, it is still a significantly safer investment. For one thing, if you purchase stocks at any certified U.S. broker dealer, both the cash you spent and the stocks you bought are insured for up to $500,000 by FDIC and SPIC. This means that if anything happens to your stocks, the government will reimburse you, which is not the case with cryptocurrencies.

In addition to that, the involvement of governments in stock trading provides an extra layer of security. It’s not just the fact that you’re investment is insured, it’s the fact that it’s fully legal under currently existing regulations. Despite being around for quite some time, cryptocurrencies are still existing in the legal grey area in many jurisdictions, as authorities around the world are trying to wrap their heads around the very concept of digital currencies and decide whether they fit it within current legislation or if an entirely new legal framework needs to be developed to govern them.

Nevertheless, it’s the lack of governmental and institutional involvement that draws a lot of people to cryptocurrencies. The formal requirements associated with traditional investments filter out private investors, mostly allowing qualified institutional investors to enter the market, all the while imposing very high trading fees. Even if a private investor manages to overcome those hurdles, they will still need to go through a broker. Obtaining a broker account is another complications, as you will need to go through a lengthy of proving the origins of your funds in order to comply with strict KYC requirements.

On top of that, stocks are generally traded in the country where they are incorporated and stock exchanges are only generally open from 10 am to 4 pm Monday to Friday. Because of that, investors don’t have an opportunity to quickly react to news or events that happened during closing hours. Moreover, those looking to invest will always lose a considerable amount of money to stock market charges, such as brokerage charges, taxes, trading fees and so on.

Cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, are an entirely different story. More often than not, you can trade on any online exchange of your choice, all of which are open 24/7. The registration process is usually very simple and straightforward, sometimes it only takes minutes to create an account and start trading. Also, investors only need to confirm their identity and go through a verification process when they wish to deposit or withdraw to or from a bank account. Finally, trading fees are usually tiny. All in all, cryptocurrency trading is far more accessible to the general population that traditional means of investment.

Traditional stock market is designed to be more or less predictable. There are no limitations on the number of stocks of any particular company — at any time an additional portion of stocks can be issued to guarantee stability when supply and demand ratio shifts. On the contrary, most cryptocurrencies have a hard cap. Bitcoin, for example, is limited to 21 million tokens, and this scarcity drives the value up as the currency moves closer and closer to mass-adoption.

However more accessible to the general public the cryptocurrency market may be, it is undoubtedly a lot more prone to manipulations. Essentially, participants of both markets can be divided into ‘insiders’, people and institutions who have access to informations that shapes the market, and ‘outsiders’. This informational asymmetry creates an unfair advantage and for this reason, stock markets have strict insider trading laws and processes in place to protect outsiders. Insider trading is punishable by jail time and severe fines.

In cryptocurrencies, the insiders are those who hold or are able to control a large portion of tokens — executives of large crypto companies, big mining pools and ‘whales’. Those insiders can make moves so big that they will manipulate the market price of assets, causing significant loses to the outsiders. The crypto market isn’t regulated, so even if the investor’s funds were stolen from a hacked exchange there really isn’t much that they can do about it.

In its broadest sense, the traditional investment market is hundreds of years old — people were already trading securities on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange in the 17th century. In contrast, Bitcoin — the oldest cryptocurrency — is only 9 years old. The cryptocurrency market is a new, young and disruptive space that is shaped by the modern-day demands. While there are obvious pros and cons to both markets, there is no need to chose between them.

Also, we see clear signs of a merger between two worlds — take an example of Commonwealth Bank of Australia that will soon arrange a pilot bond issue to be created and run using blockchain only. Let alone Bitcoin ETF that has become an extremely hot topic in recent months due to the upcoming hearings in SEC.

Aximetria offers its customers a service that incorporates the best of the two worlds. It enables both private and institutional investors an unparalleled functionality of trading between most popular cryptocurrency assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin and Gram as well as the most in-demand fiat currencies — Euro, U.S. Dollar, Swiss Frank and Russian Ruble. Our customers can easily deposit, withdraw and exchange traditional currencies for crypto as well as order the Aximetria bank card use their crypto-assets to pay for goods and services and withdraw fiat at ATMs everywhere where MasterCard payments are available.

Finally, our service is fully transparent and fully legal, as Aximetria is registered in Switzerland, which means it is fully compliant with the strict Swiss financial legislation. Furthermore, our customers’ funds are protected from cyber attacks by means of post-quantum cryptography.

So, instead of adapting to one particular market or another, why not take the best of two worlds by taking the full advantage of the Aximetria services.