Overview

Waves is one of the most innovative cryptocurrency platforms ever to be launched. A great deal of waves potential has yet to be realized but that should not be seen as a disqualification – in fact it should be seen as quite the opposite. The fact of the matter is that waves is a very strong platform undergoing massive development with a wide range of functionality. Waves is attempting to provide a solution to one of the most significant issues preventing mainstream cryptocurrency adoption: transferring fiat into crypto. The waves team is not limiting themselves to one single function though. In fact, the scope of the waves platform is much larger. From their decentralized exchange to simplified smart contracts that allow for easy token creation, the waves platform has a lot to offer. We will examine the most innovative features of waves, how they are all interconnected and how each possess the potential to be a massive market of its own. Most importantly, we will discuss how these features complement one another and add tremendous value to the platform as a whole.

Features of Waves

The most powerful feature of waves are the “fiat gateways” – which are methods of instantaneous cryptocurrency purchasing through the use of traditional fiat currency. Consider that one of the main objections people typically have towards investing in cryptocurrency is that the process is too complicated and overly challenging. Today it takes between 7-9 days to transfer money into an exchange and can run up quite a tab in commission and fees. The other option is to deposit cash directly via Bitcoin ATM’s which charge shockingly high fees ranging from 7-18%. Waves is trying to cut out that week-long wait and get rid of those unnecessary fees. For this reason, waves could prove to be one of the keys towards mainstream cryptocurrency adoption. Fiat gateways provide easy onramps into crypto. The ability to instantly transfer a U.S. dollar for the equivalent value of a digital currency is huge. People would take crypto much more seriously if they knew investing was as simple as transferring money from one account to another. Waves could be on the precipice of a major industry upset. If waves is able to lock up a few key partnerships it would allow everyday investors access to the crypto markets like never before.

The incredible thing about waves is that they didn’t stop there. Being the world’s first official crypto onramp was simply not enough for this brilliant, highly ambitious team. There are several other features of the platform that are also very innovative and important. The Waves DEX (decentralized exchange) perfectly complements the fiat gateways as the perfect onramp to cryptocurrency investing. The decentralized exchange boasts true peer-to-peer trading with virtually no transaction fees. The waves team is constantly working on this feature of the platform, adding new currencies to the DEX every other day. The trading volumes are currently very low and increasing liquidity is their primary concern. The decentralized exchange space is very hot in crypto right now and there is a lot of competition. However, all other decentralized exchanges are struggling to increase liquidity as well. Waves has a couple of major advantages, after all it was the first project to conceive of the decentralized exchange in the first place. They have by far the most man hours spent in development. They actively seek out partnerships to increase liquidity through their fiat gateways and other decentralized exchanges have little community support relative to waves - which is essential to building and maintaining satisfactory trading volumes.

Waves also enables decentralized application development much like Ethereum. However, waves has a very different approach. Waves uses simplified smart contracts that enable easy token creation. Tokens built on the waves platform are essentially plug-ins, which means no coding knowledge is required to create a waves token. The major benefit of creating a token on the waves platform is that it provides existing businesses looking to leverage blockchain technology an easy, cost-effective solution to tokenizing their business model. As the CEO and founder of waves puts it, “One of the core Waves missions is to enable any business with development prospects, regardless of its size and geographical location, to run the ICO and raise funds for growth and development. We are deeply convinced that in the new digital economy, the ICO can compete with other tools for raising investment both in the high-tech industry and in the real sector and industry.” MobileGo is a great example of a waves-based token success story. It is the most successful token to have been built on the waves platform to date. MobileGo is a mobile gaming platform that wanted to leverage blockchain technology to bring efficiency into their sector and create a crypto-centric gaming community. They raised over $50M in their ICO. Waves provided MobileGo with the tools to raise funds and complete development of their platform. Through the use of a new piece of technology called “BlockSwap,” MobileGo was able to transition seamlessly between waves and Ethereum, thereby allowing them to take advantage of waves’ easy token creation/administration while also leveraging Ethereum smart contracts to enable decentralized gaming tournaments. It is a great example of how the waves platform is providing highly effective solutions for businesses looking to transition into the crypto space.

There are many other examples of interesting projects undergoing development on the waves platform. The idea that waves can provide the enterprise solution for tokenization is quickly becoming a reality. The most compelling example of which is the recently announced “whoppercoin.” That’s right, Burger King. It was announced last week that Burger King Russia is going to launch their very own token on the waves platform to serve as a loyalty rewards program for their customers. A lot of people may overlook that and perhaps even laugh at it. But really consider that this proves waves’ viability as a tool for tokenizing existing business models of all sizes. The idea that waves can provide the enterprise solution for tokenization is no longer conceptual. Burger King’s loyalty rewards program may seem small but the impact on the waves platform is huge. This is the kind of news that grabs the attention of institutional investors and moreover it grabs the attention of other businesses considering leveraging blockchain technology themselves.