BitShares is an investment currency with its own digital currency, BTS. With BitShares, users can trade and invest in an essentially unlimited list of assets while taking advantage of the blockchain’s security. BitShares has the features you expect from a traditional trading platform, but with the added advantages of cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies, such as decentralization.

It used to go by the name ProtoShares (with PTS tokens) and is a peer-to-peer distributed ledger plus network. Dan Larimer, who co-founded Cryptonomex, EOS, and Steemit, created BitShares in 2014. With BitShares, users utilize BTS tokens as collateral for a range of decentralized financial services, such as currency rails, derivative creation, banking, smart contracts, and decentralized exchanges.

What Is Graphene?

Graphene serves as the basis for BitShares. Graphene is an open source C++ implementation of the blockchain that also serves as a consensus mechanism. Graphene has also seen real-world usage via Steemit.com and PeerPlays.com.

Because BitShares is based on Graphene, it has the same scalability as that blockchain implementation. Graphene can handle as much as 100,000 TPS. With this figure, BitShares can handle more transactions each second than MasterCard and VISA combined. Thanks to the Delegated Proof of Stake, the BitShares network confirms transactions in one second on average.

This scalability is the result of learning from other exchanges with high scalability, including the LMAX Exchange, which can process 6 million transactions a second. BitShares learned from that exchange that everything should be in memory, the core business logic should remain in one thread, cryptographic operates should stay out of core business logic, the data model should be object oriented, and validation should be divided into state-independent and state-dependent checks.

How Does BitShares’ Exchange Work?

BitShares includes a decentralized asset exchange of a high-performance nature. This exchange is capable of handling the same trading volume as the NASDAQ yet settles orders the same second that they are submitted and includes features you want from your trading platform.

The decentralized nature of the BitShares exchange helps protect it against failure since there is not a single point for this failure to occur. Because it executes trades in seconds, all traders have the same advantages. There is no high-frequency trading, hidden orders, or front running. Additionally, the BitShares exchange is incredibly secure, with every asset held in the form of a SmartCoin on the exchange being backed by as much as twice the reserves you would find on a centralized exchange. The bare minimum is a 100 percent reserve, something that protects against unlikely hacks.

The BitShares exchange does not have trading or withdrawal limits, without excessive demands for documentation. It is also among the cheapest exchanges you will find anywhere, just several cents per trade in the case of SmartCoin pairs.

What Can You Trade on the BitShares Exchange?

While many of the transactions on the BitShares exchange will involve trading SmartCoins, users can trade nearly anything. Provided an asset has enough interest, there are minimal limits to what users can trade. Examples include cryptocurrencies, national currencies, oil, gas, silver, and gold. The exchange has support for assets that track inflation, indexes, bonds, and stocks. Companies even have the ability to issue their own stock using the BitShares network then offer low-cost trading that includes protection from naked shorting.

One unique feature of the BitShares platform is “user-issued assets.” These are custom tokens that users can register on the platform as well as hold and trade within a set of restrictions. Whoever creates the asset will specify the name, distribution, description, and any customization requirements, such as if only those on a specific whitelist can hold tokens. It is these “user-issued assets” that let companies issue tokens for things like deposit receipts, crowdfunding, reward points, event tickets, company shares, prediction markets, and digital property.

How Do SmartCoins Interact with BTS?

SmartCoins are cryptocurrencies with a value pegged to another asset, like gold or the U.S. dollar. BTS, the core currency of BitShares, always backs 100 percent or more of the value of SmartCoins. Users can also convert SmartCoins to BTS at any moment with the exchange rate from the price feed. SmartCoins are almost always guaranteed to have a value that is at least their face value, with the exception of the most extreme conditions in the market. As a cryptocurrency, SmartCoins are free from restrictions, divisible, and fungible.

What Are BitShares’ Dynamic Account Permissions?

The Dynamic Account Permissions are a key technology of BitShares. They are the result of BitShares designing permissions based on people as opposed to cryptography. This makes it possible for accounts to be controlled via weighted combinations of private keys and other accounts. The hierarchical structure involved was designed to mimic real-life permissions and allow for simpler multiuser control of funds. It is this multiuser control that dramatically enhances security and can almost completely eliminate risks of hacking-related thefts.

Does BitShares Support Scheduled Payments?

One of the many areas in which BitShares stands out from other smart contract platforms is in its support for scheduled as well as recurring payments. Thanks to this feature, users can set up authorization for a third party to withdrawal from their account given certain limits. It is particularly useful for monthly subscriptions and bills.

Setting up recurring payments is as simple as granting withdrawal permissions to a user or company with a withdrawal limit per period, such as one withdrawal per month. These scheduled withdrawals are not commitments to pay, however, since the withdrawal will fail if the BitShares account does not have enough funds.

What Is the BitShares Referral Rewards Program?

Like many other blockchain-based platforms, BitShares offers a referral program with rewards. This advanced referral program is actually built right into the software. As a financial network, it benefits both BitShares and every user on the network if more people use the platform. With the referral program, you can get $80 or more for each Lifetime Member that you get to sign up. Specifically, Lifetime Members will pay $100 and get 80 percent cash back for each fee that they pay. If they refer a Basic Account to the network, they get 80 percent of those fees, as well.