Ubcoin: The Crypto-to-goods Exchange

Bitcoin Press Release: Until mid-July 2018 you can take part in the token sale organized by Ubcoin, a blockchain platform that utilizes the model used by online marketplaces like Amazon, Etsy, and eBay to create the world’s first truly efficient alternative to traditional crypto exchanges. Ubcoin users will be able to acquire cryptocurrency simply by selling real goods and to spend their crypto wealth by buying those goods, getting rid of fiat money from this chain. And all this without having to exchange fiat money to cryptocurrency. Basically this is a first of it’s kind solution where people won’t need fiat money as a start point to buy cryptocurrency for the first time.

All around the world, hundreds of millions of people are interested in cryptocurrencies and want to enter the world of crypto investment. But it’s not so easy to do. Crypto mining requires certain equipment and technical expertise. Also the he existing fiat/crypto exchange methods are complex and not safe – not only a super complex registration procedure to pass, adding full KYC (when you want to use fiat money), but also 8 from 10 top world exchanges doesn’t even have physical office address. It is quite ironic that the high level of sophistication of the financial sector and the widespread use of cutting-edge payment technologies notwithstanding, there’s still no easy way to acquire cryptocurrencies — the epitome of modern-day hi-tech. There used to be only two methods for this — traditional crypto exchanges and services like Localbitcoins when you buy crypto from an unknown person on the web.

If you want to exchange euros or dollars to BTC or ETH through one of the numerous traditional crypto exchanges you are bound to face two main problems:

Very few traditional crypto exchanges have legal status, and even those platforms that have gone to the trouble of formally establishing themselves, they still can’t provide any guarantees. Nobody and nothing regulates exchanges, and because of that their customers have no idea where their money is stored exactly and who to contact if something happens. And ‘something’ does happen quite regularly: exchanges get hacked and closed with users losing all their savings. In order to buy any significant amount of cryptocurrency through a platform of that kind you’ll have to undergo most thorough KYC check, that means you’ll have to disclose your full personal details. Which, in essence, throws out the window the concept of user anonymity — one of the main advantages of decentralized technologies. And if you use one of the very few exchanges that allow users to make deposits to crypto wallets using credit cards, then banks and governmental regulatory bodies will also have a ‘dossier’ on you. And if your country decides to ban trading cryptocurrencies (like Japan has) then you may be facing a serious fine.

If you decide to use a platform similar to Localbitcoins — involving transactions between two private individuals — you’ll face problems that relate to the fact that the more popular cryptocurrencies become the more scam- and fraud-ridden this market becomes. For instance, you are negotiating with another user of such platform: you want to buy a certain amount of BTC that is worth a certain amount of dollars. You transfer the money, and, sadly more often than not, your counterpart does not uphold their side of the bargain. Apart from that, it might turn out that your ‘partner’ had been receiving money from or sending them to, say, members of a terrorist group, which would automatically make you a person of interest to the authorities. And, of