News about Empirica, algorithmic trading and software development.

The evolution in ERC20 and the era of ERC223

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The ever-evolving Ethereum Blockchain brought to Cryptocurrency and ICO investors a new gift, the ERC223, a new standard for tokens created on Ethereum. Until now, the newly created tokens on Ethereum public Blockchain should have followed the ERC20 convention. This, by all means, was a huge success and relief for both token owners and investors of that token. ERC20 makes sure the behavior of the token on Ethereum is standard with a defined typical list of rules. The ERC223 is an improvement of the ERC20 protocol and is backward compatible with ERC20, meaning every wallet and software that supports ERC20 works with ERC223. So to get a better picture of this improvement, maybe it’s better to break down how these tokens are created, and let’s start with the ERC20 tokens.

ERC20 and how do such tokens are created? 

ERC20 protocol allows token owners and developers to create a token that complies with common, essential behavioral rules. The standard is popular now, especially among ICO investors and their communities. Thanks to ERC20, investors can be certain that the following statement can be true if the token is ERC20:

  • Technically tokens can be accepted by almost all exchanges
  • Tokens are transferable, and all Ether wallets will automatically store the newly created tokens
  • Transactions using that token are done smoothly

A token is in compliance with ERC20 if the developer of the token contract implements the following interfaces:

  • The token name with the function returns the name of the token.
  • The token symbol with function symbol, it returns the symbol that the token will use.
  • The token decimal places a function that returns the unit8 decimals the token uses.
  • How much the owner wants to start off with: function balanceOf, it returns the account balance.
  • The number of tokens in circulation: function totalSupply, it returns the total token supply.
  • The transfer value: function transfer (address _to, unit256 _value), this function is in charge of the transfer events. the function should revert a transaction if the sending account _from does not have sufficient balance.
  • The transfer from: function transferFrom, this function is used for withdrawal workflow, it allows contracts on the Blockchain to transfer tokens on the token holder’s behalf.
  • The crediting permission function allowance (address _owner, address _spender), it returns the amount which the buyer (_spender) is allowed to withdraw from the owner (_owner).
  • The events: with function transfer (address indexed _from, address indexed _to, unit256 _value) its triggered when a token has been successfully transferred and function approval (address indexed _owner, address indexed _spender, unit 256 _value) this must trigger on any successful call.

What did ERC223 add to ERC20, and what are the advantages?

Initially, the idea of ERC223 came to play when the number of lost tokens on Ethereum Blockchain went skyrocketing, this was due to the lack of possibility to handle incoming transactions. Ethereum Blockchain is a leading network for a number of lost tokens. The top 8 ERC20 contracts with losses will come up to approximately 3 million USD worth of tokens. how does this happen? once an ERC20 token is sent to a contract that is not designed to work with that ERC20 token, the contract will not reject the tokens because the contract does not recognize an incoming transaction. Consequently, the token will get stuck in that contract balance. ERC223 will allow users to only send their tokens to either wallet or contracts with the same transfer function, preventing the token’s loss. ERC223 introduces the function transfer (address _to, unit _value, bytes _data). This function transfers tokens by invoking the function tokenFallback in _to, only if _to is a contract. This will allow the smart contract to handle sent tokens actively. Whereas when an ERC20 token is transferred, the token contract is not notifying the receiver that the transfer has occurred, to that end, the address receiver has no possibility to handle the incoming transaction and, therefore, no way to reject not supported tokens.

A seamless token transfer is another advantage of ERC223 over ERC20. An ERC20 transaction between a regular (not a contract) and a contract are two different transactions. These two functions need to be triggered, first, the approve function on the token contract and later the transferForm on the other contract (the receiver). ERC223 has addressed this more efficiently by allowing to use of the same transfer function. ERC223 could be sent by only calling the transfer function on the token contract with no if the receiver is a regular wallet address or a contract. Due to this shortcut, another advantage that ERC223 has is the gas cost, ERC233 consumes almost half as much as an ERC token.

So as discussed above, ERC223 advantages over ERC20 come down to the following points:

  • provides a possibility to prevent accidentally losing tokens
  • Allows users to transfer tokens anywhere (owned address or contract) using one function
  • allows contract developers to manage incoming transactions, contract developers could implement contracts in a way that only works with some specific incoming tokens and handle them in a specific way which could also each token could be handled in a specific way.
  • ERC223 consumes almost half gas as ERC20

Currently is not possible to upgrade the existing ERC20 token contract to ERC223, but if you are planning to create your own, maybe it’s a good idea to go with ERC223.

Learn more about different types of cryptocurrencies. Here you will find an article about the details of the Ethereum blockchain. and Ethereum merge.

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Congratulations to Swissborg for launching successfull ICO on our software

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Nothing pleases us more than the success of our partners – especially when we were able to participate in it. The Swiss provider of wealth management services has just started with its Initial Coin Offering. The campaign will end on January 10th, and one of its ingredients is the platform, which we had the opportunity to help building. Why is this solution better than standard ICO dedicated portals? Because it is completely optimized for the needs of our client and it has an excellent UX tailored interface.

To meet these requirements Empirica delegated the best specialists experienced in fintech projects. However, the functionality of this solution can be best assessed by simply using it. For more details visit Swissborg.com In the meantime we keep our fingers cross for the success in raising a whole sum.

 

About us

Empirica is a Wrocław-based company that supports many local IT initiatives. Empirica is offering solutions such as Quantitative Trading Software implemented by major institutional investors in Poland, market making bot, robo advisory software framework, crypto trading bots and trading software development for companies from capital and cryptocurrency markets.

 

 

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Bitcoin

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What’s BITCOIN?

Bitcoin is known as virtual money, but a much better term is cryptocurrency. Unlike actual cash, there are not any coins or paper money formally produced. No government entity determines how much and when to discharge it globally. Bitcoins are made digitally by individuals as they solve complicated math problems with their own computers. In most senses, it’s truly decentralized.

Among the intriguing things about virtual money is that all trades are saved and printed publicly. The money is traded by means of a huge peer-to-peer network that encompasses the whole globe. When there are not a lot of rules concerning Bitcoin, you will find a few, and this also assists with creating bitcoins a real currency that functions just like “normal money”

BITCOIN EXCLUSIVES

Next, we are going to have a look at a few of how Bitcoin is different than conventional currencies. It is these differences that make Bitcoin this kind of potent potential. Nobody individual, government or corporation controls the Bitcoin network. This is not the sole difference, but so let us peek at some things which are exclusive to Bitcoin.

Bitcoin vs. Traditional currencies

  1. Bitcoin is decentralized

As it functions as a peer-to-peer system, all trades and confirmation of trades are done by several folks in the network.

  1. Bitcoin is a virtual currency.

Another thing that sets Bitcoin aside from conventional money is the fact that it is virtual. Rather, all bitcoins exist within virtual space. Consequently, you can not visit an ATM and withdraw bodily cash. The conventional currency may be published when governments choose to publish more. To distribute the production of bitcoins being introduced into the planet, the amount that are made by “mining” will be half each four decades. It follows individuals will continue to have the ability to make them before the year 2140. At that moment, no fresh bitcoins will be generated and the present design will enjoy the advantages of lack – i.e. getting more precious.

To save the block string of trades in consecutive purchases, Bitcoin trades aren’t reversible. Furthermore, a Bitcoin trade can take ten minutes or longer to confirm. That is different compared to other currencies that normally procedure trades in seconds and allow for turning a fee to a credit or debit card.

  1. Bitcoin isn’t ubiquitous.

In many areas, you’re going to have the ability to exchange your country’s money for invoices of the country you are visiting. And regardless of where you go on the planet, you are likely to have the ability to exchange your money for services and goods. Bitcoin has not yet been adopted by the entire world at large. This will change in years to come as more companies start to take Bitcoin for repayment, but for now it is a gap that matters to lots of individuals.

Good and Poor of Bitcoin

As it is decentralized and normally has reduced prices for trades, many men and women have started to take note and become enthused about this and other cryptocurrencies.

Another thing to notice is that a few people today worry about the controls the Bitcoin network. The fact is that because it utilizes peer-reviewed technology, no 1 individual or business can have the Bitcoin network. This might seem frightening to some, but it is exciting and revolutionary to others.

The demand for all variants of Bitcoin applications to be harmonious and be an able success, most people that are involved realize that this and also have worked together to enhance the Bitcoin applications and community substantially in just a couple of short decades.

And that just might be what is equipped to assist Bitcoin to grow much faster globally. This may prove to be the financial system that brings the world together.

How Can BITCOIN WORK?

The basics you should know

Let us start by taking a look at the different items you want to get a cryptocurrency working. We are going to begin with the fundamentals and then move to more details about what you will have to begin.

The transaction – the very first thing that you want to think about using a digital currency is the trade – that the true exchange of value from 1 individual to another. Though this might seem easy, in several ways it can be simple to devise a trade to attempt and cheat the machine. With physical money, transactions are regulated by banking associations that affirm they are not forged and therefore are unique.

A serial number – to prevent people from seeking to forge trades or reuse them with virtual money, you require a means to connect a special serial number to every individual and each trade too. Bitcoin does so by utilizing a personal and public encrypted secret. These hashes are utilized to create certain transactions are not replicated in the system, and there is no way to cheat the system. When Bitcoin was set up, it had been understood that banks might be taken from the image entirely if a peer-reviewed network was produced to confirm the transactions between two things. This decentralization of financial transactions is among the largest reasons so many clever men and women are becoming excited about Bitcoin.

Bitcoin Mining – The following bit is necessary to create Bitcoin work. When it’s too simple for trades to be confirmed, folks may program robots to flood the system with verifications, which makes it tricky to really check the transaction. To fight this, the notion is to make it computationally tough to check the transaction. This assists battle against the bad guys while at precisely the exact same time offering a means to reward individuals who provide up computing ability to check the transaction. The computational mystery needs to be tough enough to make it impossible to hack on simple enough to enable individuals still to resolve in a reasonable period of time.

Create a private and public key that’s unique for you. This can be used to move bitcoins for you also as enable you to move bitcoins to other folks in the network.

Speech if you would like to get BTC from somebody else on the community. At precisely the exact same time, you may use a different Bitcoin address created so as to cover services or goods.

The following step is a trade being created when the real swapping of BTC happens between a seller and buyer. This can be added to the block series where others are going to check the trade (by solving the mathematics problem) and publish particulars of this trade publicly.

The Way to OBTAIN BITCOIN

Recognizing how Bitcoin functions may be intriguing to some, but there are actually a couple of ways that you can lawfully get bitcoins – regardless of where you reside on the planet. Provided that you have an online connection as well as the Bitcoin software installed, then you are likely to have the ability to start using this digital money. The best news is that it is really rather simple to start to develop your Bitcoin wallet should you’ve got a little spare time.

First, It Ought to Be noted that it is really tough to buy bitcoins It is quite simple to issue a chargeback on a charge card. If a person purchases BTC using a charge card and then reverses the fee, it is really hard to prove to the credit card companies the trade actually occurred.

It is important to keep in mind that the worth of a single BTC is quite volatile at this time, so you probably don’t need to spend everything you’ve got in this digital money. At precisely the exact same time, the prevalence of Bitcoin is increasing across the world, and a number of people happen to be getting wealthy by building up big heaps of bitcoins virtually through methods and means we will explain below.

Regardless of which kind of computer you are running, there is likely to become an installer app to get you up and running in almost no time in any way. Many men and women find it takes about 5 to 10 minutes to acquire a Bitcoin customer installed and attached to the community.

Make certain that you take your time to discover a client you are familiar with using. Most are extremely similar, but a few have a few additional bells and whistles which may make it much easier for you to begin.

Even though you might have the ability to discover a service that delivers a high degree of safety, it is not exactly the exact same level you would have if you set up the applications in your computer in which you have full control. Coinbase is among the very popular online Bitcoin wallets today.

Whichever you decide on, once it is set up, the next step is simple. You will Create a private and public key. This is the Bitcoin speech that will enable folks to send BTC to your accounts. As soon as you’ve got your own Bitcoin wallet installation, you have a couple of distinct choices about the best way best to accrue BTC on your wallet.

Bitcoin Exchanges

Bitcoin exchanges were not about when Bitcoin first came out, but they are now an essential component of the way the entire Bitcoin ecosystem functions. Some exchanges have Bitcoin, among other digital currencies on the internet, in addition to marketplaces that deal exclusively by BTC trades.

It is intriguing to note that some of those marketplaces will maintain a balance For you – out of your Bitcoin wallet – to be able to make it simpler to conduct transactions. Deciding on the ideal Bitcoin exchange is important when you want to remain safe rather than risk losing your BTC equilibrium because of a scam or technical issues.

Security — the essential aspect that you wish to consider is safety. In case a Bitcoin exchange is fresh to the world wide web and is lacking contact info, this is a great indication that they probably don’t care a lot about the safety of your private info. Fortunately, if you spend any quantity of time around the numerous Bitcoin forums and communities on the internet, you will see which exchanges suffer from issues, and then exchanges are advised. For instance, some Bitcoin exchanges may not let you withdraw money into a US bank account. It is a fantastic idea to ensure whatever market you are considering using has a means that you convert your BTC to regional money safely and easily. In 2013, a few people started complaining about the amount of time that it required MtGox to move funds into the US, therefore, it is a fantastic idea to once more hit on the forums and attempt to gauge public opinion about any trade you are considering using. Then let us have a glance at a few of the main Bitcoin Exchanges currently working. New ones are emerging all of the time, but it is usually a safer bet operating together with a single which has been in existence for some time and has managed to accumulate a history of being reliable and fair.

CoinBase — This is among the hottest Bitcoin exchanges right now. They give the capability to move money to a US bank account. That being said, if you reside elsewhere in the world, you might not be pleased about being unable to move funds to the regional bank accounts.

MtGox — At once, MtGox was accountable for the vast majority of all Bitcoin trades on the Planet. This has changed lately as they have run into some legal issues in various nations around the world, but they are still an extremely popular Bitcoin exchange that a lot of men and women utilize daily.

BTC-E — This site is located in an unknown town in Bulgaria, so you may be careful about maintaining any BTC here. The costs per BTC are usually a whole lot lower, but that is only because it requires a ridiculous quantity of time to validate that trade. Nonetheless, it’s a choice you may look at based on where you live now.

Bitstamp — This market is comparable to CoinBase in a lot of ways. The most important distinction is they regularly work with individuals in countries aside from the USA, which makes it effortless to move BTC to overseas currencies. If you’re searching for a really international Bitcoin exchange, this is a great place to get started. We mean you could exchange different cryptocurrencies too. If your digital money investments go beyond Bitcoin, then you will want to check out Cryptsy.

BTer — With slow trade speeds and limitations on how big trades, this is not really recommended, however, we believed they deserved a place on the list only because they do serve the demands of some men and women who utilize Bitcoin.

BTC-China — Some of the quickest growing Bitcoin exchanges — based on Wired magazine — is BTC-China, which has ramped up its attempts lately. By some reports, they have overtaken MtGox since the location where many Bitcoin trades occur daily.

Learn more about different types of cryptocurrencies.

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Ethereum

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WHAT IS ETHEREUM?

Dapps are computer applications that eliminate the need for intermediaries in any present centralized service by enabling anybody to rely upon an anonymous counterpart to execute the most varied kinds of agreements and deals at a 100% electronic method.

In Ethereum, programmers may also write business logic and arrangements in the kind of smart contracts, which can be implemented automatically when their requirements are satisfied by both parties and educated to the community. These contracts may save information, send and receive trades and also interact with different contracts, irrespective of any controller.

At first, the expression “smart contract” was used to describe using computer systems (or other automatic methods) that aimed to influence particular agreements.

As an illustration of a clever mechanical arrangement, we could mention a machine that sells soft drinks or snacks. When you put a coin or note on those machines, a computer system programmed to spot the amount received along with the selected product enforces an arrangement between the customer and the machine operator, executing an automatic purchase.

The dapps and intelligent contracts operate from the Ethereum blockchain, which had its first architecture conceived by a young Russian genius in the time in the age of 19, called Vitalik Buterin, who picked the subsequent name due to his white paper: “Ethereum: A Platform of smart contracts along with next generation decentralized software.”

From “second generation,” Buterin describes the instruments added to his creation that, in theory, can resolve easily and objectively several bitcoin’s blockchain constraints and thus usher in stage 2.0 of their cryptocurrencies.

Everyone can upload programs or smart contracts into the Ethereum network. The platform development group sought to make everything as straightforward as possible to amplify accessibility to technologies.

As an application programmer, you may need anti-virus infrastructure to install and install your own applications. Anything which may be represented mathematically could be mimicked, ensured, and exchanged through Ethereum. Once being written in a programming language approved by the stage, just upload the code onto the stage, fill in the first variables, and ship. Following that, the task becomes the stage, which within a couple of seconds, converts the code into machine language, compiled in bytecode, and afterward mined, it’ll have the ability to run.

Once uploaded, the arrangement is going to be saved from the blockchain, and other customers will have the ability to get it directly via the system or via any API (Application Programming Interface) designed to get it. Because of this, the arrangement, depending on the identification of these terms established inside, will automatically meet the assumptions specified there and may, as an instance, ship or receive numbers from 1 individual to another.

Additionally, like bitcoin, with that, you don’t need to rely upon a lender or central ability to maintain your fiscal funds protected; from Ethereum your private data, identity and capital will also be under your control at all times, given inside your wallet. And, of course, that their software is also protected from denial of service attacks because of the nature of its technologies.

What’s Ethereum good for?

Most of the services we use today have one factor in common: they’re centralized. So, for example, you hope that your bank can keep your money secure and be audited independently and honestly.

The same goes with Facebook when you carry an image of your kids, once you send a document to Dropbox, or even once you go to an appointment in the hospital and enroll in the health network for your personal medical advice. If you work as a developer, you have to file your application to a program shop, and you risk getting it removed for the most trivial and varied reasons.

History has continuously shown this centralized model is flawed but essential to ensure confidence levels between counterparts. Nonetheless, this is complex and too costly for everyone involved.

Remember that everything centralized makes it easier to strike because it provides one Purpose for a goal, including a website firewall.

Applications built on Ethereum don’t require your customers to trust developers with personal information or money. Back in Ethereum, your personal information remains yours your funds remain yours and your articles stay yours. Because it is decentralized, its most important benefits are that it is a transparent, hackerproof system that’s constantly live.

Since Ethereum permits you to start your own currency, you can make any kind of company stock on the stage or represent ownership of any object, such as a car or a house.

You can think of this as a programmable dispersed system. The fact that Ethereum is, by its very design, resistant to fraud and adulteration means that it offers a fresh range of solutions to the daily problems which are currently solved at exorbitant costs. Voting machines, domain registration, registration of legal records, medical applications, transfer of goods, services, smart property and contracts between individuals, standing systems, and financial derivatives. All these programs can be produced on a network where users keep track of their funds and individual data constantly.

A DAO is composed of a couple of contracts and could be funded by a group of individuals with similar notions. A DAO operates completely independently and transparent of any human intervention, for example its original creators. A DAO will stay in the community as long as it covers its survival costs and supplies a useful service to its customer base.

Ethereum also allows programmers to create, for example, different decentralized markets, shop debt documents or guarantees of payments, transfer funds according to previous instructions (for instance, a Purchase / sell purpose or a prospective contract), and several other items which have been Devised, all this automatically, without an intermediary or counterparty risk.

Learn more about different types of cryptocurrencies here and here about ERC20 and ERC223 standards. Here is our take on the Ethereum merge.

About us

Empirica is a Wrocław-based company that supports many local IT initiatives. Empirica offers solutions such as Cryptocurrency Algorithmic Trading Software implemented by major institutional investors in Poland, market making, wealth management software framework, crypto trading bots, and cryptocurrency software development for companies from capital and cryptocurrency markets.

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CEO of Empirica, was among keynote speakers at the CFA Investment Summit

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On October 27th, 2017 the CFA Investment Summit, a key event for financial market participants in Poland, took place at the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

The event was organized by CFA Society Poland. The main media partner was the newspaper “Puls Biznesu“. The conference was divided into a series of lectures and panel sessions with the participation of nearly 250 experts from Poland and abroad.

This year’s event began with the presentation of the results of a survey commissioned by CFA Society Poland. The survey was run on a sample of more than 500 financial professionals and its subject was knowledge of fintech issues.

Its results indicate that, when asked about their knowledge of the use of new technology in the financial industry,  only 31% of respondents responded that it was very good or good. The vast majority of respondents (40%) said that they were “neither well nor poorly” acquainted with the topic.

The conference

In the first part of the conference, the speakers focused on what the opportunities and risks the fintech revolution presents, especially for companies and managers dealing with traditional investment advice.

– According to a survey conducted among top experts, they absolutely do not see the threat. Almost 80% think that fintech is not a problem for them, because they are good enough that when conditions change they will adjust and win. On the other hand, for less developed professions that do not require creativity, it is indeed a threat, because these professions will disappear. The ones which stay will be specializations that require creativity, an analytical approach and communication skills – explains Krzysztof Jajuga, President of CFA Society Poland.

The next part of the conference was dedicated to robo-advisory platforms. The panel discussed the difference between fully automated models and hybrid solutions. It was attended by Empirica S.A. CEO Michał Różański, who noted:

–There is space for a whole spectrum of advisors on the market – from traditional to fully automated models. Today, in a rapidly changing world, it is hard to predict  how the accents will be distributed. Since now 1 percent of  the population uses financial advisory services, there is a problem with supply/the problem lies with the supply, because it pays off for advisors to advise only the richest . This is the space for automated consultancy.

The founder of Empirica believes that the entrance of the generation of millennials in  the market, increasingly eager to use AI-based (artificial intelligence) solutions, will especially be the impetus for the development of fully automated advisory platforms, which, using a well-tailored user interface, will allow customers with lesser resources to engage more on the investment market. Which, he added, should lead to its greater democratization.

More (in polish)

About us

Empirica is a trading software company focused on developing the potential that cryptocurrencies bring to financial markets. Empirica is offering solutions such as Cryptocurrency Trading Software used by professional cryptocurrency investors, crypto market makers, robo advisory system, crypto trading bots and trading software development services for companies from capital and cryptocurrency markets.

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The biggest market maker in Poland uses Empirica Platform

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It’s been two years since Empirica has successfully deployed the full version of Algorithmic Trading Platform for Dom Maklerski Banku Ochrony Środowiska (DM BOS Brokerage House). Since then DM BOS has become the most active market maker on Polish capital market, running its market making and algorithmic trading operations through Empirica’s platform.

With a great pleasure Empirica would like to inform that DM BOS was lately awarded as Polish Capital Market Leader 2016 by Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE).

The Gala was attended by representatives of the most important capital market institutions: issuers, brokerage houses, banks, investment firms, industry organisations and associations. DM BOS was awarded in following categories:

 

  • for the biggest share of a local market maker in trading in equities on the Main Market in 2016,
  • for the biggest share of a market maker in the volume of trade in index options in 2016 on the derivatives market,
  • for high quality of the reporting of trades to KDPW_TR in 2016.

– We are very pleased to see, that using our software DM BOS was awarded by WSE in main categories. I would like to sincerely congratulate managers of DM BOS such amazing results for the 2016. Since 2012, when we started our cooperation we are committed to continuously develop and enhance our algorithmic trading platform in order to achieve the highest technical requirements and to satisfy different and changing needs of our customer. I would like to thank DM BOS once again for the opportunity to be a part of their winning market making strategy. – Michal Rozanski, CEO of Empirica

WSE is the biggest securities exchange in Central and Eastern Europe and organises trading on one of the most dynamically growing capital markets in Europe. WSE operates a regulated market of shares and derivative instruments and the alternative stock market NewConnect for growing companies. WSE is developing Catalyst, a market for issuers of corporate and municipal bonds, as well as commodity markets. Since 9 November 2010, GPW is a public company listed on Warsaw Stock Exchange.

About us

Empirica is a trading software company focused on developing the potential that cryptocurrencies bring to financial markets. Empirica is offering solutions such as Algo Trading Platform used by professional cryptocurrency investors, market maker software, robo advisory software, crypto trading bots and trading software development services for companies from capital and cryptocurrency markets.

 

 

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A brief guide to cryptocurrency exchanges

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With a rapidly growing interest among technologist as well as trader towards cryptocurrencies, we have been writing a series of posts about them. In this post we will be covering cryptocurrency exchanges and point out their characteristics, and hopefully at the end of this post you may get an idea on which crypotocurrency exchange to do your trades.

Generally there are many doubts and question marks around how reliable cryptocurrency exchanges are. There has been a lot of rumors and news also around governments getting involved and closing down cryptocurrency exchanges, we heard that in South Korea  the governments is going to raid the cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the country and shut them down. If you are curious about that story, one of the officials from the government called that an “unrealistic move”. nevertheless in recent times we have heard numerous speculations about cryptocurrency world which never came to life.

The purpose of this post is to assess the most known and used cryptocurrency exchanges. We have chosen arguably the top rated exchanges, basing on fees applied, how safe the exchange is, if liquidity in the exchange is high or not, the possible pairs and currencies to trade with  USD, Euros or crypto with crypto and so on. The list we have gathered is narrowed with qualities indicated above.

Coinbase

Coinbase is one the most known and used exchange for Cryptocurrencies with up to 10 million users. Coinbase was founded in 2012 and is California based Crypto exchange for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litcoin, Ripple and etc. After introducing GDAX, Coinbase also aimed more sophisticated traders with a more powerful tool. Coinbase is also available for mobile users. Fees charged are around 0.25%.

Read here more on our coinbase market making bot and coinbase trading bot.

Bitfinex

Bitfinex is a Hong Kong based cryptocurrency exchange, specialized for trading Bitcoin and Altcoins. About fees, Bitfinex does have very low fees of 0.2% and for those who instead place trades in the order book will pay only 0.1%. Bitfinex is also available for traders to trade using mobile app. Bitfinex offers a variety of order types. For automating the trades Bitfinex also has provided an API feature for third-party softwares to integrate.

Coinmama

Coinmama is a well-known, Israeli based Bitcoin exchanges which traders could purchase Bitcoin using creadit/debit cards. The fees in Coinmama are about 6%, relatively high among other exchanges. Though Coinmama does not require traders to provide or upload their know your customer (KYC) documents.

Kraken

Kraken known as one of the largest Bitcoin exchanges. Kraken’s users can trade Bitcoin using Canadian dollars, US dollars, British Pounds and Japanese yen. Kraken is in Euro volume and liquidity. Kraken was founded in 211 by Jesse Powel, Kraken is also known for low transaction fees ranging from 0% to 0.26% depending on the account tier and the type of the transaction(buy/sell).

Gemini

Gemini is a US based exchange mainly focused on Bitcoin, US dollars and Ethereum. Gemini was founded in 2015 by Winklevoss twins (same brothers who claimed Mark Zuckerberg stole the idea of Facebook from them). Gemini’s users can deposit Bitcoin, Ether and make bank and wire transfer free of charge. In regard to trading fee, Gemini set to charge 0.25% for sellers and buyers. Gemini is referred to as the safest cryptocurrency exchange out there.

More on cryptocurrency exchanges:

Exchange Estimated traffic users Fees Tokens traded
Coinbase 109M 10.1M 0.25% Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum Classic
Bitterex 85M 5.6M 0.25% Bitcon, Ubiq, Litecoin, Blackcoin, Dash, Ethereum, Gambit, Gridcoin
Bitfinex 36.5M 2.9M 0.20% Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, EOS, NEO, Iota, Ethereum Classic, Monero, Dash, Zcash, OmiseGO and more
Kraken 22.6M 2.9M 0 to 0.26% Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Gnosis, EOS, Dogecoin, Tether, Melon, Zcash, Augur tokens, Iconomi, Stellar, Ethereum classic, Ripple, Monero, Dash
Okex 3.5M 350K 0.20% to 0.25% CommerceBlock, Revain, Bitcoin, Chatcoin, Gifto, Zipper, Ethereum, Zencash and more
Gdax 46M 4.5M 0.25% Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum
CEX 10.8M 1.6m 3.9% Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Litcoin
Gemini 3.4M 111K 0.25% Bitcoin, Ethereum
Coinmama 999K 33.4K 6% Bitcoin, Ethereum

About empirica

We are trading software company focused on developing the potential that cryptocurrencies bring to financial markets. Empirica is offering solutions such as Algorithmic Trading System used by professional investors, tools for cryptocurrency liquidity, robo advisory software, crypto trading bots and trading software development services for companies from capital and cryptocurrency markets.

Who is moving FinTech forward in continental Europe? Thoughts after FinTech Forum on Tour.

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By Michal Rozanski, CEO at Empirica.

In the very centre of Canary Wharf, London’s financial district, in a brand new EY building, a very interesting FinTech conference took place – FinTech Forum on Tour. The invitation-only conference targeted the most interesting startups from the investment area (InvestTech) from mainland Europe. The event had representative stakeholders from the entire financial ecosystem. As Efi Pylarinou noted – the regulator, the incumbents, the insurgents, and investors, were all represented.

 

Empirica was invited to present its flagship product – Algorithmic Trading Platform, which is a tool professional investors use for building, testing and executing of algorithmic strategies. However, it was amazing to see what is happening in other areas of the investment industry. There were a lot of interesting presentations of companies transforming the FinTech industry in the areas of asset and wealth management, social trading and analytics.

 

The conference was opened with a keynote speech by Anna Wallace from FCA. Anna talked about the mission of FCA’s Innovation Hub; that is to promote innovation and competition in the financial technology field and to ensure that rules and regulations are respected. Whilst listening to Anna it became clear to me what the real advantage of London holds in the race to become the global FinTech capital – London has Wall Street, Silicon Valley and the Government in one place – and what’s most important, they cooperate trying to push things forward in one direction.

 

FinTech Forum on Tour

 

Robo-advisory

A short look at the companies presenting themselves at the event leads to the conclusion that the hottest sector of FinTech right now is robo-advisory. It’s so hot, that one of the panellists noted it’s getting harder and harder to differentiate for robo-advisory startups. On FinTech on Tour this sector was represented by AdviseOnly from Italy, In2experience,  Niiio, Vaamo and Fincite – all from Germany. Ralf Heim from Fincite presented an interesting toolkit ‘algo as a service’ and white label robo-advisory solutions. Marko Modsching from niiio revealed the motivation of retail customers, that “they do not want to be rich, they do not want to be poor”. Scalable Capital stressed the role of risk management in its offering of robo advisory services.

 

Social analysis/Sentiment/ Big Data

The social or sentiment analysis area, keeps growing and gains traction. Every day there’s more data and more trust in the results of backtesting as that data builds up over the years. The social media space is gaining ground. Investment funds as well as FinTech startups are finding new ways to use sentiment data for trading. And, it’s inseparably related with the analysis of huge amounts of data, so technically the systems behind it? are not trivial.

Anders Bally gave an interesting presentation about how to deal with sentiment data and showed  how his company Sentifi is identifying and ranking financial market influencers in social channels, and what they discuss.

Sentitrade showed its sentiment engine for opinion mining that is using proprietary sentiment indicator and trend reversal signals. Sentitrade is concentrated on German-speaking markets.

 

Asset management

From the area of asset management an interesting pitch was given by Cashboard, offering alternative asset classes and preparing now for a  huge TV marketing campaign . StockPluse showed how to combine information derived from social networks and base investment decisions on the overall sentiment. United Signals allows for social investing by making it possible to trade by copying transactions of chosen trading gurus with a proven track record, all in an automated way. And, finally BondIT, an Israeli company, presented tools for fixed income portfolio construction, optimization and rebalancing with use of algorithms.

 

Bitcoin and Blockchain

An interesting remark was given   by one of the panelist: ‘we have nearly scratched the surface for what blockchain technology can be applied to in financial industry’. Looking at the latest news reports that are saying that big financial institutions are heavily investing in blockchain startups and their own research in this field, there is definitely something in it.

A company from this sector of FinTech – Crypto Facilities, represented by its CEO Timo Schaefer, showed  the functionalities of its bitcoin derivatives trading platform.

 

Other fields

Hervé Bonazzi, CEO of Scaled Risk, presented its technologically advanced Big Data platform for financial institutions for risk management, compliance, analytics and fraud detection. Using Hadoop under the hood and low latency processing. Ambitious as it sounds.

Analysis of financial data for company  valuations, Valutico presented a tool that’s using big data, AI and swarm intelligence. Dorothee Fuhrmann from Prophis Technologies (UK) presented a generic tool for financial institutions to derive value and insights from data, interestingly describing indirect exposures and a hidden transmission mechanism.

Stephen Dubois showed  what Xignite (US) has to offer to financial institutions and other FinTech startups in the area of real-time and historical data that is stored in the cloud and accessible by proprietary API.

 Qumram, in an energetic presentation delivered by Mathias Wegmueller, described technology for recording online sessions on web, mobile and social channels, allowing for the analysis of user behaviour and strengthening internal security policy.

 

Conclusion

London is the place to be for FinTech startups. No city in Europe gives such possibilities. Tax deductions for investors. Direct help from the UK regulator FCA. Great choice of incubators and bootcamps for startups. No place gives such a kick. Maybe Silicon Valley is the best place for finding investor for a startup, maybe the Wall Street is the centre of the financial world, but London is the place that combines both the tech and the finance. It has a real chance of becoming the FinTech capital of the world.

 

About organizators

The people responsible for creating both a great and professional atmosphere at the event were Samarth Shekhar and Michael Mellinghoff. Michael was a great mentor of mine who transformed my pitch from a long and quite boring list of functionalities of our product to something that was bearable for the audience. Michael let me thank you once more for the time and energy you have devoted to Empirica’s pitch!

 

And because the FinTech scene in our region is not well organized yet, I sincerely advise all FinTech startups from Central and Eastern Europe to attend cyclic events of FinTech Forum in Frankfurt organized by Techfluence professionals!

 
Read about our Lessons learned from FinTech software projects.

 

 

FinTech Companies

 

 

Empirica has been nominated for Best Fintech Startup at CESA 2015

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Empirica has been nominated for the Best Fintech Startup in Poland at the CESA festival. CESA (Central European Startup Award) is the biggest no-pitch, no-conference start-up festival in the Central-Eastern European region. The festival brings together nearly 4.000 start-ups from 10 countries and it will be held in Vienna this year.

We are in good company, as other companies nominated in FinTech category are:

  • Zencard
  • Billon
  • WealthArc
  • our friends from FriendlyScore

The Central European Startup Awards is a series of events in the CEE countries, that aims to recognize and celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit and startup ecosystems of the region. This year eight categories will be awarded in:

  • Startup Of The Year
  • Best Investor
  • Best FinTech startup
  • Best Cloud/Data Application
  • Best User Experience
  • Best Social Impact Startup
  • Most Influential Woman
  • Best Coworking Space

 

CESA regognized FinTech as separate category this year reflecting that financial technologies are now the fastest growing technology sector worldwide. Incumbents in the financial industry – big banks and other financial institutions – are witnessing the emergence of new players that are profoundly changing the way individuals and business conduct their financial operations. Global investment in financial-technology (fintech) ventures tripled from $4.05 billion in 2013 to $12.2 billion in 2014, with Europe being the fastest growing region in the world, according to a report by Accenture.  Last year, fintech investment increased at more than three times the rate of overall venture capital investment. While it remains to be seen whether the burgeoning fintech industry will actually pose a threat to established institutions, it is clear that the sector is rapidly growing and many of these entrants are here to stay. Investors in the nascent sector are taking notice, profitable exits are on the horizon, and big banks are investing in new technologies to strengthen their competitive positions.

 

More on this year’s nominees:

http://centraleuropeanstartupawards.com/shortlisted-poland

cesawards-logo

 

 

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