Ethereum [ETH] on-chain trading; Bitfinex introduces decentralised trading platform Ethfinex

On 17th September, Bitfinex, the world’s leading professional cryptocurrency trading platform announced the launch of Ethfinex, an Ethereum based cryptocurrency exchange. Bitfinex’s vision for Ethfinex is to create a decentralized trading platform where the decision-making process is distributed equally among its users.

The hybrid exchange claims to allow both centralized and on-chain trading opportunities. The former refers to conducting trades from fiat-to-cryptocurrency whereas the latter refers to transactions which remain dependent on the state of the blockchain for their validity.

The report stated that Ethfinex was coincidentally launched at a time when there was an increasing interest towards the development of decentralized trading solutions and reduced dependency on current centralized solutions. They further aim to explore the boundaries of distributed trading architecture.

The beta version of Ethfinex was released on December of 2017, which steadily grew and is now processing daily volumes averaging over $70 million USD. Ethfinex is powered by the Nectar [NEC] which is an Ethereum ERC20 token. NEC can be transferred from any Ethereum based wallet or application which supports ERC20.

Will Harborne, Director of Operations at Ethfinex stated that the release of Ethfinex represents the hard work and dedication which contributed in developing their vision for a decentralized, community-governed trading platform. Furthermore, they claim that Ethereum would deliver a sophisticated, trustless trading experience to users worldwide and extend the boundaries of decentralized exchange.

According to the report, Paolo Ardoino, Chief Technology Officer [CTO] at Bitfinex opined that the launch of Ethfinex maintained the sense of continuous progress within the Bitfinex community. He further added:

“This is a firm demonstration of our commitment to accelerating the development of the blockchain trading ecosystem, extending our reach to a wide variety of traders worldwide, allowing them to take advantage of both centralised and on-chain trading opportunities.”

Ethfinex provides trading solutions to over 57 Ethereum based tokens they also allow trading through Ledger, MetaMask, Trezor and Keystore. The on-chain platform enables instant trading, globally, by removing the need for registration, deposits, and identity confirmation. Harborne stated:

“Through removing the array of concerns associated with currently centralized entities, Ethfinex aims to power a new era of digital asset trading which prioritizes the control individuals have on the security, privacy, and liquidity of their trading experience. We are dedicated to showcasing the power of decentralized and trustless trading solutions as this exciting journey continues.”