Changelly, an automated cryptocurrency exchange platform, opened it’s doors on Tuesday to the mass market after six months of a successful beta. Meanwhile, the ShapeShift platform went down on the weekend, having announced it had been compromised and threatened.  

ShapeShift struggles on

“We made the decision to scrap (the damaged) infrastructure, and rebuild in a wholly new and safe environment. This is what we are currently engaged in. While we hate having the service offline, it was the safer path...A portion of our own hot wallet inventory funds were taken, but nothing that will interfere with operations once our new environment is online.”

- Erik Voorhees, CEO ShapeShift.io.

Voorhees assured that “not a cent of customer funds was lost”.  

Here is a direct link to ShapeShift customer support.  

Changelly gives control to end-user

Changelly has an end-user shopfront and API for developers allowing them to seamlessly convert a variety of altcoins. Lately Changelly has partnered with Freewallet to present “Smart Pay-In” feature in a mobile-first Ethereum Wallet. Unlike ShapeShift, Changelly exchanges cryptocurrencies on the go with no widgets or popups required. This gives developers an opportunity to control the user experience without including third party interfaces to their apps.

“The launch was planned for April 12, timed to 55th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin set off to become the first man in space. While we believe that changes concur with great goals, searching our place among the stars is the biggest dream of all. We hope that cryptocurrency community will bring global changes to the world”.

- Changelly CMO Janika Kouki

Favorable rates tracking

Changelly provides its clients with the most favorable exchange rates. The system identifies the current best offers among cryptocurrency exchanges to automatically execute the user’s order. One of the goals of Changelly’s creators was to come up with clear fee terms. The service charges only a 0.5% commission for each operation and doesn’t have any additional or hidden fees.

Changelly supports a wide variety of cryptocurrencies with even more in development. Converted coins are sent directly to the user’s wallet once the operation is processed.

“We were striving to make our cryptocurrency exchange as intuitive and efficient as possible”, says Changelly CEO Claude Lecomte.