We are excited to announce the official release of our non-custodial exchange, now live on the Gluwa App!

Now users of the Gluwa Mobile Wallet can exchange Gluwacoins and other cryptocurrencies in a decentralized and non-custodial environment. This means that users are always the sole custodians of their cryptoassets.

"Your keys, your Bitcoin. Not your keys, not your Bitcoin.’’

— Andreas Antonopoulos

Currently, Gluwa's non-custodial exchange only supports the USD-G stablecoin and Bitcoin, however, support for a variety of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins will be added in the very near future, enabling fast and simple interchain transactions.

Android users can download the Gluwa Mobile Wallet here, whilst iOS users can download it here.  For a full breakdown of the Gluwa Wallet, check out the Gluwa Wallet User guide for more details. 

What makes a non-custodial exchange different?

Most cryptocurrency exchanges such as Coinbase, Binance and Bithumb function as trusted custodians of your assets. When you transfer and exchange crypto on these platforms, control over your assets is handed over to a third party (the exchange). You are dependent on the exchange to safely store, exchange and transfer those assets. This exposes you to counter-party risk. The possibility that a third party will lose control of your assets. Custodial services rely on you to trust them.

In contrast, DeFi is building the foundations of a decentralized and trustless global system of ownership and control. Relying on third parties to control our assets is no longer necessary. Instead, we now live in a world where financial independence and sovereignty can be absolute. You can be your own bank. Indeed, in a non-custodial environment, you and you alone have direct control over your assets.

When using Gluwa’s non-custodial exchange, all transfers between the involved parties take place directly on the blockchain. At no point does Gluwa or any other third party have control or access to your crypto, ensuring that users of the Gluwa Mobile Wallet never lose control over their assets.

How the Gluwa non-custodial exchange works?

The Gluwa exchange automatically matches market takers with market makers based on amounts and price. Each party accepts an exchange match by reserving funds on the blockchain and sending the required transaction signatures to Gluwa. Gluwa then validates these signatures and publishes them to the blockchain. Users will receive their funds as soon as the blockchain processes the transaction. Note how funds are never held by Gluwa or any other third party, but by the blockchain alone. Thus, enabling the decentralized and non-custodial exchange of assets. 

Market Makers

To become a market maker and make offers, you will need to use the Gluwa API to add orders to the orderbook. Your orders will automatically get matched to market takers based on your quoted prices. Market makers are expected to run a webserver to communicate with the Gluwa API and webhook.

Market Takers

If you are using the Gluwa mobile app to exchange cryptocurrencies, you will be a market taker. When you ask for a quote, the Gluwa app will show you the weighted average price of the best orders on the market. When you choose to accept the quote, you are taking the matched order. 

We invite you to become a market maker on the Gluwa Exchange! You can learn how to become a Gluwa Exchange market maker here.

If you have any questions or queries, please contact us at [email protected],where we will be more than happy to help. 

Follow us on Twitter here for more updates, and you can read more about what we’re thinking and doing by checking out our official blog here. I promise the content is good. I wrote it myself.