| Yes, that's been my worry with many blockchain projects - it all sounds great until it needs to interface with the messy real-world. But - regardless of the merits of this particular project - I think there is still some benefit in having a decentralised cryptocurrency exchange even if it doesn't totally eliminate the need for trust. Provided it reduces the scope of what needs to be trusted, or makes it easier to audit, or reduces how often it needs to be trusted, then that's still an improvement. Suppose you want to sell some ethereum-based FOO tokens for US Dollars in your bank account. Now, you could trust a centralised exchange to do the whole thing and hope they don't get hacked / run off with your money / steal your identity docs / take weeks to verify you / get shut down by regulators. And cough up the 0.25% fees. Or, with a decentralised exchange, you can split your problem into two problems: 1. finding someone willing to exchange your Ethereum FOO token for an Ethereum tethered-USD token 2. finding someone willing to exchange Ethereum tethered-USD tokens for bank account USD. Part 1 is purely Ethereum-based, and this is where competition should drive fees down to near-zero. Because a smart-contract can run this, there's almost no need to trust - this can be done on-chain. Part 2 is where you have a point - there is still some trust required. But we don't need to trust the tethered-USD processor in Part 2 nearly as much as a full-fledged exchange - and they're easier to audit. There's also a lot less to go wrong - they're not dealing with lots of different crypto-currencies and networks, all they have to do is burn Ethereum tethered-USD tokens in exchange for real USD in a bank account. Fees should be lower, you'd hope. Also, eventually we might get to the point where part 2 isn't needed - if you can spend tethered-USD tokens in enough places, why would you need banking-system-USD? Disclaimer: I'm involved with the https://ubitok.io decentralised Ethereum exchange so I do have a bit of a vested interest in decentralised exchanges! Would love to hear some counter opinions though .. |