Gatecoin
Gatecoin is a Bitcoin and Ethereum token exchange based in Hong Kong. Founded in July 2013 by a former investment banker, Aurélien Menant, Gatecoin became the first cryptocurrency exchange to list ethereum’s native token, ether (ETH) in August 2015 and has since specialised in listing ethereum tokens associated with decentralized applications. [1]
Gatecoin is an international financial institution for digital currencies. Available for the moment is an exchange for trading bitcoins, Ether, REP (Augur) and several fiat currencies (USD, HKD, EUR). Gatecoin is Money-Service Operator licensed in Hong-Kong and incubated by the Hong-Kong Science Technology Parks (HKSTP) and Tsinghua University.
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Description
Gatecoin has become one of the first exchanges registered as a cash services operator in Hong Kong. This status requires the services to separate their own assets from those of their clients. Thus, even in case of its own bankruptcy, Gatecoin will be able to pay the funds belonging to the clients.
Today Gatecoin is among the top thirty exchanges by average daily trading volume. The most liquid pairs differ ETH/EUR, BTC/HKD, ETH/BTC and BTC/USD.[2]
Gatecoin joined The SuperCharger FinTech accelerator program sponsored by Baidu and Standard Chartered bank in January 2016. In October 2017, Coindash entered into partnership with Gatecoin.[3]
History
The online platform launched publicly in Q1 2015. Gatecoin is based in Hong Kong and operated by Gatecoin Ltd, incorporated on July 24th, 2013 in Hong Kong, SAR. Gatecoin won the 2014 Best Start-Up Prize for Central and East Asia at Talent Unleashed. Richard Branson and Steve Wozniak were part of the jury. Gatecoin co-founders are active members of the bitcoin community. Co-found and CEO Aurélien MENANT is one of the founding members of the Bitcoin Association of Hong Kong. Gatecoin regularly participates in conferences such as the Bitcoin Expo 2014 in Shanghai, the Inside Bitcoin conferences 2014 in Hong Kong, Paris 2014 and Singapore 2015.
Gatecoin also created the website coincharities.org that works like Kickstarter that accepts donations in bitcoins.
Services
Gatecoin was the first bitcoin exchange to offer segregated client bank accounts in Europe, and is amongst the first cryptocurrency exchanges to also hold a Money Service Operator (MSO) license in Hong Kong, which governs the firm’s foreign exchange activities.[4] A CoinDesk news article explains: “This means customer funds are kept in separate bank accounts to the company’s own funds, and thus can have funds returned in the case of a force majeure financial event that depletes company reserves.”
The Gatecoin exchange platform allows users to trade bitcoin, and a range of ethereum tokens including ether (ETH), Augur’s Reputation tokens (REP), DigixDAO tokens (DGD), FirstBlood tokens (1ST), SingularDTV tokens (SNGLS), ICONOMI tokens (ICN), Matchpool‘s Guppy tokens (GUP) and iExec‘s (RLC) token alongside fiat currencies: US dollar, Euro, and Hong Kong dollar.
Security
Gatecoin has 3 levels of verification, different set of options available to the user.
- Level 0 (unverified). Available after the confirmation email. Input/output means for such accounts is not available.
- Level 1 (verified). Available after confirmation of identity and address by downloading the relevant documents, as well as filling out a questionnaire about the source of income. Allows you to enter/withdrawcrypto-currencies in unlimited quantities. Fiat’s I/o is limited to $50,000.
- Level 2 (certified). Deposit / withdrawal in cryptocurrencies and Fiat is unlimited. To obtain this level of verification, you must send a certified physical copy of the documents for level 1 + a signed copy of the printed questionnaire for level 1 + to be interviewed via Skype.
Fees
Gatecoin offers 15 days of free trading for new users after making their first deposit. After that period, the fees depend on volumes and status:
| Volume traded per month [BTC] | Fee* [%] |
|---|---|
| <20 | 0.35 |
| <50 | 0.30 |
| <100 | 0.25 |
| <200 | 0.20 |
| >200 | 0.15 |
- Once you reach a threshold over a rolling 31 day period, the discounted fee is automatically applied to your following trades.
| Account Type | Standard | Market Maker | Member |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimal Trading Fees | 0.15% | 0.1% | 0.05% |
| Account Pricing | Free | BTC 0.08/month | BTC 0.8/month |
| VIP Gateway | NO | YES | YES |
| VPN & FIX Access | NO | NO | YES |
Attack
Cryptocurrency exchange Gatecoin knows firsthand what a hacker attack is. In may 2016, the year the information appeared that she was the victim of a cyber attack. Interestingly, this information appeared not from insiders, but from official representatives of the exchange. As a result of these actions, the company lost 250 bitcoins and 185 000 ETH. At the then rate, losses amounted to almost $2 million. The administration was able to quickly find the leak. They found that the attack took place on may 9. Almost immediately began an internal check, as employees of the exchange was surprised by the sudden restart of one of the servers. The check showed that restart of the server was not accidental.
At this point, hackers were able to penetrate the network and processed it until may 12. On may 13, the internal security service noticed suspicious transactions that could be interrupted in time by disabling the service. Thanks to this, the losses did not become even greater.
After that, the investigation was connected to the experts of the company Tehtri Security. They were able to establish how the attackers infiltrated the system, and how it was processed, but to track hackers on Bitcoin and Ethereum addresses failed. The attack was subject to the assets of the company itself, which were stored in the”hot wallet“. Means of users didn’t suffer. The company immediately developed a complex of measures on strengthening the protection of and compensation for losses. Until may 28, all transactions for withdrawal of funds were suspended, and then the payment service began to work again in the normal mode.
External Links
- Gatecoin Official website
- @Gatecoin on Twitter
- CoinMarketCap – Gatecoin exchange
- LOC Listed on HK based exchange Gatecoin.com
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