Ever since KYC regulations became a core part of crypto trading platforms, ShapeShift has somewhat struggled. It decided to implement KYC procedures, alienating its client base that used ShapeShift for its decentralized exchange. On top of this, as crypto winter took a firm grasp of the industry, ShapeShift was forced to lay off a number of staff to ensure it could still afford to run. On the back of all this, ShapeShift is planning a major overhaul of its platform as well as a sleek new look through a classy rebranding exercise.
Rebrand is Well Underway
When your business is struggling and you’ve been forced to lay off staff members, you don’t waste any time in pivoting to a new revenue stream in order to bounce back. ShapeShift is doing just that and its CEO Eric Voorhees dropped the news we have all been waiting for earlier this week. At ETHDevner, Voorhees teased information about the new ShapeShift and its trading prowess. In the new platform, traders will have better connections with KeepKey – a hardware crypto wallet – and CoinCap – a crypto analytics platform – to help make trading easier than ever before.
On top of this, shapeshift is rolling out a new logo, color palette, typeface and imagery. The new logo is largely similar to its predecessor, but with a few modifications. The new logo is dubbed to have the qualities that will allow the business to grow and move forward while remaining true to the brand’s history.
Police Requesting User Data
It’s rather normal for an exchange to be issued with requests for user data from the police – and it’s one of the biggest reasons ShapeShift implemented KYC procedures. However, in the second half of 2018, ShapeShift received 175% more requests for trader information than in the first half. Despite Voorhees disliking for Orwellian KYC and AML procedures, by implementing them his exchange was able to stay out of any more trouble by complying with police requests.
The brand new ShapeShift platform has just been released on a closed beta and you can join the waiting list to get an early preview of the platform. ShapeShift 2.0 is allegedly one of the most user-friendly exchange platforms out there and will be packed full of advanced trading tools to suit traders of every skill level. An official live release date has yet to be announced, but it’s likely that we will see it go live before the end of the year.
