Bitcoin’s first exchange for tokens is now live

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Bitcoin finally has a decentralized exchange for tokens. Bitcoin Token Exchange went live on March 6, and is currently the most functional—and only—decentralized exchange for tokens that is up and running on Bitcoin SV.

“I started seeing people talking about Simple Fabriik Protocol (SFP) tokens on Twitter a few weeks ago (Feb 18th). People were minting them, and sending them out to anyone who asked,” said Bitcoin Token Exchange founder Graeme Madden, also known as ‘Gmadd’ on Twitter and Twetch.

“I got sent a lot of different tokens, and I wanted to see them in an alphabetical list with more token details, so I set up a page to use the Money Button API to display them (and to learn how to use the API).

“Some people were trading them on Twitter, so I thought it would be a good idea to let other people list their tokens that they wanted to trade and allow them to contact each other through the site. Then following suggestions from users, I started working on adding a trading function to allow people to transfer tokens directly on the site by swiping a Money Button. The rest has just come from ideas about what might be useful and suggestions from users.”

https://twitter.com/gmadd/status/1366598428805988356?s=20

From an end-user perspective, it is a bit like using eBay because completing a transaction requires both the buyer and seller to do a bit of manual labor (until it is automated of course). 

Here’s how it works:

Buyers on the platform select the token they would like to purchase and then swipe a Money Button to pay. Afterward, the order appears in the seller’s Orders list; the seller then needs to swipe a Money Button to send the buyers their tokens. 

“As of now, there’s been 642 users who have logged in. There are currently 692 listings showing on the For Sale page. 328 payments made since 6th March (when the buy/sell bit went live),” said Madden.

As you can see, BTE is not even a week old, yet, it is picking up a significant amount of traction. Beyond buying and selling tokens, BTE users can:

– View their list of tokens held in their Money Button wallet and mark tokens as ‘Available for Trade’

– View a list of all tokens (not complete, but shows all that have been seen by the site) and mark tokens that they want

– View matches (users who have something you want, and want something you have available)

– Create a trade offer and send it to another user (with Counter/Accept/Reject Offer buttons)

– Send messages to other users

– Define, Mint, and Modify tokens

– Rate other users

– Send tokens/payment to any Money Button paymail

– View list of sale listings

– Buy/Sell tokens directly with other users, and 

– View their Buy/Sell orders.

The future of BTE and tokens on Bitcoin

This is just the beginning for Bitcoin Token Exchange; BTE is in its infancy and there are many upgrades to come.

“I’ve been working on getting everything running smoothly, fixing little bugs, and making the UI/information side a bit clearer,” said Madden. “The biggest feature request has been to automate token transfers so sellers don’t have to manually send, and buyers receive straight away. I would really like to add this. I’d like to integrate all token protocols/other wallets and make the transfers seamless. I have another idea for a game using tokens, but that’s on hold at the minute.”

He noted, “I’m aware some big companies are working on token marketplaces, and I don’t expect to compete with them with the resources they have available, so I hope to add additional features that they don’t provide. It’s all moving so fast, so I’ll try to keep up and add as many useful features as I can, and see what the users require.”

The creation of Bitcoin Token Exchange marks a major innovation milestone on BSV. Fabriik’s Simple Fabriik Protocol for tokens opened the floodgate for tokenization and token implementation in business models. But a crucial aspect of tokenization is the ability to exchange one token for another, and there was an infrastructure gap that existed in this regard until Madden stepped up to create BTE.

Another infrastructure gap that Madden alluded to is automation via smart contracts. Automation is in high demand across Bitcoin at the moment. Smart contracts have existed for quite some time on Bitcoin, but it wasn’t until recently that applications like Bitcoin Token Exchange created a real demand for smart contracts.

I believe that in the coming weeks and months, we are going to see this change, and will see smart contract capabilities and tooling in BSV improve significantly and begin getting implemented in several applications, platforms, and services. 

Because at the end of the day, platforms like Bitcoin Token Exchange are forcing Bitcoin SV to evolve and be better. That being said, the Bitcoin ecosystem and its participants will—and do—have better tools and resources available to them thanks to platforms like Madden’s BTE pushing the limits of what Bitcoin can do.