Cryptocurrency Exchanger ShapeShift rolls out its soon to be Required Membership Program

TL;DR: ShapeShift membership will now officially operate and serve as a loyalty program for FOX token holders.

The benefits do change depending on the level of membership that the user holds, and do include higher trading limits, rewards on trading volume, better pricing relative to other assets, and includes the likes of private market and trade data, and early access to new coins, services and products.

The cryptocurrency exchanger system, ShapeShift has announced today that it will be introducing a system of membership, which will serve as an advanced loyalty system for its ongoing users. Over time, it's believed that this system will lead to both a system of better pricing overall and a far superior user experience.

At the moment, membership on the platform has been an optional addition, but according to ShapeShift's CEO, Erik Vorhees, stated that this will soon become a mandatory, and will require members to input a limited amount of personal information to validate their membership.

There are a number of advantages that membership to ShapeShift would entail, all of which are made available through the company's website, and through the company's API. These separate benefits come in a multitude of forms, and will accrue across a number of the company's various products and services.

Currently, these benefits include:

At this moment in time, there are five specific levels of membership available for users to take advantage of. At the moment, Level 1 membership is free and open to everyone. Meanwhile, membership levels 2 through to 5 will be open to users at a later stage, and will enable for a greater level of benefits on higher amounts of volume.

The holding of any specific amount of FOX tokens, as opposed to spending or ‘Burning' them, would grant access to these higher levels of membership on the site, thus incentivizing users to keep hold of them.

As they stand, FOX tokens are based on the Ethereum token, and presently there are 1,000,001,337 FOX tokens both in existence and in circulation.

These same FOX tokens represent, only the means to acquire a varying level of ShapeShift membership and their corresponding benefits. Their underlying value as tokens can be found in the varying levels of benefits that they pertain to.

Signups are open now, with the first 100,000 members being able to receive up to 100 FOX tokens upon their initial release. In a deeper conversation with the company's CEO, Erik Vorhees, he expressed a deeper desire to not include membership on the platform, but inevitably believes that there are far more incentives and needs that users require that can easily be addressed through the introduction or a membership system.

“We prefer if the collection of users personal information was not a mandatory element. We still firmly believe that individuals, regardless of race, religion or nationality, deserve the right to financial privacy, just as they deserve the right to the privacy of their own thoughts, their relationships, and in their communications.” Vorhees continues.

“Such privacy is a foundational element of a civil and just society, and should be defended by all good people. We remain committed to that cause, and it is best served if we are smart about our approach. We are immensely excited about this launch as a new set of features and benefits for our customers, and a demonstration of how loyalty programs like this can work in the interests of all stakeholders”.

“Membership will be a significant upgrade in the user experience for many people. While the account-based format is new, we remain committed to consumer protection via our non-custodial model – we do not hold and will not hold customer deposits.”

“As our users explore ShapeShift Membership, we’re eager to work together on the personalization and loyalty features for which you’ve been asking.”

“In developing this new model, we appreciate the support, wisdom, and insights we’ve received from many of you over the past months, and look forward to this new phase of building. You can sign up for your membership here.”

RIP Shapeshift. You will not be missed. https://t.co/Jwx8fyx3P8

— WhalePanda (@WhalePanda) September 4, 2018

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