Airswap exceeds $1M of transactions on first day of operations

Airswap, a new Ethereum-based cryptocurrency exchange, brought in more than $1 million in transactions on its very first day of operations. ECE ILLINOIS alumnus Stamford Hwang (BSEE '09) has helped contribute to the recent success through his expertise at the intersection of entrepreneurship, law, engineering, and blockchain.

According to CryptoSlate, Airswap differs from other crypto trading platforms primarily with how it "serves as a digital market forum where buyers and sellers cannot identify one another." Users must find each other by posting ads on bulletin boards where they are required to describe exactly what they would like to sell. 

Regarding the core benefits of Airswap, Richard Johnson from Greenwich Associates noted, "What's novel about Airswap is that there's no New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq type entity in the middle, setting rules. That's cool, we haven't seen that before."

Head of Airswap, Michael Oved, a former trader from Virtu Financial Inc. added, "Airswap does not manage or ever touch user funds. It works simply as a software platform for discovery of peers with whom users can swap tokens on a peer-to-peer basis through Ethereum smart contracts. There is no central exchange hub or clearing house. The transactions are negotiated peer-to-peer, and then the swap is executed and cleared on the Ethereum blockchain."

Read more about Airswap and their success at CryptoSlate.