LCX, the Liechtenstein Cryptoassets Exchange, is a blockchain ecosystem for professional investors. LCX will provide crypto custody service called LCX Vault, a crypto trading desk called LCX Terminal, an advanced trading platform for security tokens and other cryptoassets called LCX Exchange, and an international fiat-to-crypto exchange called Binance LCX, which is a joint venture with Binance.
B. Industry
Cryptoassets exchanges are classified into two catagories: centralized exchanges and decentralized exchanges. According to the data from CoinMarketCap on September, there are only 18 decentralized exchanges among top 200. Comparing to other centralized exchanges, the specialty about LCX is that they will offer trading between Swiss Francs (CHF) and Euros (EUR) against major cryptocurrencies pairs. According to the H1 crypto exchange report by Blockdata, there are 177 effective exchanges by the end of April 2018. Among 177 exchanges, there are not many of them provide international fiat-to-crypto exchange. Bitfinex, Coinbase Pro, Bitstamp and Kraken are the big exchanges that offer trading between Euros against major cryptocurrencies pairs. There is no exchange offer trading between Swiss Francs against major cryptocurrencies pairs right now. It is because there are only two countries use Swiss Francs, which are Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Switzerland does not have an exchange offer trading between Swiss Francs so far.
Liechtenstein and Switzerland are members of the European Economic Area, but not the European Union. So, the advantage being that financial services based there, including those working on cryptocurrencies and blockchain, can skirt some of the most onerous EU regulations while still trading across the continent because of financial ‘passporting’ rules. It’s part of the reason why Liechtenstein’s banks are still handling crypto investments on behalf of their clients, and even offering advice on initial coin offerings, while the rest of Europe’s financial sector has shied away from digital currencies. Crown Prince Alois even implied that his royal family could soon use blockchain to manage the day-to-day administration of their monarchy, and he’s made mention of diversifying his family’s assets into digital tokens.
Although crypto exchange is a very competitive market, there is not many direct competitors to LCX. With the help of Binance, LCX has a potential to be successful in Europe. (7.5/10)
C. Mode
LCX, the Liechtenstein Cryptoassets Exchange, is a blockchain ecosystem for professional investors. LCX will provide crypto custody service called LCX Vault, a crypto trading desk called LCX Terminal, an advanced trading platform for security tokens and other cryptoassets called LCX Exchange, and an international fiat-to-crypto exchange called Binance LCX, which is a joint venture with Binance.
· LCX Exchange: LCX Exchange is a stable, scalable, and secure professional trading platform for utility and security tokens. LCX is designed to satisfy the strict requirements of institutional investors: custody, compliance, stability, transparency and auditability.
The LCX Trading Platform will be built on scalable infrastructure, matching engine and a secure backend infrastructure. It will incorporate the LCX custody solution, analytical tools and a variety of reporting capabilities. The trading interface will be available in English, German and Chinese simplified. Additional languages will be rolled-out over time. The LCX Trading Platform will be rolled out in several phases, first listing a variety of cryptoassets and at a later point of time listing security tokens. The listing of security tokens is in accordance to the international Financial Market regulations and will be launched after final approvals.
· LCX Terminal: The LCX Terminal is an advanced crypto assets autotrading, portfolio management and analytics platform with API integration of major exchanges.
· LCX Vault: An institutional-grade crypto asset vault using dedicated hardware security modules that support multi-signature authorization. LCX will offer custodian storage of cryptocurrencies for financial institutions, corporations, asset and wealth managers, family offices and HNW investors. The LCX Vault bridges the gap between hot wallets and cold storage. LCX will closely work with market leaders in secure hardware for storing crypto assets and implement their custodial solutions. The LCX Vault will provide clients with an end-to-end security solution and operational service, while allowing clients to maintain control of their private keys at all times. LCX’s advanced crypto wallets will be based on certified Hardware Security Module (HSM) technology. The hardware security modules will secure the private keys and manage the multi-authorization process.
· Binance LCX: Binance LCX is a joint venture between Binance and LCX, that will launch a fiat-to-crypto exchange in Liechtenstein. The experienced team at Binance will provide and maintain the technology platform, while Binance LCX manages customer support, legal requirements, due diligence, KYC, AML and government communication. Binance LCX plans to build up a team of 10–15 people for its Liechtenstein office and will immediately start the hiring process. The exchange will offer trading between Swiss Francs (CHF) and Euros (EUR) against major cryptocurrencies pairs, and add more trading pairs overtime subject to regulatory approval.
According to the telegram, there will also be $LCX, the utility token of the LCX ecosystem. Comparing to other exchanges, LCX provides more comprehensive service to investors, for both individuals and institutions. As a centralized exchange, LCX will face some trust issues in the future. Comparing to decentralized exchanges, centralized exchanges are more likely to be attacked by hackers. Moreover, since transaction data will not be on-chain, funds in exchanges are more likely to be embezzled (7.5/10)
D. Technology
LCX is a centralized exchange with its own platform’s cryptocurrency, just like Binance. As it was mentioned above, the experienced team at Binance will provide and maintain the exchange. Although LCX is not open source, people do not have to worry about the trading performance and security of LCX.(7/10)
E. Operation
Telegram — 2699 members, admins are always online to answer. Most people are asking if there will be ICO or fundraising; Twitter — joined twitter on February 2018, 96 tweets and 2249 followers; Facebook — 48 followers; LCX is a recent project, so it is understandable that they do not have many followers.(6/10)
F. Team
There are no members listed on their official website. But according to the LinkedIn, there are 5 members listed. Monty Metzger is the CEO of LCX. He is a serial entrepreneur that graduated from Harvard Business School. According to the LinkedIn, the size of the companies he had created is quite small which implies that his past experience is not that successful. Yeshu Agarwal, the CTO of LCX, is founder of Coinally.io. Coinally.io is the cryptocurrency auto trading & portfolio management platform featuring API import support for most major cryptocurrency exchanges such as Bittrex, Poloniex, Binance, Coinbase, Bitfinex, GDAX, Kraken, and Liqui. The rest of the team members is on marketing and community end. According to their job posting, they are currently hiring developers in New Delhi, which we can conclude that they will build up a technical team in India. The CTO is Indian as well. Like it was mentioned above, the experienced team at Binance will provide and maintain the technology platform, while Binance LCX manages customer support, legal requirements, due diligence, KYC, AML and government communication. So, with the help of Binance and an experienced CTO, the technology of LCX is guaranteed.
On advisory end, they have some big names. They have Don Tapscott, the author of “The Blockchain Revolution”, Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, and Prof. Dr. Shoucheng Zhang, the Founding Chairman of Danhua Capital. LCX has a quite luxuries lineup. (8/10)
G. Conclusion
LCX will highly likely to be the first crypto exchange in Liechtenstein. LCX intends to obtain a MIFID II license in accordance with the Liechtenstein Banking Act and further licenses under the Blockchain Act. While conducting its business LCX will take all required efforts to comply with existing Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations applicable in the regulated financial market. With the technical support of Binance, as long as LCX can operate lawfully, they are very likely to be successful in Europe.
Which products support LCX?
| Send/Receive | Trading | |
|---|---|---|
| Coinbase | ✔ | ✔ |
| Pro | ✔ | ✔ |
| Wallet | ✔ | ✖️ |
What regions support LCX?
| US | NY | CAN | EU | UK | DE | SG | JP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coinbase | ✔ | ✖️ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✖️ | ✖️ | ✖️ |
| Pro | ✔ | ✖️ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✖️ | ✖️ | ✖️ |
| Wallet | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✖️ |
Crypto to fiat trading pairs
| US | UK | EU | |
|---|---|---|---|
| USD | ✔ | ✖️ | ✖️ |
| GBP | ✖️ | ✖️ | ✖️ |
| EUR | ✖️ | ✔ | ✔ |
Note: Coinbase Wallet does not support direct bank transactions. You’ll need to transfer your crypto to Coinbase.com or send it to an external address in order to cash out.
Crypto to crypto trading pairs
| USDC | BTC | ETH | USDT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LCX | ✖️ | ✖️ | ✖️ | ✔ |
See the full list of countries that Coinbase supports for crypto-to-crypto trading.
Note: Only assets hosted on the Ethereum blockchain can be converted through the Coinbase Wallet mobile app at this time. Learn more about trading on Coinbase Wallet.
How many confirmations are needed for LCX?
LCX requires 35 network confirmations. Learn about transaction confirmations.
Which blockchain network hosts LCX?
LCX is hosted on Ethereum.
What are the minimum and maximum withdrawal amounts?
Coinbase has implemented safeguards to ensure a healthy and efficient network both on-chain and through our platform.
These safeguards include both minimum and maximum amounts for each cryptocurrency we allow customers to send through the blockchain.
Minimum: 0.000000000000000001 LCX
Maximum: 180,000 LCX