Shapeshift.io is an “instant” conversion service that doesn’t require an account and supports over two dozen currencies. Yesterday, they added two more. Counterparty’s currency XCP and popular CryptoNote coin Monero can now be converted almost instantly with any of Shapeshift’s other currencies.
If you are new to bitcoin, or have been living under a rock for the past twelve months or so, Counterparty is one of the most popular “Bitcoin 2.0” projects. It is built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain and enables asset coins, direct trading and a host of other features. It’s base currency, XCP, has been added to Shapeshift.io.
Monero (XMR) is the most popular CryptoNote powered coin. CryptoNote coins use key-ring signatures to obscure the sender and receiver of every transaction, making coins using the CryptoNote algorithm more anonymous than Bitcoin or most alts.
Shapeshift is useful because it does not require an account or for users to hold any funds within Shapeshift itself. Each transaction requires you to trust Shapeshift, it is not decentralized in anyway, but the site doesn’t hold any funds to steal, trust only has to exist for the length of one transaction. Most transactions on Shapeshift are accomplished in a few minutes, but there can be some delays.
Our testing with XCP went as smooth as most of our experiences with ShapeShift. A BTC to XCP transaction was quick and smooth. A transaction of NXT to XCP however, took a bit longer: a little over ten minutes. Both transactions ultimately went through without any issues.
We did not run a test on Shapshift.io’s Monero capabilities because they do not specify a place for the transaction ID, making it impossible to deposit Monero into an exchange and this writer does not have a Monero wallet.
It is recommended that users include a return address when using Shapeshift to buy currencies recently added to its platform. That is good practice always, but with currencies recently added to the system it is more likely that things could go wrong.
We will keep you up to date on any other major additions to Shapeshift.