Tether (USDT) is a cryptocurrency with a value meant to mirror the value of the U.S. dollar. The idea was to create a stable cryptocurrency that can be used like digital dollars. Coins that serve this purpose of being a stable dollar substitute are called “stable coins.” Tether is the most popular stable coin and even acts as a dollar replacement on many popular exchanges! According to their site, Tether converts cash into digital currency, to anchor or “tether” the value of the coin to the price of national currencies like the US dollar, the Euro, and the Yen. Like other cryptos it uses blockchain. Unlike other cryptos, it is [according to the official Tether site] “100% backed by USD” (USD is held in reserve). The primary use of Tether is that it offers some stability to the otherwise volatile crypto space and offers liquidity to exchanges who can’t deal in dollars and with banks (for example to the sometimes controversial but leading exchange Bitfinex). The digital coins are issued by a company called Tether Limited that is governed by the laws of the British Virgin Islands, according to the legal part of its website. It is incorporated in Hong Kong. It has emerged that Jan Ludovicus van der Velde is the CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex, which has been accused of being involved in the price manipulation of bitcoin, as well as tether. Many people trading on exchanges, including Bitfinex, will use tether to buy other cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. Tether Limited argues that using this method to buy virtual currencies allows users to move fiat in and out of an exchange more quickly and cheaply. Also, exchanges typically have rocky relationships with banks, and using Tether is a way to circumvent that. USDT is fairly simple to use. Once on exchanges like Poloniex or Bittrex, it can be used to purchase Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. It can be easily transferred from an exchange to any Omni Layer enabled wallet. Tether has no transaction fees, although external wallets and exchanges may charge one. In order to convert USDT to USD and vise versa through the Tether.to Platform, users must pay a small fee. Buying and selling Tether for Bitcoin can be done through a variety of exchanges like the ones mentioned previously or through the Tether.to platform, which also allows the conversion between USD to and from your bank account.
0x is an open protocol that is designed to offer a decentralized exchange as part of the Ethereum blockchain. 0x is made using a protocol that involves Ethereum smart contacts that allow those around the world to run a decentralized exchange. The team behind 0x strongly believes that in the future, you will find thousands of tokens from Ethereum and that 0x can provide an efficient and trustworthy way to exchange them. 0x have several benefits such as it can be any asset. The 0x protocol facilitates the exchange of a growing number of Ethereum-based tokens including currencies, game items, and many more digital assets. Besides, it has a networked liquidity. By sharing a standard API, relayers can easily aggregate liquidity pools, creating network effects around liquidity that compound as more relayers come online. 0x also can be exchanged anywhere. 0x allows trade functionality to fade into the background, enabling developers to focus on building while 0x handles the exchange. The co-founders of 0x are Will Warren and Amir Bandeali, the first of which is the CEO and the second of which is the CTO. Both are in smart contract research and development. Warren used to conduct applied physics research at the Los Alamos National Laboratory after studying mechanical engineering at UC San Diego. Bandeali used to be a fixed income trader with DRW after he studied finance at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. 0x doesn’t charge fees of any type to use their protocol; it is free. However, if someone chooses to create a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange using the protocol, that person, known as a Relayer, can charge fees. How does it work? 0x protocol works where : A “Creator” sends his request and at that same point the request is posted in an off-chain arrange/order book by the “Relayer”, next to which the request is acknowledged by the “Taker” by pushing the exchange into the task’s DEX smart contract. Thus, the 0x protocol uses off-chain order books, which is maintained by a relayer for settlement of trade between two parties. Relayers, being behind the maintenance and creation of these channels are incentivised by charging and collecting fees. 0x (ZRX) Token: ZRX token is the unique aspect of 0x project which will be used to pay ‘relayers the trading fees by the users of the protocol. It is also a governance token in a decentralized form for the 0x protocol’s upgrade.