[Technologia]

Announcing ShapeShift Membership
By Erik Voorhees, Founder and CEO of ShapeShift
Today marks the release of ShapeShift Membership.
TL;DR

• ShapeShift Membership is a loyalty program
  
• Benefits, depending on level, may include higher trading limits, rewards on trading volume, better pricing, private market and trade data, and early access to new coins, products and services
  

To some who have followed our history, it may seem a curious development; ShapeShift is known as “the exchange without accounts,” a model we pioneered in order to reduce friction and protect customers. Membership is account-based, so why are we departing from that lineage?
This change is the convergence of three themes we’ve been exploring and considering intensely over the past year:
1) The requests of many of our users to have account-related features: A record of transaction history, saved/whitelisted addresses, and email notifications, for example.
2) Our increasing interest in the broad phenomenon of tokenization – the ability to “financialize” and bring liquidity to various aspects of business/customer relationships. Specifically, the ability to build tokenized loyalty programs, in which the engagement between a business and its customers can itself become an asset.
3) The practice of requiring customers to hand over personal private information is one we’ve struggled with since inception. To the extent that digital asset technology remains a legal grey area, we need to be prudent and thoughtful in our approach as we navigate the regulatory environment.
From these themes, the concept of ShapeShift Membership emerged.
Membership is, in essence, an advanced loyalty program. It will lead over time both to better pricing and a superior user experience.
The important details of Membership:

• Members receive special benefits. The benefits will be available both through the website and through the API, and will evolve over time. Benefits include:
  • Discount on exchange rates (Lvl 2+)
    
  • Volume-based rewards in FOX
    
  • Higher transaction limits
    

• There are five levels of Membership (Level 1-5).
  • Level 1 is available now, and is free and open to everyone.
    
  • Levels 2-5 will be available later, and enable benefits on higher amounts of volume. Possession of specific amounts of FOX tokens (rather than spending or “burning”) grants access to these higher levels of Membership.
    
• FOX tokens are standard Ethereum-based token. There are 1,000,001,337 FOX tokens in existence (and never more).
  
• Membership benefits in various forms will accrue across all products and services of ShapeShift. The benefits can and will change over time.
  
• You can become a Member here (the first 100,000 Members will receive 100 FOX tokens upon the release of the token later).
  
• FAQ can be found here
  
• Membership requires basic personal information to be collected. Today, Membership is optional, but it will become mandatory soon.
  

Yes, that last detail sucks. We would prefer if the collection of personal information was not a mandatory element. We still firmly believe that individuals, regardless of their race, religion, or nationality, deserve the right to financial privacy, just as they deserve the right to privacy in their thoughts, in their relationships, and in their communications. 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’re 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 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.