BitShares

What is BitShares?  

• The BitShares platform is powered by BitShares (BTS) tokens, which function as its utility token.
• BTS serves various purposes, including the creation of completely customizable ‘BitAssets’ which can have parameters set to represent everything from reward points, to commodity-pegged tokens or even IOUs.
• BitShares runs on Graphene, which is an open-source blockchain with throughput of 100,000 – exceeding that of most of the largest payments transactions processors like Mastercard or Visa, combined.
• As of 2021, BitShares has underwent various revisions to increase its relevance to the ever-evolving state of cryptocurrency and payments regulations.

Key Metrics

Ticker	BTS
Token Name	BitShares
Token Type/Protocol	BTS
Total Token Supply	2,994,440,000
Current Circulating Supply	See Coinmarketcap
Market Capitalisation	See Coinmarketcap
Token Creation Date	July 2014
Can it be mined?	No

Who is behind BitShares?

Bitshares was incepted in 2013 by the titular Daniel Larimer, as well as Charles Hoskinson.

Larimer was a well-decorated software engineer, and one of the biggest names in the crypto space, having launched various other projects including EOS.IO, Block.one and Steemit. Hoskinson is credited most famously with his achievements with Cardano (ADA), but is also lesser-known as one of the co-founders of Ethereum. Both names have reached ubiquity.  

As of 2021, BitShares has a team of slightly more than 15 members, although they have over 60 long-term contributors that have brought on board diverse skillsets including but not limited to economics, law, and of course, engineering. 

What is the purpose of BitShares?

Bitshares is looking to expand blockchain to any industries contingent upon the internet for the provision of their services. The core concept behind this is with the use of distributed autonomous companies (DACs) that provide the possibility for companies that can operate without human intervention, and with incorruptible business rules. By buying ‘stock’ in a company, one becomes a stakeholder, and in becoming a stakeholder, one becomes entitled to be paid in that stock in exchange for services to the company. The net effect is companies that are ‘inherently global, transparent, trustworthy, efficient, and most importantly profitable’.

Insights

• Asset tokens – Bitshares has various types of asset tokens under a variated number of names and acronyms. These vary from User Issued Assets (UIAs) (tokens that can be traded on the open market for an amalgamation of uses, including but not limited to stocks, miles, event tickets or reputation points) all the way to Prediction Market Assets (PMAs) (which function as a betting asset for outcomes such as sports events, gambling, or even weather, where there are only two possibilities). In having multiple token types, BitShares allows users to create a variety of tokens for any use case they can think of.
• Governance – As a slight adjustment to conventional token governance (where the voting pool with the largest number of tokens approves or rejects a proposal), BitShares is governed by elected individuals and businesses to design on the development of the chain, as well as parameters such as block size, confirmation times, and the like. BTS tokens are used to approve the executive committee of the BitShares chain, hence holding the token grants one rights to decide the future of the chain.
• BitShares Members – Bitshares segregates responsibilities (and the subsequent incentives) linked to the network. For example, Witnesses are paid for maintaining the network, Marketers receive referral fees, and Workers are paid for whatever proposals they cast, and do.In effect, BTS acts more like equity in a decentralized autonomous company as compared to conventional cryptocurrencies.
• Bitshares DEX – BitShares has a decentralized exchanged (DEX) that allows the trade of an asset without the interference of a third party. While this has various benefits (including speed, the ability to trade anything, or security), the use (or lack thereof) of the benefits of DEXs is contingent upon the user’s implementation of BTS.

Risks

• Note that as with any project, teams rotate in and out of the team for a whole variety of reasons. Most notably, while Larimer and Hoshkinson (the two men credited with the founding of BTS) are ubiquitous, they are also no longer actively working on the project, moving onto projects like EOS and ADA respectively. However, there is a new and very active team that has continually been pushing along the BTS chain, including the major revamp from BTS 1.0 to 2.0. 

News and Updates

• Bitshares NFT launched, allowing the auction of real world assets and physical arts alongside digital products.
• BitShares partners with Binance for an AMA (ask me anything) giving away USD3000 worth of BTS tokens.

Community & Whitepaper Links

• Official Website: https://bitshares.org/
• White Paper: https://whitepaper.io/document/388/bitshares-whitepaper

Disclaimer: 
All investment is speculative and involves substantial risk and uncertainty. Investors should understand the nature of digital assets including the terms of return and the risk of assets. We encourage investors to fully understand the assets and the risk associated with them prior to making any investment.