There are many cryptocurrency projects which seek to solve problems in the “real world”. We’ve got Elastos trying to create a new, secure internet. We’ve got Ontology trying to create digital identities that will eliminate the need for passwords and trusted parties that hold (but more often lose) our precious personal data. We’ve got Bitcoin trying to be a decentralized digital cash that anyone anywhere can use.
On the other hand, we have projects which are focusing on solved problems related to Bitcoin. ARK is an example, creating interoperability between blockchains. Loopring is in this latter category. It’s pretty much impossible to explain to someone who knows nothing about blockchain what Loopring is and what it’s trying to do. But for blockchain enthusiasts, Loopring couldn’t be more exciting.
Loopring is trying to change what’s possible for cryptocurrency exchanges. More specifically, they’re trying to eliminate cryptocurrency exchanges by introducing a new paradigm. If they’re successful, you’ll soon never have to remove your coins from your safe personal wallet. Any exchanges of one coin for another can be initiated and completed through Loopring, until – POOF – your new coins have appeared.
Loopring has a lot of amazing stuff planned for the next few months. Here’s why we think it could still prove to be one of the great crypto investments of 2018.
Recommended places to buy Loopring
How to Buy Loopring LRC
By now we’ve hopefully established that Loopring is an amazing project for the way cryptocurrency users interact with global blockchains. We also hope that we’ve established that Loopring LRC is an interesting currency for users and investors, which will generate free money as the network expands (NEO and Qtum being the earliest examples).
If by now you’re convinced of all of this, you might want to buy some Loopring LRC of your own. We’ll talk about how to do that now. But first, we’ve got to get a Loopring Wallet set up for you, a safe place to store your Loopring coins once purchased. For this, we’ll be using the trusty MyEtherWallet multi-currency wallet. Go to MyEtherWallet.com.
On the homepage, click “Create New Wallet”. When MEW gives you a public and private address, make sure to store the private address carefully! This can be used as a password. It’s also the way to regenerate your account if you ever get locked out for some reason. Anyone who has this private address/key can steal your coins, so we recommend not storing it on your computer. Instead write it down, preferably twice or more, and store these in different secure locations.
Now that your account is created, let’s point out a couple of important factors, visible in the image below.
The most important thing to note is your Account Address. You’ll need this for both of the Loopring buying methods below. Also of note is the “Show Tokens” button at the bottom right of the screen. When you click this you’ll see every ERC20 token (coins released using the Ethereum blockchain). For now, Loopring is an ERC20 token, and you’ll see your Loopring LRC balance beside the “LRC” in this big stack of coins. Click “show” beside it, and it will be added to your main balance which is displayed everytime you log in.
Great. Now let’s get you some Loopring coins, shall we?
How to Buy Loopring on Binance
Binance is the biggest seller of Loopring. It’s also a very reliable exchange, with good customer support and many interesting coins to choose from. We think you’ll like it, so even though Loopring is available from several other excellent exchanges, we’ll use Binance for this example.
Go to Binance.com and create an account. Before you can start trading, you’ll have to buy some Bitcoin using Coinbase, Coinmama, Cex.io, Changelly, or any other method. When you have your Bitcoin, go to “Funds” > “Balances” on Binance, click “Deposit” on your Bitcoin wallet, and you should see a screen like this:
The “Bitcoin Deposit Address” is the address you want to send your Bitcoin to. Copy the address and take it to wherever your Bitcoins are currently stored. Hit “Send” or “Withdraw” (or whatever else they call it), paste your Binance Bitcoin address into the “address” line, and send all of your Bitcoin (or as much as you wish to spend on Loopring. In a few minutes it will arrive and you’ll be ready to trade.
Now go to “Exchange” > “Basic”, and let’s take a look at the trading screen.
This page gives you all kinds of information, but you only need to pay attention to some of it. Notice near the upper right hand corner how “LRC” is typed into the little search bar? This brings up the “LRC/BTC” trading pair. Click this, and this will make LRC tradable on the buy section with the Green button on the bottom left of the screen.
The current market price of Loopring LRC will already be filled in. If you want to wait for a better price, you can put whichever price you want and hope this Loopring goes down in value soon. Or you can just go with the current market price. Next, select how much Loopring you want/how much of your Bitcoin you want to spend. We’ll assume you want as much Loopring LRC as you can get, so go ahead and hit “100%”.
Your order is now ready to go. All you have to do is hit the green “Buy LRC”. If you chose the market price your order should be completed in seconds. Once your LRC is visible in “Funds” > “Balances”, you’re ready to send it to your MyEtherWallet for safekeeping.
Type “LRC” into the little search window and this will make all of your other Binance wallets temporarily disappear. Click “Withdrawal”.
All you have to do here is go back to MyEtherWallet and copy your Account Address (discussed above). Take it back here and paste it into the “LRC Withdrawal Address” line. Choose all of your Loopring LRC as the “Amount”, and finally “Submit”. You’re pretty much done! Your transaction should be completed in a few minutes, at which time you’ll see your Loopring LRC in the MyEtherWallet address you made earlier.
What is Loopring LRC?
When we use large centralized exchanges like Bittrex, we’re taking on a certain amount of risk. Bittrex is great, but it might be hacked, they might not have liquidity for the coins you want to buy, and they might not have the best price when compared to other centralized exchanges. This is true for any exchange.
Meanwhile, numerous new protocols are trying to create amazing decentralized exchanges. These exchanges will be operated by smart contract, and will employ various methods to get you the coins you want faster, cheaper, and more securely than any present method. There are many reasons to believe that Loopring is the most likely to change the game, even when compared to quality competitors like 0x and Kyber.
The next iteration of the Loopring wallet (due in May) will be a place you can store your coins safely. When you want to trade one coin for another, you won’t have to send your coins from your wallet to a centralized exchange. Instead, all you’ll have to do is initiate a trade through the Loopring network, then Loopring will scour the entire ecosystem for traders who would like to complete your trade, using Ring Mining. When your order is complete, your new coins will simply appear in your wallet. Ultimate convenience and security.
Going a Little Deeper With Loopring Token and the Loopring Network
That all sounds great, but people get truly excited about Loopring when they start digging beneath the surface. Here are some other cool things that Loopring can and will do.
- Normal exchange can only match orders between two parties. Example: User A has Bitcoin but wants NEO. User B has NEO but wants Bitcoin. But what about user C who has NEO but wants Ethereum? Normally, the third party would be out of luck, but with Loopring, any person who supplies a certain coin could match an order from Party A, while receiving the coin they want from User C (or any other more complex scenario). With Loopring, coins are matched from tons of sources: exchanges, traders, relayers, investors, etc. You can think of it almost like Bit Torrent, where a single file is composed of pieces from lots of different people.
- When a user makes a trade, their coins aren’t “locked” like they would be in a centralized exchange limit order. Instead, the holder can use these coins for whatever purpose as she waits for the order to be filled. When the order is filled, the coins are automatically exchanged, but if the user finds a better purpose for them in the meantime, she can take advantage of it. There are many advantages which this technology gives the daily user/trader.
- Coins are “atomized” when exchanged, meaning they have to travel through no centralized authority, introducing high fees and bad exchange rates.
- Loopring doesn’t weigh down the blockchains it is linked to. This relieves congestion from crowded networks like Ethereum.
- Loopring’s mainnet launching this summer will be fully open source, making it easy to audit and also to create apps using the Loopring API.
- Loopring already has existing partnerships with NEO and Qtum, two of the most significant blockchains on the planet, with more on the way.
- Loopring LRC holders get free new tokens that are specific to the NEO and Qtum networks (LRN and LRQ). These are supplied in a free airdrop happening in May. Yes, this is free money, so people who invest in Loopring now will have a major bonus coming up, with more on the way as new blockchain partnerships are formed.
- All of this proves that Loopring isn’t a new exchange. Instead it’s a “transactional ecosystem” that will make coin exchange fluid and easy, without users having to even consider the amazing complexity of the process operating behind the scenes.
You can see that even though Loopring isn’t easy to wrap up in just a few words like Bitcoin or Monero, it’s nonetheless a very exciting project with massive potential for investment returns and ongoing holder rewards. There are many people in the know who believe that Loopring is going to introduce a new paradigm for blockchain trades and transactions, and could even become the new framework by which traditional currencies and other financial assets are traded all around the world.
This is big stuff, and it’s on the verge of being actualized with NEO and Qtum. If you believe in what Loopring is trying to do, the time to get into Loopring LRC is now!
Final Thoughts on Loopring LRC
Loopring is bringing groundbreaking technology into the blockchain space. Their methods stand to change the way cryptocurrencies are bought and sold, making life much easier for everyone and attracting new users to space. With an open API, many apps will be built using the Loopring technology, and one day we could all be using Loopring without even realizing it.
Loopring LRC represents a good investment in the short term as well. As new releases approach, the Loopring price will increase. As new partnerships form, an additional blockchain-specific currency will be given to LRC holders for free! Loopring LRC represents a massive opportunity for cryptocurrency investors and users of these technologies in general.
Get in while the getting’s good. Loopring crashed along with everything else during February, and the current price is well below it’s all-time high. We expect Loopring to break it’s previous records later this year, so this may be the very last opportunity to get in at a price this good. No one can predict the future, but we think that Loopring is one of the safest bets you can make in crypto this year.