May 08, 2019

Liquid Network Expands with New Members and Integrations

Multiple new members join the Liquid Network and Bitfinex opens up new integration

Liquid Network Expands with New Members and Integrations

Blockstream today revealed the addition of fourteen new members to the Liquid Network: Blue Fire Capital, BTC Trader, BtcTurk, Cobo, Coinut, DMM Bitcoin, FRNT Financial, Gate.io, Huobi, OpenNode, Poolin, Prycto, Sideshift AI, TaoTao, and Tilde. The Liquid Network now boasts a total membership of 35 exchanges, trading desks, and financial institutions, with many more on the way.

In addition to the expanded membership, leading Bitcoin exchange Bitfinex, and digital asset lending management platform RenrenBit have gone live with Liquid integrations, joining The Rock Trading in offering Liquid Bitcoin (L-BTC) deposits and withdrawals to their customers.

“Issuing bitcoin, stablecoins, and various other digital assets under one blockchain platform makes a lot of sense,” said Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Bitfinex. “It reduces the integration burden for an exchange like ourselves, and traders can manage all their assets from a single wallet application. We’re excited to be finally active on the Liquid Network, and looking forward to seeing how it develops.”

More integrations have also been announced to go live over the coming weeks:

  • Tether (USDT) and Stably (USDS) have revealed plans to launch their stablecoins on Liquid.
  • BitMEX is working with Blockstream to support L-BTC deposits and withdrawals as part of a pilot program for Liquid Members.
  • Cobo, Coinone, Coinut, GOPAX, and Huobi are all working on Liquid integrations to enable L-BTC deposits and withdrawals for their users.
  • Poolin, a major cryptocurrency mining pool operator, will add an L-BTC withdrawal option for mining payouts.
  • BnkToTheFuture are integrating Liquid into their wallet app for L-BTC and other asset support.

“Liquid is bringing new superpowers to cryptocurrency traders,” said Samson Mow, CSO of Blockstream. “Two-minute settlement times will allow traders to move bitcoin rapidly between participating exchanges, or even back to their own Liquid wallets for safe-keeping. Transaction details on Liquid are hidden by default thanks to Liquid’s privacy technology, so traders no longer have to worry about front-running on large trades either.”

The expansion of Liquid integrations has some important implications for the cryptocurrency market:

  • Tighter spreads between exchanges: Traders will be able to rapidly circulate Bitcoin and USDT around exchanges to take advantage of pricing differences, reducing inter-exchange spreads across major trading pairs.
  • Easier self-custody: Faster transactions will also allow traders to reliably take custody of their Liquid-based assets when not trading, reducing counterparty risk.
  • Improved trading privacy: Unlike most public blockchains, transactions on Liquid are private by default, hiding the amounts and types of assets transacted from third parties.

“As one of the top cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, Huobi always strives to stay ahead of the game in the fast-moving cryptocurrency space, especially in the exchange business,” said Robin Zhu, COO of Huobi Group. “The Blockstream team has done some fantastic work with Liquid, and it was a natural decision for Huobi to become one of the first members on the network. We expect Liquid to play an important role in establishing international standards in the exchange industry. Huobi is thrilled to be part of it.”

Users wishing to get started on the Liquid Network can acquire L-BTC now from Bitfinex, Sideshift AI, or The Rock Trading, and can manage their funds with the Liquid Core desktop app.

About Blockstream

Blockstream is the global leader in Bitcoin and blockchain infrastructure. Blockstream’s sidechain technology (Liquid Network) enables faster Bitcoin settlements, while empowering financial institutions to tokenize assets. The Cryptocurrency Data Feed, developed in partnership with Intercontinental Exchange, delivers best-in-class real-time and historical exchange data. Blockstream Green is the world’s most advanced consumer Bitcoin wallet. Blockstream was founded in 2014, with offices and team members distributed around the world.

About the Liquid Network

The Liquid Network is an inter-exchange settlement network connecting cryptocurrency exchanges, market makers, brokers, and other financial institutions around the world. Liquid enables rapid, confidential, secure transfers of bitcoin between members of the network, while bringing these features to a wide range of assets in the form of Issued Assets. The network is operated and managed by its federated members, ensuring the system has no single point of failure. Learn how to get access to the future of digital asset finance at: https://blockstream.com/liquid/