Birake

In the rapidly growing world of cryptocurrency exchanges, new entrants to the field must do something significant to distinguish themselves from the competition or else face a total lack of interest and support. Birake, a digital currency exchange launched in mid-March of 2018, calls itself the first "white label" service of this type. The concept of "white labeling" is more commonly used in retail circumstances. When a product or service removes its brand name and logo from a product so that it can be rebranded by a distributor, this process is known as white labeling. Customers used to shopping at major food retailers will recognize this process when they purchase "store brand" items at Target Inc. (TGT) or Walmart Inc. (WMT). Birake believes that the concept can be applied to cryptocurrency exchanges as well.

According to Birake's website, through their service "everyone can rent and own their exchange platform. As all the exchanges using [Birake] will share their orders, your exchange will have plenty of active buy/sell orders from day 1." In principle, this means that ICO communities, supporters of all types of cryptocurrencies and tokens, and others in the industry will be able to generate trading platforms quickly and easily. Central to Birake's vision is the idea that decentralization is a crucial component of the cryptocurrency space. Beyond that, Birake also takes as a given that the rise of a few well-known and highly popular cryptocurrency exchanges goes against this core principle. It is for this reason that the developers of Birake "believe that everyone should be able to create their own exchange with just a few clicks and that the orders should be openly shared across all exchanges in the market."

Birake had its origins in 2010 as a software company with activity primarily in South America. According to the website for the exchange, Birake has "deployed automated trading systems, exchange platforms," and, lately, products in the "encryption area." Throughout this process, Birake developers have grown tired of encountering cryptocurrency trading platforms which are overloaded or otherwise inoperable for an extended period of time. It was out of this frustration that the original conception for the Birake platform emerged.

Birake will be powered by the Birake token (BIR). BIR is a decentralized application token based on the ethereum  blockchain and in line with ERC223 standards, according to the platform website. The token generation event for BIR took place beginning in March 2018 with interested parties able to buy BIR for ether or bitcoin. The first 50 million BIR were offered at a 30% discount, while the event was capped at a total of 225 million tokens. Of the 225 million tokens available before the launch date, 90 million will be available in the pre-sale, with another 135 million available in the main sale event. In total, the platform is designed to support 300 million BIR tokens, set to be distributed in June of 2018. In this distribution, tokens will be distributed to ethereum wallets of investors in the crowdsale, as well as to those participating in the development of the project, advertisers and the marketing and communication team.

Birake plans to develop exchange software using 10 currencies from June through October of 2018, with an alpha version of the Birake exchange launched in October. A beta version is slated for launch in November or December of 2018. Users will be able to generate personal exchanges beginning in January 2019, with an alpha version of the white-label exchange set for sometime in the spring of 2019. A beta version will follow that before the official launch of the white-label exchange in August  2019. As a result of the extended launch of various versions and components of the exchange, Birake anticipates that at the time of the official launch in August 2019, there will be "thousands of orders and active users" at that time. Users will be able to exchange BIR tokens for "parts or complete software [solutions] for their individualized exchanges.

In a review of the Birake ICO, btcmanager.com suggested that the concept for the white-label exchange "seems somewhat vague, and it's difficult to determine if there's any high demand for the product that they're offering or if it's something that is of any importance to anyone in the cryptosphere." The review also suggested that the "whitepaper is fairly bland and empty," lacking details about "the actual project itself and how exactly they plan on erecting this exchange." As the company is headquartered in Romania, the whitepaper and website are, as of March 2018, subject to numerous grammatical and spelling errors. As of this writing, the Birake team suggests that more than 2.5 million BIR tokens have been sold through the pre-sale, which is slated to continue at a discounted rate only until the first 50 million tokens are sold.

Investing in cryptocurrencies and Initial Coin Offerings ("ICOs") is highly risky and speculative, and this article is not a recommendation by Investopedia or the writer to invest in cryptocurrencies or ICOs. Since each individual's situation is unique, a qualified professional should always be consulted before making any financial decisions. Investopedia makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy or timeliness of the information contained herein. As of the date this article was written, the author owns bitcoin and ripple.