Hello again!
Just completed the first test of the gateway, going from BTS->bitcoin and bitcoin->BTS!
I've designed the system to be very flexable, so it can support these use cases:
*) IOU->bitcoin / bitcoin->IOU
*) bitBTC->bitcoin / bitcoin->bitBTC
*) bitUSD->bitcoin / bitcoin->bitUSD (as long as there is an exchange rate available and a spread)
This means that not only will this gateway support going from bitcoin to bitBTC, but also going from bitcoin straight to bitUSD or vise verse.
Of course this requires the operator to hold both bitcoin and the relevant bitAsset, but in some ways this is preferable than having the operator issue IOUs, because IOUs inherently have no value, so in the case of catastrophic failure and loss of funds an operator issuing IOUs would lose customer's bitcoins, but in the case where the operator holds and issues bitAssets, such a failure would only result in the operator losing his profits / funds, but importantly not the customers funds, since bitAssets do have an intrinsic value outside this system.
This gateway will also support alternative methods in going from bitcoin to bitAssets. Currently, the design requires you to import your private keys from your bitcoin wallet into your bitshares wallet so that transactions sent from bitcoin can be read by bitshares. This is quite a high friction operation so I am adding some very simple features to allow operators to easily work around the problem.
Stay tuned for more!
https://github.com/wildbunny/metaexchangeCheers, Paul.