What is Bitshares exactly? Please ELI5 (Explain Like I'm 5)

[Stan]

Lots of good ways to look at it.

Another huge one is that it is the backbone for an entire network of partner exchanges, taking the term Decentralized Exchange to a whole new level:

Remember this from Summer Announcement #2?

The BitShares Blockchain now has a whole new purpose.

Not only is it a second generation coin containing a decentralized exchange that produces smart-currency products...
Now it's also a transparent inter-company network letting exchanges give their customers and assets trading access to customers and assets on other exchanges.

Instead of competing with traditional exchanges,
we are multiplying the markets they can enjoy by networking with each other.

Here's the details about why this is revolutionary:

Now that you've had time to absorb all the cool new features in BitShares 2.0, its time to start unveiling some of the implications about what is possible.  In this post, I'll lay out one of them.

The BitShares Smartchain can serve as a backbone
to support live trading between traditional exchanges. 

Now, instead of having separate shallow markets inside their own stovepipe order books, they can use BitShares to enable all their customers to trade all their assets with the customers and assets of other exchanges.  Small exchanges can band together to attract medium exchanges to join them to compete with still bigger exchanges.  Like a rolling stone.

This greatly expands the network effect, liquidity and market depth of all participants.  A bigger pie for everyone.

And with our new referral system, every participating exchange keeps their own profits from signing up their own customers and issuing their own assets.

We have the perfect way for them to safely compete and cooperate on a single, compelling, transparent exchange network.

The BitShares Exchange Network.

So, exchanges can do more than just serve as gateways and bridges.
They can publish their own order books transparently on our Smartchain.

So everyone can KNOW that they are honest and solvent.

And every customer holds the keys to their own assets, fully decentralized where they won't be such juicy targets for hackers.
With easy to use multi-sig accounts to make those decentralized accounts even more secure.

BitShares 2.0 has the industrial strength to handle the workload of all member crypto exchanges combined.
It is the perfect application to serve as an inter exchange networking back bone.
(Almost like we planned it that way.)

Yeah, but it will never happen, right?

Not so fast! Check out this week's Big BitShares Announcement!

CCEDK.com will put its exchange on a transparent Smartchain offering to trade with other exchanges there.
(And provide them fiat ramps and crypto-aware debit card support in the mix.)

Read their news release here.

[clayop]

Bitshares is a cluster of cusromized smart contracts based on industrial level blockchain technology.

[speedy]

Ok here is my attempt at explaining what BitShares is. I deserve a Brownie for this:

BitShares is a smart contract platform and asset exchange with Nasdaq-level capacity built into a blockchain.
BitShares' global orderbook supports trading market pegged and issued assets with minimal fees and the best liquidity.
BitShares is the world's first (potentially) profitable virtual company, by earning more income from providing services than the cost of securing the network.
BitShares is an ideal financial system, where participants have complete choice in their type of savings, which are fully collaterialized and can be lent out globally for the maximum possible return.

[puppies]

Bitshares is the network that secures smartcoins such as BitUSD.  Which are pegged to real assets in a counterparty risk free manner.  Thus reducing volatility concerns inherent in crypto. 

There are more features planned, but most of them are in regards to growing our network, because it is our network as a whole that secures all of our property.

[BitEnthusiast]

No one has any idea, thats why the price is tanking.

At least with Ethereum you can explain it in one sentence "Turing-complete programmable smart contract currency"

Someone needs to create a one liner like that for BitShares.

 

I agree. I can't decide on wether I want to buy more $BTS or dump lol

[speedy]

No one has any idea, thats why the price is tanking.

At least with Ethereum you can explain it in one sentence "Turing-complete programmable smart contract currency"

Someone needs to create a one liner like that for BitShares.

[BitEnthusiast]

I've been holding $BTS since last year and I'm just wondering what is Bitshares exactly? When I first invested in $BTS I thought it was suppose to be a decentralized bank and exchange? What is Bitshares now? I've been reading around the forum to wrap my head around Bitshares and honestly I'm confused