UDEX: A New Decentralized Crypto Exchange for Your Phone
This article was originally published on our sister site, Blocks Decoded.
Blocks Decoded, in partnership with Friday Tech, has just launched the latest app in its software line-up. The new app—called UDEX—is a decentralized crypto exchange with a strong emphasis on simplicity and ease-of-use.
To celebrate the unveiling, we’re going to take a closer look at the app. We’ll introduce you to some of the headline features, investigate how UDEX works, and explain why you should be using it for your trading needs.
What Is UDEX?
UDEX is a decentralized crypto exchange. But what does that mean? How is UDEX different from apps like Binance and Bitfinex?
Well, UDEX runs on a peer-to-peer network. It is not reliant on central servers, support staff, or any other centralized services.
That means that no government, hacker, or other entity can take the UDEX app offline or prevent you from using it. Indeed, the only thing you need to be able to use the app is an internet connection.
And because UDEX is decentralized, all your private keys are stored on the phone or tablet. Nobody, including UDEX, has access to your funds, can see your funds, or can block access to your funds. That means you have complete control over your assets. Just make sure you back up your recovery key in a safe location!
What About the Technical Stuff?
UDEX is an exchange for ERC-20 compliant tokens. It runs on the 0x protocol.
When trading Ethereum with other ERC-20 tokens, you first need to “wrap” it, thus turning it into WETH. That’s because ETH (confusingly) isn’t ERC-20 compliant; it was created before the ERC-20 standard existed. By converting ETH into WETH, you can trade directly with other altcoins. WETH is pegged 1:1 with Ethereum; the values are always identical. You can unwrap WETH back into regular ETH at any time.
Check out our guide to Ethereum ERC token standards if you’d like to learn more.
Where to Download UDEX
UDEX is available in the Google Play Store an Apple App Store verison will be released soon. It costs nothing to download and use.
It is available in all countries worldwide, with the exception of the United States. Sadly, regulatory requirements in the US made it impossible for us to publish UDEX in the territory. If you live in the US and still want to use UDEX, you can grab the app’s code from GitHub.
UDEX is also available as a web app.
Download: UDEX for Android | GitHub (Free)
How to Use UDEX
Okay, let’s take a look at how to use UDEX. We’ll investigate each of the app’s five tabs individually.
Wallet
UDEX has built-in wallets for all the major ERC-20 tokens. To find each wallet’s public address, tap on the coin’s name, and select Receive.
Tapping on a coin’s name also allows you to send coins to external wallets and see a history of your transactions for each coin.
This is also the screen where you can wrap/unwrap Ethereum. Tap on the either Ethereum or WETH and choose Wrap or Unwrap as needed.
You can choose which coins appear on the wallet screen by tapping on Add Coins.
Order Book
The Order Book screen lets you see which open orders are currently available on UDEX. You can change the currency pairs at the top of the screen. Directly below the pair, you can see the current spread.
The open orders are ranked in order from best to worst value for money. Tapping on an order will take you directly to the Exchange screen.
Exchange
The Exchange tab is where you can make trades between the different tokens.
At the top of the screen, you can choose between Market Order and Limit Order. A market order will complete instantly at the current buy/sell rates. A limit order allows you to specify the exact price at which you’d be willing to trade your asset.
Tap on the currency names to select different pairs.
When you are happy with the parameters, hit the large blue button at the bottom of the screen. It will be labeled as either Exchange or Place Order, depending on whether you previously selected a market order or a limit order.
Orders
The next tab is Orders. It shows your Open Orders (created using limit orders on the Exchange screen) and your Trade History.
Settings
The final screen is where you can tweak the app to meet your preferences. Perhaps the most important feature, however, is the Security Center. It is where you will find your recovery phrase (Settings > Security Center > Wallet Backup). Make sure you make a note of this 12-word phrase. If you ever lose or break your phone, you will need the phrase to regain access to your coins. Without the phrase, your assets will be locked forever. The UDEX team cannot help you recover lost phrases.
You can also use the Security Center to add PIN protection to your app (which we highly recommend!).
Three themes are available—light, dark, and slate. Tap the toggle to flick between them.
Don’t Forget to Download CoinWave
UDEX is the second app we’ve published this year; we also released CoinWave in April. To learn more, read our review of CoinWave and grab the app from your app store of choice.
Download: CoinWave for Android | iOS (Free)
Read the full article: UDEX: A New Decentralized Crypto Exchange for Your Phone
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