What kind of exchange is Wex?
The website wex.nz, the official website of the exchange on the Internet, appeared in the summer of 2017. But in reality the company has been operating much longer. Wex is the successor to the famous BTC-e exchange, from which in the summer of 2020 the FBI seized equipment and took away all fiat money. But the exchange team continued to fight and created a new company called Wex. According to information on the official website, Wex was able to restore the BTC-e user base and user profiles.
In addition, the Wex team announced that they will return money to all BTC-e participants. 61.79% of balances were returned in fiat and cryptocurrency, 38.21% were returned in WEX tokens. WEX quotes fluctuate between 60-67% of the rate of the corresponding currency: for example, the USD ET token costs 0.674 USD.
Thus, users received back 70-80% of the money they lost on BTC-e. Moreover, 50% were returned in the first week, and BTC-e participants did not need to undergo verification. Wex also promises to buy back its tokens at a 1:1 ratio within 1-2 years. For example, for 1 USD ET its owner will receive 1 dollar.
There have never been cases in the cryptocurrency community where an exchange withstood an FBI attack and the loss of all money, and even managed to recover a month later, compensating users for their money. Today, the Wex cryptocurrency exchange operates stably and there is no reason to worry. The number of users is growing, which means that management’s policy is bearing fruit.
Wex.ac is the new name of the wex.nz exchange
Photo: pixabay.com
2011-2017 were a period of confident development of the Russian-language cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e. Every year it increased its daily turnover and by the time of its highest popularity it reached $66 million. In 2020, the rise stopped - the US authorities became interested in the exchange. They brought a serious charge of money laundering against the creator of the site and detained him. Almost simultaneously with this, the work of BTC-e was completely paralyzed - FBI officers arrested its servers in the state of New Jersey. Clients of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange did not have to wait long - it quickly acquired a successor in the person of the Wex.nz project. This platform, created by Minsk native Dmitry Vasiliev, developed even more rapidly than its predecessor. Having started operating in 2020, the Wex.nz exchange literally reached an impressive daily turnover of $80 million in just a few months. The success of the cryptocurrency exchange attracted the attention of ill-wishers who attempted to take the resource away from its founders. Wex.nz clients have encountered a number of problems:
- some cryptocurrencies, under the pretext of carrying out routine maintenance, turned out to be unavailable for withdrawal;
- for fiat currencies, the exchange introduced colossal withdrawal fees, which led to the loss of up to 65% of funds when attempting to withdraw money;
- technical support of the site actually ceased its activities and did not provide any explanations on numerous questions received from clients.
For those who have been working in the cryptocurrency market through the Wex.nz exchange, encouraging news has recently emerged. After a problematic period, the project “moves” to a new domain, receives a Wex.ac address and resumes full-fledged work. The goals have been set to restore its former reputation and continue development, and the project has everything it needs to achieve them. The management of the cryptocurrency exchange informs about the safety of clients’ financial assets. Full control is maintained - both over cold wallets with cryptocurrency and over bank accounts in which fiat money is stored. Cryptocurrency withdrawals and trading are already available to clients. Coin quotes on the exchange that started operating on the new Wex.ac domain are close to the market average; now the deviation is only 10-15%. The resource operating at the old Wex.nz address is likely to cease operations - the new management does not have the funds to make payments. However, for clients of the Wex cryptocurrency exchange, these facts are no longer of interest - they will be able to conduct full-fledged work on Wex.ac.
Registration on the Wex exchange
Wex website design is very simple. You don’t need to search for a long time for the registration button. It is located in the top menu of the site, on the right side:
You can immediately get to the registration window by following the link https://wex.nz/reg/
Creating an account requires only an email, login and agreement to the Wex policy. It is recommended to use an email service with two-factor authentication to prevent attackers from gaining access to your exchange account through email hacking. However, this is not necessary:
As soon as you enter the data, the exchange will automatically generate a password. It contains more than 10 characters, and it is better to write it down on paper and store it in a safe place so as not to forget:
The last stage of registration is account confirmation. Go to your mailbox, find the letter from Wex and follow the link. The account will be activated and you will be able to trade on the Wex exchange without restrictions.
Registration on WEX
The procedure for registering an account on the project is extremely simple. After going to the main page of the cryptocurrency exchange (address: wex.nz ), you need to click on the “Registration” button located in the top right corner.
In the form you only need to indicate your email and login. After solving the captcha, agreeing to the terms of service and pressing the “Register” button, the personal account interface will immediately open. Full access to functionality. As soon as cryptocurrency or fiat money arrives in your account, you can start converting or start trading.
Quick email confirmation is not required. Address verification is required to activate the ability to withdraw funds from the trade balance.
6.
Verification
Unlike other exchanges, on Wex you don’t need to be verified to use the exchange’s features. You need to confirm your identity if you plan to replenish your account and withdraw money from it in fiat, as well as if you want to transfer money through a bank.
The verification menu is located in the “Security” section in the main menu of the Wex website:
To confirm your identity, Wex management must obtain information about your full name, identity card, place of residence, citizenship, date of birth. They must be entered in special fields. You will also need to send scans of documents as evidence. You will need to take a photo of yourself along with your passport:
Wex employees will review the information and documents. If everything is correct, your account will be verified and you will have access to the full functionality of Wex.
Refill
Wex supports 12 types of currencies: 9 digital and 3 fiat. Wex does not charge a commission for depositing cryptocurrency, so it is more profitable to use this option.
The section where you can deposit funds into your account is located in the “Finance” menu:
Next to each currency there is a “Top up” button. Click on it if you want to deposit money into your account. At the bottom of the page a menu will open with a QR code, wallet address and replenishment conditions for a specific currency:
The time it takes for money to arrive in your account depends on how quickly the cryptocurrency network confirms the transaction.
You can top up your balance in fiat. Wex supports US dollars, euros and rubles. Deposit methods differ depending on what you choose - EUR, USD or RUB:
Commission for replenishing rubles is 5%, euros are 9%, and US dollars are 10%. Money is credited to your account instantly.
Flaws
The key negative points on the WEX cryptocurrency exchange are:
- Weak progress in popularizing the project and its weak scalability. After the closure of the infamous BTC-e trading platform, many crypto traders suffered. Rebranding and some innovations have not eradicated the trail of vile glory and, logically, many traders are not at all eager to come to WEX and risk their crypto capital. Restoring a respectable reputation again, given the previous “glory,” is extremely difficult.
- Very simple interface and archaic design. All the design on the trading platform is too simple. There is a feeling that the service is 10-12 years behind modern trends.
- The charts are not very informative, although the auxiliary tools (indicators, markings, etc.) are very good. Occasionally, there are discrepancies between quote values and those of top crypto exchanges. For professionals and traders who prefer to deeply analyze the market, the WEX cryptocurrency exchange is not very suitable. Speculators who love intuitive trading feel at ease here!
- Poor technical support.
There are plenty of shortcomings, so developers, PR people and managers still have plenty of work to do.
5.
Trade
Cryptocurrency trading is located in the “Trading” section:
At the top there are current quotes for all currency pairs. There is also a chart with Japanese candlesticks - it can be used to analyze changes in quotes:
The menu for buying/selling cryptocurrency or fiat is located at the bottom of the page. Standard interface:
There are two ways to trade on Wex:
- create your order - enter how much currency you want to buy/sell and at what price (fields “Amount of BTC” and “Price per BTC”), confirm the order and wait until someone agrees to your conditions;
- agree to the offer of another participant - click on any line in the “Sell Orders” or “Buy Orders” tables, click on “Calculate” (before this, the “Amount of BTC” and “Price per BTC” fields will be filled in automatically), confirm the transaction.
You can also view your active orders and transactions of other participants. Information - at the bottom of the page:
Please note that a commission of 0.2% of the transaction amount is charged for each transaction. This is less than some other exchanges: for example, Bittrex takes 0.25% of each transaction.
The Wex exchange trades its own WEX token. It appeared as a replacement for the fiat balances of BTC-e participants. Trading on the WEX token is available in a special section:
Since WEX are issued by the administration of the exchange, it also guarantees their redemption. Wex makes its profit through user fees. These incomes allow you to buy back Wex tokens. The company is also attracting investments to buy its coins back.
Strictly speaking, there is not one WEX token - there are 11 of them. For each currency traded on Wex, there is a Wex “brother”. Its rate is tied to quotes of “mother” money and fluctuates around 0.63-0.67 from the selected currency. For example, USD WEX Token costs $0.678 at the time of writing.
Deceived traders sue the WEX exchange
A community consisting of deceived traders came out with a call to file a class action lawsuit against representatives of the WEX exchange. The application will be submitted to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation after October 17, 2018. Traders complain that the exchange’s actions show signs of fraud and violations of the rules for transferring personal information to third parties. The WEX exchange is registered in Singapore, and the sole owner of the exchange, Dmitry Vasiliev, does not live in Russia. However, the majority of defrauded persons are Russian citizens. Initially, they tried to file a claim at the place of registration of the WEX cryptocurrency platform, namely in Singapore.
“The legislative framework of the two states has a number of distinctive features in the field of cryptocurrencies. It was decided to publicly highlight the problem in the Russian Federation in order to attract as many affected people as possible,” said dissatisfied clients of the exchange.
In July of this year, traders were offered to exchange tokens for fiat money with a 15 percent loss in value. Now the situation has gotten worse. The withdrawal of cryptocurrencies on the exchange has been frozen without explanation of specific reasons. The only way to return assets is to use the Zec service. In this case, clients can lose about 80 percent of their own savings on the exchange.
Traders who have lost most of their assets have been raising the issue on social media for months. Deceived investors are trying to find a solution to the current problem, but there is no result yet. The approximate amount of the “frozen” crypt is estimated at $200 million. Vasiliev does not give any solutions on this issue. The leader rarely appears in public with “loud” statements, but the picture does not change.
Let us remind you that the wex.nz crypto exchange began its existence in 2017. The platform was positioned as an “upgrade” of the BTC-e crypto exchange. WEX management has committed to pay off all clients of its “big brother” through the issuance and subsequent full repurchase of tokens. At this time, no steps have been taken to return assets to investors. Real financial problems began 3 months ago after “technical work”, when operations to withdraw personal assets were temporarily stopped. Currently, the exchange cannot conduct transactions to withdraw funds.
Withdrawal of funds
The menu for withdrawing money from the exchange is located in the “Finance” section - in the same place as replenishment. On Wex there is a separate “Withdraw” button for each currency. If you are going to withdraw several types of money, you will have to carry out as many operations as there are types of currency you are trying to withdraw:
The most popular way to withdraw money from Wex is WEX-CODE. This is Wex's own development. Using it, you can withdraw funds from the exchange account without commissions, and the money will come instantly. You can generate WEX-CODE for any currency:
The conditions for withdrawing specific tokens are listed on the right side of the screen. Please note that these vary depending on the cryptocurrency. Also, the parameters differ when choosing the usual withdrawal method or when withdrawing via WEX-CODE.
WEX-CODE can only be generated by a verified user. To do this, fill out all the fields and click on “Withdraw”:
Next, fill out the field that requires the code from SMS (if you enabled two-factor authentication) and go to your mailbox. There will already be a letter with a ready-made WEX-CODE. You will pass it on to the recipient, who will enter the combination here:
Initially, the WEX-CODE system was conceived as a way to transfer money between exchange participants, but now it also allows you to withdraw funds from the system. Exchange systems have their own WEX-CODE. They, receiving money from Vex participants, transfer funds in the method chosen by the user, charging a commission. You can find the best exchangers on the Bestchange website:
For cryptocurrencies, withdrawal directly to the wallet is available. In this case, you will have to pay a commission. There are also restrictions on the minimum withdrawal amount. To withdraw funds, fill out all fields and wait for network confirmation:
Fiat withdrawals are carried out only through exchangers. So far, only a few companies have passed verification on Wex, but in the near future their number will reach 30. For now the situation is as follows:
Withdrawal directly to a bank card is available with a small (by the standards of cryptocurrency exchanges) commission. And if you withdraw to Yandex.Money, Qiwi, ADVCash or to a mobile phone account, you will not pay any fees at all.
Safety
Security settings are located in the “Security” section:
After registration you can change your password. When you create an account, you are given a difficult-to-remember code. Since your head is the safest place to store your password, change it to something you can remember. The corresponding setting is in the “Account” menu:
You can block your account if you want to limit your actions on the exchange or suspect that someone has gained access to your account. You can prohibit both individual actions (for example, only withdrawal) and any activity on Vex:
Two-factor authentication is a reliable way to protect your account from unauthorized access. It involves not only entering a password, but also receiving a message to an SMS/e-mail address. To set up two-factor authentication on Wex, you'll need the Google Authentificator app. Instructions for creating a key and the next steps are on the screenshot:
The last account security setting is IP whitelist. You cannot log into your Vex account from addresses that are not on this list. By default, only the computer from which the account was registered is included in the IP whitelist. But it can be expanded at any time:
You can also view your login history and find out when and who visited your account. It reflects the last 30 attempts and the status of their completion - whether they were successful or not. Wex also provides recommendations on how to act in emergency situations:
In general, Wex account security is maintained at a good level. It remains to be wished that client money placed on exchange wallets would be at least under the same protection.
