Elephant adds in-wallet elCoin purchase for bitcoins

Versatile crypto-platform Elephant has launched new functionality, including multi-language support and the ability to buy elCoin for bitcoins from the wallet.

Ethereum-based financial platform Elephant has increased its appeal to new users by releasing a multi-language version of the elCoin wallet. In addition, users can now buy elCoins from the wallet itself, in exchange for bitcoin. The updated version of the wallet is also protected by two-stage authorisation for improved security.

Built on the well-known Ethereum protocol, Elephant will ultimately incorporate 12 different internal services, including colored coins issuance and the creation of smart contracts. Ethereum’s extensive feature-set, as well as its flexibility and relative simplicity of implementation, make it an attractive option for a wide range of developers. Issuing native tokens, creating smart contracts, or developing for IoT devices require only a few simple steps.

Built on Ethereum, Elephant will offer 12 different blockchain-based financial services

Ethereum: the golden child of crypto

Smart contracts platform Ethereum, which was launched in September 2015 a year after its crowdfund raised over 30,000 bitcoins, has gone from strength to strength in recent weeks. Since the beginning of the year it has increased in value fivefold, and recently took the second spot by market cap from Ripple, having overtaken Litecoin some time previously. More importantly, it has attracted attention from large companies such as Microsoft, which is interested in partnering with the platform to offer blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS).Thanks to its strong marketing and corporate structure, it is easier for real-world businesses to engage with Ethereum than it is with some of the more decentralised and free-wheeling crypto communities.

Elephant is one of the most comprehensive and ambitious Ethereum-based projects to date, and the platform’s developers have aimed to create a toolkit oriented to a wide range of use cases. Critically, it does not presuppose any special knowledge or skills on the part of the end user, making it more accessible than many other crypto initiatives. The creators intend to release all twelve projects within the next year. Currently, four of have already been completed, namely elCoin, elMarket, elCloud, and elPebb.

ElCoin: the fuel for the Elephant system

All of Elephant’s services are fuelled by elCoin tokens, the underlying currency and means of value transfer for the platform. One elCoin is currently worth €2.50 (around $2.80) when bought via the wallet. Elephant has also announced its intention to launch its own cryptocurrency exchange to trade the BTC/elCoin pair, as well as the different tokens issued using the forthcoming elAssets platform. ElCoin recently won a contest at C-Cex and will shortly join the other coins and assets traded on the exchange.

The founders of the Elephant platform were inspired by the possibilities offered by crypto technology in general, and Ethereum in particular, for making financial services more accessible. ‘The opportunity to grant people new financial tools, allowing us to lower the entry threshold for investors and to facilitate attracting money to businesses, just grabbed me,’ comments Elephant’s strategic manager, Pavel Usenkov. ‘Just imagine what it takes to issue a company’s shares in “the real world”. It’s a trial that involves a whole series of problems.’ Elephant, by contrast, makes it a straightforward and painless matter.

Mitigating fraud

Whilst decentralised systems have proved magnets for fraud, Elephant’s developers are implementing a system to filter out bad actors. ‘We’re developing a certification system to introduce reputation to the platform,’ says head of projects Sergei Primachik. ‘It will restrict access by malevolent users. Any user will see whether a service has our certificate or not, and if so, what its reputation is. This information might be sufficient to make a decision or to mitigate some risks.