What is GateToken? (GT)

What is the GateToken (GT) and what is its uniqueness?

Today at Bitkub Academy, we are going to take a look at what GateToken is, where it came from and what differentiates it from other coins.





What is GateToken? (GT)

GateToken (GT) is the unique exchange token of the Gate.io exchange, one of the largest exchange platforms in the world. It’s also the utility token of the GateChain, which is a blockchain network created by Gate.io.



GT, the platform’s utility coin, has many use cases both on the Gate.io platform and the GateChain blockchain. Holders will get to enjoy privileges, such as VIP tier escalation, trading fee debit and discount for popular coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum. They also get to take part in exclusive activities, including investing in Startup IEOs (Initial Exchange Offerings) and voting for new coin listings and token airdrops. 

Moreover, GT holders can lock-up their mainstream coins and earn interest. As for GT’s use cases in Gatechain, the coin can be used for paying gas fees and staking in the chain's Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm.





Developers

Gate.io was founded by Mr. Han Lin in 2013 with the guiding principle “Safety First, User First.” Additionally, the platform raised 64 million U.S. dollars (2.1 billion Thai  baht) from its Initial Exchange Offering (IEO).





Interesting Technology

As one of Gate.io’s main priority is safety, it’s no surprise that its own blockchain, GateChain, puts its main focus on asset security as well. In this respect, the company has developed an account system that solves problems concerning asset theft and private key loss, providing security and privacy of assets for its users.



Users will have a normal account used for daily transactions and a vault account for long-term asset storage. They can transfer their assets from the vault account to their normal account for  normal everyday transactions.



The vault account has a special function called “Revocable Transaction”, wherein users can set a revocable delay period, which is a time period where transactions can be revoked. If there is a suspicious transaction, a notification will be sent to the owner of the vault account so that the owner can revoke it in time. Adding on to that, users can also revoke transactions if they happen to transfer funds to an account where the owner has lost their private key. After the transactions are revoked, the assets will be transferred to a retrieval account for safety. The normal account, on the other hand, does not have this function. So, in case of theft or private key loss, the assets cannot be retrieved, but the damage will only be limited to that account only.





Unique Points

One interesting thing to note about GateToken is its coin burning function. Gate.io announced that starting from September, 2020, they would use 20% of their profit to buy back GT from investors and burn them publicly. They also publish reports about the burning every quarter, providing transparency and proof of burning.



For the third quarter of 2020, Gate.io has burned 3.6 million GTs, which are worth more than 23.13 million U.S. dollars. The burning means that the circulating number of GT is regularly decreasing and the coin is considered to be in a state of net deflation, possibly resulting in its increase in value. However, it should be noted that the price can increase before the burning and rapidly decrease after because of a dump. Therefore, investors are advised to use caution before making an investment decision.





In reference to statistics from Coinmarketcap on December 21, 2021, GT is ranked as the 145th highest in terms of market capitalization, with around 454 million U.S. dollars or around 15 billion Thai baht. GT’s maximum supply is fixed at 300 billion with a current 77,572,158.08 GT in circulation. Additionally, GT once made an all-time high at 441.35 baht and is hovering around the price of 195.53 baht at the time of writing.





Conclusion

GateToken (GT) is the exchange token of Gate.io, an exchange from China and it has many utilities, both on the Gate.io platform and its GateChain blockchain network. Holders can receive discounts on transaction fees and VIP membership privileges on Gate.io. Also, GT can be staked or used to pay gas fees on the GateChain network.





References:

Gate.io, GateChain Doc, Yahoo Finance, Investing.com, Medium