Recently I've had some trouble with Binance.
Sometimes it recognized my VPN, sometimes it didn't.
This made me wonder if my crypto/funds would get stuck if I was locked out, so I withdrew what little I had and decided to start looking elsewhere ... but my only problem was that I liked Binance, so I needed to find another exchange that was similar to Binance.
I searched for "crypto exchanges like Binance" and a few different options came up.
Mandala had a cool name and it said they were "powered by Binance Cloud," which was software that Binance used and rented out to other companies to use for a cut of their business.
It sort of sounded like affiliate marketing except instead of product-links you post that give you a cut if someone clicks and buys, it's a whole crypto exchange.
Making an account with them was pretty simple: boot-up VPN, make an email, connect email to Mandala, enter security codes Mandala sent to my new email, and then I had an unverified Mandala account.
(I bought some Mandala Exchange Tokens, or MDXT, because it was only 0.03USD which seemed like a steal if the exchange ever became more popular)
"Unverified" means I didn't KYC or give any identifying information/documents other than the email I used to sign up.
I think the transfer limit is about 1 or 2 Bitcoin every 24 hours for unverified users.
I funded my account with some Litecoin but also got curious about what other tokens I could've used to fill my new Mandala acount.
To my surprise, I found out that among many other tokens Mandala also accepts ...
... BNB ...
... Hive ...
... AND Polygon.
One of the great things about Mandala is that I was looking for something similar to Binance and Mandala not only looks like Binance but uses its software so it's basically Binance but not really.
Unlike on-ramp exchanges like Coinbase, Exodus, Gemini, Uphold, etc., when buying crypto tokens on Binance or Mandala you have to find their "pair."
If you look above and below, you'll see lists of crypto labeled together: "ETH/BTC", "BTC/USDT", "AVAX/BTC", etc.
This means that USDT/Tether, is needed to buy BTC/Bitcoin, but this is just an example so Tether is not the only way to buy Bitcoin -- it's just one possible way to do so.
The way I bought MDXT, the Mandala Exchange Token, was with Litecoin I turned into Tether and then finally MDXT ( LTC -> USDT -> MDXT).
Maybe I should've put this in the beginning of my post but one of the things I did when deciding upon Mandala was to check out the team behind it.
First off, I looked at the head of their board -- CEO, Joe Reiben.
I searched him online and found this podcast from Stock Head in which he went over the history of Mandala:
(1) The exchange had experienced a breakout opening and from late 2020 to early 2021, it had gone in a matter of a few months from a price of fractions of a cent to almost half a dollar.
(2) After this meteoric rise, as is the case of a lot of crypto stories, Mandala plummeted but Joe Reiben, who had worked as a lawyer for them had grown fond of the company and crypto in general, decided to rebuild the company to its former glory and beyond
(3) If you look up MDXT on some crypto coin-trackers, you'll see a lot of angry comments from early to mid 2021 where people lost a ton of money investing at the tip of its bull-run, and kept catching falling knives.
After listening to that podcast I checked out the rest of their team:
Most of their team is doxed -- 8 out of 10 of them, with one of the two icon-profile members actually having their face on Linkedin too.
It's nice to know that Mandala is run by people who aren't faceless anons. Makes you feel like you can maybe trust the team more.
Some of their profiles here linked to their Linkedin pages too.
Here's Joseph Reiben's Linkedin page. It appears he liked an article about education tech which makes me assume he supports the improvement of education through technology which sounds nice. He doesn't have the Mandala logo for his background image which makes me feel a little weird he wouldn't advertise that banner but it's a small thing.
I couldn't find their CTO's Linkedin page, lots of faceless Zach Daniels on there.
Here's the Linkedin Page for their CFO/ General Counsel, Richard Reiben, who appears to be their Chief Legal guy too. He recently liked an article about the new Supreme Court Justice. Also, no Mandala logo in his Linkedin background. Is he related to Joseph Reiben? Maybe, I didn't check. Having a father-son duo run a business is good marketing. He's a college grad -- NYU, sounds fancy.
This is Interim Chief Officer of Operation's Linkedin page, so I'm guessing he's in a trial period or might be replaced by someone in the near future. He liked an article about Mandala so I guess that tells us where his focus is. First guy with the Mandala logo on their Linkedin background and he has his own personal website.
While the Director of Operations face is available on the Mandala About-Page, he's anonymous on Linkedin where he liked an article about Ledger Nano X which makes me assume he's careful and reasonable. Keeping crypto in a cold wallet is one of those things you have to do to protect your cryptos not just from criminals -- but yourself lol. He is a college grad and has the Mandala logo in his background.
Their Director of Strategy, a college grad, has his face on the Mandala About-Page but not Linkedin where he's recently liked an article about CEO's and company founders needing to be at the front of innovating solutions to humanity's problem. No Mandala logo in background but he has a weed-company banner which increases his chances of using BTC on Silk Road for a nice baggy once upon a time (my how times have changed).
The Marketing Manager has a Mandala logo in background, he's worked in IT for over 10 years, and he liked an article about AI which makes me think he's brainy.
Here's the Head of Growth guy, a college grad, and doesn't have the Mandala logo in the background. Recently, he liked an article about golf which makes me assumed he's rich or hangs out with rich people -- they love golf.
Anyway, in summation -- I bought a bunch of their exchange tokens, find their platform easy to use, and I'll be keeping tabs on their development, or their re-development. It would've been great to get in early at Binance or FTX so hopefully Mandala has a bright future too!
Image Sources: https://mandala.exchange
