When it comes to blockchain technology, decentralised finance (DeFi) is a burgeoning sector.
Among the entities leading the charge is decentralised exchange (DEX) Kyber Network, which has now hit more than $500m in total transaction volume since its inception in February 2018.
Kyber Network tops the leaderboards
2020 is starting on an exciting note! Kyber recently crossed USD $500million and 600,000 fully on-chain trades since launch🚀
Read about how our upcoming Katalyst Upgrade will further enhance our protocol and liquidity for #DeFi 👉🏻 https://t.co/8dox9Uvj7Z pic.twitter.com/n9cVyD7fHH
— Kyber Network (@KyberNetwork) January 21, 2020
Coin Rivet spoke to Kyber Network’s CEO Loi Luu last summer to ask when he believed DEXs would really become serious contenders in the crypto exchange market.
After all, there are plenty of decentralised exchanges and applications out there, but the majority remain too slow and illiquid to gain a convincing user base.
Luu was hopeful that DeFi would overcome these challenges with DEXs steadily improving and handling more volume. At the time of that interview, Kyber Network had just surpassed all other DEXs with a 308% surge in trading volume.
Today, Luu’s creation has reached $500m in total transaction volume and more than 600,000 fully on-chain trades. More than that, it’s topping the leaderboards when it comes to DeFi projects.
According to research by Binance, Kyber Network was the most used project in DeFi in 2019. It now has a total of 35,570 unique users as of year-end 2019.
What Kyber’s achievement means
The continued growth of Kyber Network shows that decentralised exchanges can become true contenders moving forward. They are becoming more liquid, providing a simpler user experience, and gaining meaningful traction.
With seven major exchange hacks in 2019, the issue of custody of crypto-assets is more salient now than ever. As decentralised exchanges improve their offering, crypto users are increasingly able to trade while keeping full control of their private keys.
Kyber Network is also in a good position to become a key liquidity layer for the decentralised economy. It has the highest number of Ethereum integrations at 85 (including DeFi, dApps, and wallets), a total volume of $387m for 2019, and a total locked value of $3.4m.
Its total transaction volume since launch supersedes that of Uniswap, 0x, Bancor, and Airswap. According to the company blog:
“With the same amount of token inventory, Kyber can provide better liquidity and spread compared to other protocols. From a different perspective, to achieve the same spread, liquidity providers need to deposit much less token inventory on Kyber compared to other protocols.”
Exciting plans for the year ahead
In keeping with Luu’s vision for the growth of decentralised finance and its applications, Kyber Network has plenty more in the pipeline. Planned to go live in Q2 this year, the exchange will launch Katalyst, a major upgrade to the Kyber protocol.
We’re thrilled to announce our major protocol upgrade Katalyst which will align stakeholder incentives & better serve the liquidity needs for the ecosystem. Katalyst fulfils 3 goals: drive Kyber adoption, create value for KNC, & improve liquidity for DeFi!https://t.co/8dox9Uvj7Z
— Kyber Network (@KyberNetwork) December 17, 2019
The intention of Katalyst is to better meet the liquidity needs of the DeFi ecosystem and significantly grow the network.
Currently, Kyber Network allows anyone to contribute to an aggregated liquidity pool inside each blockchain. This allows it to provide a single endpoint for takers to trade with the best rates they can find.
With the introduction of Katalyst, Kyber plans to make liquidity contribution easier and therefore reduce any friction. It will also provide rebates for liquidity providers who have the highest reserves and incentives for dApps integrated with Kyber to add flexible rates.
There will also be a staking mechanism on the network as well as the launch of the KyberDAO. This will be a community platform that allows Kyber Network token holders (KNC) to stake tokens and participate in governance. According to the blog:
“Kyber aims to be the single on-chain liquidity endpoint for all takers and makers, and establish a long-term virtuous loop where the success of the DeFi space, growth of the Kyber ecosystem, and value creation for KNC holders go hand in hand.”
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author should not be considered as financial advice. We do not give advice on financial products.