Decentralized exchange vows to remove DeFi’s limitations

A decentralized exchange is vowing to take on Uniswap by tackling some of the biggest downsides associated with the DeFi platform.

According to Blocknet, Uniswap has been growing exponentially — but they believe the popular decentralized exchange has limitations. Trading is restricted to Ether (ETH) and ERC-20 tokens, and all of this brings disadvantages for cross-chain trading.

Other concerns expressed by Blocknet include the security risk associated with pegging assets synthetically. As an example, Blocknet points to tBTC, where deposits had to be abruptly brought to a halt after a security audit missed issues that could have ended up putting funds at risk.

The hurdles don’t end there. Decentralized finance platforms can sometimes be complex to use — and delays with settlements are common.

Atomic swaps for the masses

Blocknet says that its open-source exchange, Block DX, is a 100% trustless platform that eliminates the intermediaries that slow things down and add expenses.

Atomic swaps mean that trades are conducted on a peer-to-peer basis and funds always remain in the control of users.

Blocknet has already launched a fully working decentralized application, or DApp, that can be downloaded, and it is working toward offering a Web 3.0 decentralized exchange. Support for ETH/ERC-20 atomic swaps is expected in the near term.

As you’d expect from a DeFi platform, Blocknet says that decentralized governance is one of its top priorities — and to this end, the community has the freedom to decide on where the project’s direction should head in the future. This independence also extends to order books, ensuring that orders are filled transparently and without the involvement of third parties.

True financial freedom

Blocknet also notes that users can enjoy its services without ever needing to create an account — meaning there are no Know Your Customer or Anti-Money Laundering checks to contend with, nor is there an arduous registration process.

But the main thing that this platform is setting its sights on is wrapped proxy tokens — the most notable of which is WBTC, otherwise known as Wrapped Bitcoin. Blocknet argues that this removes sovereignty over funds and requires users to trust an entity, smart contract or third-party chain.

The team behind Blocknet also says that it’s determined to prove that atomic swaps don’t have to result in slow trades, as it’s all about implementation. To ensure transactions are executed quickly, “trade times are independent of the block times of the assets being traded” — and all of this means that completion can normally be completed in five to 15 seconds.

Overall, there’s a determination to integrate all platforms and assets — eliminating the status quo where there seem to be restrictions that mean assets can only be traded as long as they’re on a certain chain. “You can trade between Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dash, Syscoin, Digibyte, and more than 100 other assets from different blockchains with complete trading pair freedom,” Block DX’s website notes.

Crunching the numbers

Blocknet highlights that it currently supports 125 assets, resulting in a whopping 7,750 trading pairs. The latest figures show that more than 35,000 trustless trades have now been executed — all without middlemen getting in the way.

The Blocknet network is powered by a decentralized network of service nodes that generate fees from services running, such as Block DX. This, in turn, enables service node operators to potentially make money in the form of transaction fees.

Block DX has been developed by Blocknet, a protocol project that has the stated goal of ensuring that public and private blockchains can communicate with each other, paving the way for trustless, interoperable exchanges.