Decentralized exchanges came to birth following increased cybercriminal attacks towards centralized exchanges. This was especially sparked by the unsolved hack of QuadrigaCX that saw at least $140 million of crypto assets. Improper data practices have created bloodshed of centralized exchange users, despite having in place proper regulation and customer service.
The entry of decentralized exchanges into the scene has not been without challenge. High technical barriers, liquidity shortcomings, limited withdrawal processing, and technical oriented user experience are some of the challenges plaguing DEX. Although it’s really difficult to sort out the best-decentralized exchange, outlining how a good DEX looks like could be a thing.
The metrics under consideration while weighing what a good decentralized exchange includes:
- Know Your Customer (KYC) standards
- Trading fees
- Diversity of supported tokens
- Liquidity
- User experience
For any exchange, the most significant factor is its liquidity. Liquidity is the ease with which to buy or sell a given asset. In this case, it determines the ease with which a digital asset is converted into liquid cash. Cryptomarket liquidity is essential to estimating when to make a cash-out. High liquidity is good because it is a higher trading possibility. On the other hand low, liquidity causes price slippage. This occurs when there is a delay between order initiation and execution of a trade. A situation that will occasionally create a price variation. Hence most traders dealing with high volume transactions might prefer centralized exchanges.
Decentralized trading platforms are expanding their scope, and 2020 may well be the year. Perhaps they will offer even greater security and cutting edge user experience. Maybe they will offer user experience of even greater security and cutting edge. Off-grid openness and it is obvious that consumers depend on customer funds, peer-to-peer transactions and automated processes; bow their loyalty to DEXs.
Top 10 DEXs to Exchange Crypto
1.0x Protocol and Relayers
Protocols are not completely exchanges but frameworks upon which developers can deploy ERC tokens over the Ethereum blockchain. I listed it here because it’s the leading platform for exchanging ERC tokens in a decentralized, efficient and cost-effective manner. The tokens are usually from DApp projects. Especially in the gaming and content creation ecosystem.
2.Airswap Protocol
There are no big differences between Airswap Protocol and 0x. The platform does not require any identification information and doesn’t charge trading fees. Airswap protocol is deployed on the Ethereum blockchain relies heavily on the speed of on-chain activity for security. Traders usually execute a trade after negotiating a suitable price. Where both parties will not agree towards a common price, both parties query the oracle.
So what’s Oracle?
Airswap describes in its whitepaper that the Oracle provides pricing information to enable the maker and the take make a more informed choice, and smoothen trading negotiation.
3. Changehero
Changehero DEX allows traders to instantly exchange crypto without Identification details. The exchange neither complies with Know Your Customer (KYC) nor Anti Money Laundering (AML) policy. Changehero is suitable for instant anonymous trades.
4.IDEX
IDEX remains the most popular Decentralized Exchange. Fund management takes place via an Ethereum smart contract. Traders access the smart contract through a private key. Meanwhile, there are four ways to access the wallet. Through a MetaMask, Ledger Nano S, manual entry of the private key or a Keystore file. In comparison to other DEXs, IDEX has better liquidity.
5.Kyber Network
Kyber network operates a stack of smart contracts developers can leverage on any blockchain. The platform also offers a native token known as the Kyber Network Crystal. Kyber allows takers to trade their tokens through a network of actors. These takers could either another decentralized exchange, wallet addresses, decentralized organization or decentralized application. Meanwhile, holders of the KNC token benefit from governance rights and participation in treasury funds.
6.Bisq
Bisq is a prominent DEX for exchanging bitcoin. Traders can exchange bitcoin for national currencies. Additionally, Bisq does not require identification details. The platform is open source and developers from across the world contribute to its development. Bisq implements Tor routing and local computing to make sure the platform is decentralized.
7.Binance DEX
The better part of this list includes exchange platforms deployed on the ethereum blockchain. Binance noted this and launched their own native blockchain. It is upon this blockchain that the leading exchange platform would launch a DEX movement. The Binance DEX works on top of Binance Chain and has low latency, low fees, intuitive user experience and high throughput. Binance DEX superfast speeds enable it to confirm transactions within seconds.
8.Bancor
Bancor exchange offers an exchange model with no second party. Traders usually exchange their ERC-20 tokens for the network’s native token – Bancor Network Token. Meanwhile, holders of BNT exchange these for other ERC-20 tokens. Note that the traders can store any type of ERC-20 tokens on the Bancor protocol through a smart contract. Bancor is attempting to improve liquidity for small-cap tokens, which might not find adequate markets on other exchanges.
9.Stellar DEX
The Stellar network deployed its own decentralized exchange to push the adoption of its blockchain project. Traders get started on the Stellar DEX by creating a key pair consisting of a public key and a secret key. Public keys are for identifying an account, while a secret key accesses the account to make transactions.
10.BarterDex
BarterDEX implements atomic swaps – which makes it one of the most advanced DEXs. The user interface isn’t that great. Well, the platform is available on Windows and Mac.