Apr 14, 2022
ZKEX: Building the DEX of the future
Help us to build ZKEX.com — a multi-chain order book trading platform, secured with zero-knowledge proofs, with access to deep liquidity from every connected blockchain.
We’re in the midst of the third paradigm shift of the internet, with blockchain technology underpinning new possibilities for finance, gaming, art, virtual worlds, social media, and even community movements.
The recent past
In the past few years, crypto has increasingly been used to invest, borrow, lend, buy insurance, trade derivatives, buy and sell NFTs, as currency within gaming and metaverse worlds, and as governance tokens for many Web3 project communities.
However, while blockchain tech has come a long way, the promise of Web3 will only be realized when people have better ways to trade decentralized assets.
The present reality
Individuals and institutions face a number of challenges when trading crypto and moving to DeFi:
- Fragmentation: Blockchains are isolated ecosystems, with assets stuck in virtual silos;
- Complexity: Trading crypto across networks and chains is still hugely convoluted;
- Risk: Protocol exploits are increasing, with billions of dollars lost per year;
- Costs: Expensive gas fees are a huge roadblock to micro transactions;
- Inefficient: Most crypto is unutilized and stuck as an illiquid asset, because investing options are often too complicated;
- Control: Users on centralized exchanges don’t have custody of their assets;
- Uncertainty: Users on many decentralized exchanges suffer from slippage, impermanent loss for liquidity providers, uncertain execution timing, MEV sandwich attacks, and the lack of support for limit orders.
Yes, there are some wonderful projects out there to solve some of these issues — but not one that addresses all the problems at once.
The near future
To address these challenges, what is needed is:
An order book exchange designed for both new and professional DeFi traders, with a flawless user experience, that is ultra-secure, capital efficient, multi-chain, decentralized, with low fees and access to massive liquidity.
It doesn’t yet exist, so we’re going to build it.
Multi-chain order book trading without compromise
Our plan is simple: we’re building the DEX we wish existed already, by bringing a decentralized order book trading experience more akin to Binance or Coinbase to the multi-chain DeFi-verse.
- One-step multi-chain trades — a faster and simplified user experience using the order book model for spot trading and derivatives — similar to DYDX, but multi-chain;
- Deep liquidity — get buy and sell orders filled at competitive spread prices;
- No gas fees while trading on L2* — by moving transactions off-chain to Layer2 all you pay are low transaction fees;
- Guaranteed security — with ‘zero-knowledge’ technology, the danger of malicious behavior by anyone (not even the ZKEX team) is virtually eliminated;
- Better capital efficiency — collateralize your crypto and borrow stablecoins for more trading opportunities;
- Non-custodial — you retain control over your assets at all times.
*Note there are still gas fees when depositing or withdrawing funds between L1 and L2.
Our project and how you can get involved
We’re a thesis-driven project with team members from all around the world. We believe Web3 will only reach critical mass if the multi-chain decentralized world is seamless, secure, and private.
Our mission is ambitious, yet simple:
We’re striving to deliver the industry’s best multi-chain crypto exchange experience for both new and experienced DeFi traders.
In the coming weeks, we will launch our devnet, allowing you to try an early demo of our product.
Soon after that, will be an open incentivized testnet, encouraging users to test and provide feedback to improve the final release.
