snowkidind / dex-protocols

A list of protocols for decentralized exchange

Protocols for Decentralized Exchange

This is a list of protocols for peer-to-peer exchange of cryptographic assets without a central entity. The architecture of these protocols can be quite different from one another. In some cases, they are built as smart contracts that anyone can use. In other cases, they are closed, but still implemented as smart contracts that are publicly verifiable. Other projects have chosen to create their own blockchain in order to build a protocol for exchange.

For our purposes, DEX is short for Decentralized Exchange.

Protocol	Asset(s)	Blockchain(s)	Status	Notes
0x	ERC20 Tokens	Ethereum	Live on Ethereum mainnet	Open protocol. Generic exchange of ERC20 with off-chain relayers.
Bancor	ERC20 Tokens	Ethereum	Live on Ethereum mainnet	Open protocol. On-chain exchange and pricing.
Bitshares	Bitshares, Bitshares SmartCoins[3]	Bitshares	Live on Bitshares mainnet	Open protocol. Bitshares created a DEX on top of their blockchain. Other DEX's for Bitshares also exist.
Dharma	ERC20 Tokens, Dharma Debt Token	Ethereum	Under development	Open protocol. Debt contracts.
Dydx	ERC20 Tokens, Dydx Derivatives (Option, Short Sell)	Ethereum	Under development	Open protocol. Derivatives contracts, uses 0x.
Enigma	All[2]	All[2]	Proposed	The Engima team is working on many projects. A protocol for decentralized exchanged was proposed in one of their papers.
Komodo	N/A	Komodo	Under development	Closed protocol. Leverages cross chain atomic swaps[4].
Kyber Network	ERC20 Tokens	Ethereum	Live on Ethereum mainnet	Closed protocol. Kyber is two things: a product for exchanging, and smart contracts used by that exchange. Only Kyber can use the contracts.
Lendroid	ERC20 Tokens	Ethereum	Under development	Open protocol. Margin Loans.
Melon	ERC20 Tokens, Melon Fund Shares[5]	Ethereum	Live on Ethereum mainnet	Open protocol. A protocol for creating an investment fund that holds an arbitrary number of underlying ERC20 tokens.
OmiseGo	All[1]	All[1]	Under development	Open protocol. A blockchain with built-in support for decentralized exchange.
Set	ERC20 Tokens, Set Tokens	Ethereum	Under development	Open protocol. Token abstraction.
Snowglobe	ERC20 Tokens	Ethereum	Under development	Open protocol. Shared order book and liquidity.
Swap	ERC20 Tokens	Ethereum	Under development	Closed protocol. Plans to become an open protocol.

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[1] The OmiseGo white paper claims to support generic exchange between any blockchain-based cryptocurrency.

[2] The Enigma Catalyst white paper proposes an architecture for cross-chain atomic swaps using layer 2 solutions (also known as state channels). As far as I can tell, this is not currently being developed by the Enigma team.

[3] Bitshares claims that you can trade collateralized SmartCoins on the Bitshares blockchain. Bitshares claims to hold the collateral for these SmartCoins.

[4] https://blog.komodoplatform.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-atomic-swaps-and-how-komodo-is-advancing-the-technology-cadaec50da7c

[5] Investors send funds to the "fund manager" and then receive a proportional number of the fund's shares in return.