Crypto JBro

Cryptocurrency Education for a Decentralized Revolution

How to Use DeFi Llama for DEX Research [Video]

DeFi Llama is a great “one stop” site for tons of useful crypto and DeFi data. Here’s my quick video overview of how to get updated DEX info. The DEX protocols are sort of buried under categories -> dexes.

This video is part of my free DEX course (here).

DeFi Llama Features I Like

It’s useful to see all the chains that each DEX offers. You can click on each chain and then quickly see its data. Interoperability between blockchains is exploding with bridges and other protocols.

Be careful with them, though. There have been hacks against these bridges and with extra coins can be minted then stolen (in the case of wrapped tokens).

The list of blockchains along the top of the rankings on DeFi Llama is also great. You can filter all the dexes that serve a particular chain. This is helpful if you are focused on a single network in your research.

Lastly, I like the profile page of each protocol or blockchain. The charts are easy to read and I enjoy the quick summary of everything at the bottom.

That’s it for my review of DeFi Llama’s DEX section. It’s a fantastic free site for crypto research, so get familiar with it and compare different projects to see what is uptrending. It’s a useful place to start. Good luck out there!

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A Complete List of DEX Aggregators

DEX aggregators let you trade over multiple cryptocurrency exchanges and blockchains using a variety of different wallets. These platforms bring in the best prices from DEXs and CEXs for trading in one dashboard.

Aggregators can lower network fees such as gas or protect against greedy node practices. Most of them use a trade routing smart contract or protocol to accomplish this.

Some of them can split a trade into multiple pieces to deliver the best prices or lowest slippage, which is an amazing feature really. I feel DEX aggregators will be a huge deal as more assets become tokenized in the future. Liquidity pools from the entire blockchain ecosystem are starting to link up into liquidity oceans!

Anyways, I wanted to keep track all the DEX aggregators I could find, so I made this post.

If the aggregator has its own token, I list its CoinGecko profile after the name. Each one allows for swaps across multiple chains. When you visit them, the chains are usually in the drop down menus.

You can see the wallets they support by hitting the “connect wallet” button (usually in the top right or bottom middle).

Just because I list them here doesn’t mean I vouch for their safety or effectiveness. Research each one thoroughly before using them. See if they’ve been hacked or had problems in the past. Study their underlying protocols too.

DEX Aggregator List

1Inch Network (1INCH): One of the leading, time-tested aggregators. They have helpful resources to get your started. Interacts with 14 wallets (so far) including hardwares.

Atlas DEX (ATS): Powered by Wormhole, six blockchains, 130 platform integrations. Stake your ATS tokens too.

CoW Swap (CoW): An interesting protocol that protects traders against arbitrage, sandwiching, and front running of orders. They offer gasless orders and allow smart contract wallets.

Jupiter (JUP): An aggregator for the Solana Network.

KyberSwap (KNC): Supports 17 chains, limit orders, has good volume.

LlamaSwap: This is DeFi Llama’s “aggregator of aggregators”! They use the routing of the top other aggregators. This is why I say that liquidity pools are all linking up across the whole blockchain ecosystem.

Matcha: More than 5 million tokens from 130 sources of liquidity, limit orders, zero fees, eight of the top wallets supported.

OKX DEX: Another aggregator that lets you swap across more than 100 DEXes and bridge.

OpenOcean: Sources liquidity from centralized as well as decentralized exchanges, derivates too. Supports 16 chains.

Paraswap: They have some stake, farm, and DAO features too.

Orion Protocol: Aggregates from various CEXs, which is pretty unique. But, they don’t allow for cross-chain swaps.

Rubic (RBC): They boast connections to over 70 blockchains and over 200 DEXes. But, their RBC token has been steadily declining and their site looks low quality to me.

Slingshot: Used to be DEX.ag, mobile app coming.

Swoop Exchange: Very new (as of Jun, ’24) so research thoroughly and give them time to develop.

XY Finance (XY): 23 chains, over 270 DEXes and 120,000 tokens. But, their interface looks cheesy with a huge ad in the middle of the app.

Like I said, I don’t vouch for these. It’s just a list for jumping off and researching yourself. I would stick to the higher quality ones that have been around for some time.

Since they are aggregators, you should only need one or two! Good luck. I hope you found the list helpful. Share it around.

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XRP Ledger DEXs – Listed and Explained

Did you know the XRP Ledger has built in decentralized exchange (DEX) functionality? You do now! It’s been a part of XRPL since 2012. This post and videos cover the projects that utilize it and some upcoming ledger features that will improve them. The first video is mine.

This short video from BankXRP covers the decentralized exchange and a few of its features:

Most assume that smart contracts running automated market makers (AMMs) are required for a DEX, but not on the XRPL

There are newer proposals and projects working to bring smart contracts to the XRP Ledger soon. Liquidity from pools would add greatly to the ecosystem.

Of course, that would be a game changer (if the ledger can handle the increased network usage) There are also efforts to bring automated market makers without smart contracts as well. You can see there are many efforts in many directions to improve everything DEX related on the XRP Ledger.

Here is another highly recommended video from the Tech Circus Youtube Channel. It’s David Schwartz, the Chief Technical Officer of Ripple talking about DeFi and the XRPL DEX.

The XRPL has some unique built-in features related to asset exchange right now:

  • Auto-Bridging: When XRP is used to trade between two assets. This is helpful for liquidity problems.
  • Pathfinding: Allows for hops between assets to find the best liquidity and price between two assets on the XRPL.
  • Federated side-chains: a new feature (not yet released) that will allow coins from other blockchains to live on the XRP Ledger. This will improve on the gateways / bridges that have been used recently. Bridges across various chains have been vulnerable to hacks. They seem to not be a great answer.
  • Order books: The downside of XRPL DEXs right now is that trades are driven by an order book system. Like I said, developers are working to bring automated market makers and liquidity pools which will improve the trading experience.

List of DEXs Using the XRP Ledger

There are a few DEXs already live on the XRP Ledger. They are part of the ever expanding decentralized trading movement. Every major chain has multiple DEXs and the space grows every day. I see these apps (along with tokenized traditional assets) as the future of DeFi.

So finally, here is my list of XRPL DEXs and a blurb about each one. I go over them quickly in the video above. I kept to DEXs that are live and working (as of July 2022). Be sure to check on the liquidity in their networks before you use them. Also, research how to use them and reviews from traders.

XUMM

XUMM is a non-custodial wallet and suite of apps that run on the XRP Ledger. Most of these other decentralized exchanges also integrate with XUMM. XRP Toolkit is one that offers DEX functions.

Gatehub is also a new way to trade and interact with the XRPL through XUMM. Their liquidity might not be as good as Sologenic, though. XUMM integrates with most of the XRPL DEXs and provides great developer tools.

Sologenic (SOLO, CORE)

Sologenic is an ambitious XRPL DEX that is aiming to allow trading of a variety of crypto (not just XRPL coins) against tokenized traditional assets. These are things such as stocks, funds, bonds, commodities, and others that are locked up and represented on the chain.

SOLO will be running on the Binance’s BNB Chain in parallel. They are also building their own layer 1 blockchain called Coreum (CORE) as well. This will operate with the Cosmos Network through Tendermint and allow for smart contracts to be written in WASM.

XRPL Coins

In addition to being a useful XRP Ledger coin explorer, they have their own DEX too. Their user interface is great and it seems to be popular.

On XRP

On XRP has a DEX that is part of their website. They have a lot of stuff going on including education and NFTs.

XRDoge DEX

Yes, XRDoge has a DEX. It’s not just a copy of a meme coin! This DEX is low quality in my view. I would avoid it since the quality of Sologenic XRPL Coins is so high.

To conclude, I like the progress and approach that XRPL developers are taking. Their ledger is already fast, inexpensive, and energy efficient. It just needs better liquidity and might really blast off if Sologenic pulls off Coreum and tokenized assets.

If the Sologenic team can pull off their vision by the end of 2022, there will be huge value added. If the AMMs can be integrated well, the functionality and liquidity of the XRPL DEX will be among the best in DeFi.

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$UST and Terra $LUNA Collapse Coverage [Videos]

I made a quick video of my thoughts after learning that UST and Terra (LUNA) were delisted across platforms. The Terra blockchain was halted, then restarted, and is now halted again (May 12, 9:20 pm PST) as well.

If you lost a ton, go easy on yourselves and allow time to process. I would suggest staying away from alcohol and drugs for a few days, too.

This has been a crazy and rapid death of a top ten crypto and its stablecoin. It will be studied for years. There will be a lot of regulation and lessons stemming from this one. We may also see ripple effects to the wider crypto ecosystem. Time will tell.

Some Contributers to the LUNA / UST Death Spiral

  • Rumors of whales taking large positions, then dumping and shorting
  • There was an $85 million UST to USDC selloff on Curve
  • Huge amounts began pulling out of Anchor Protocol
  • Once UST was depegged, the confidence quickly eroded
  • LUNA went hyper inflationairy as it tried to be converted to support the peg.
  • Crypto markets were downtrending for a while leading up the crash.
  • The Federal Reserve raising interest rates pushed the market lower
  • Shorts and leveraged shorts were relentless on LUNA
  • Stablecoin arbitrage bots had a field day with UST pairing with other stablecoins.

Here’s my update video from May 15, 2022: Nothing from Do Kwon. Elliptic tracked the Bitcoin. The Terra forum is deciding how to move forward. Other stablecoins are struggling with their pegs a bit.

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Bear Markets can Give us New Opportunities to See

Many people bail on the crypto markets when most coins are crashing. During these times, we can find projects that have not been on our radar.

I am watching for the uptrending coins and chains whose prices are moving against BTC right now. Just order the seven day or 30 day trends list from high to low on CoinMarketCap or CoinGecko. Pick those uptrenders to study deeper.

You will easily see a few networks / blockchains that are trending against the market. Find the coins being built on them that are new and very inexpensive. You can find a DEX for that chain to get projects very early. Usually Twitter hashtags are great for this search of new ones.

Keep studying the markets. Stick to one niche or one chain that is hot and interesting to you while the rest of the market is getting slaughtered. There’s blood in the streets. But, there are plenty of 10X projects popping up to say, “hi!” Go find them like a cold blooded investor instead of running away scared.

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Why I Think XRPaynet is a Crypto Scam

Here is my video investigation of XRPaynet. I always say that if a couple of things feel off about a project, just move on and consider another one. There are tens of thousands out there! Why risk it?

This is merely my opinion, but XRPaynet just seems like a cheap marketing scheme. The leaders don’t have relevant experience. Their social media is all about hype and how to buy.

Plus, I can’t find any detailed tecnical information in their white paper about how they will accomplish a crypto point of sale system. Don’t get a rug burn, people!

I am not a financial adviser and this is not financial advice.

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