A Project with Potential: Can PolkaEx (pkex) become the leader among Polkadot’s cross-chain DEXs?
1. Project introduction
PolkaEx is a cross-chain decentralized exchange in the Polkadot ecosystem. PolkaEx is built on the Astar Network and is the first DeFi application on the Astar parachain. Astar Network provides PolkaEx with higher TPS, lower transaction fees and smooth transaction protocols.
PolkaEx is a fast and low-cost cross-chain decentralized exchange. It also has Launchpad, Farm, and more features that will be added in the future to make it an integrated one-stop platform providing DeFi services. PolkaEx will eventually launch on-chain governance, making PolkaEx a DAO.
Events
On August 2, PolkaEx released 7,500 PKEXs as rewards for testing the V1 test network
On September 4, PolkaEx launched on the Astar testnet Dusty, offering PKEX rewards to early supporters.
On September 29, PolkaEx launched an IDO and completed the sale in one minute and six seconds.
On September 30, they launched the PKEX-USDC LP liquidity mining on Uniswap
On October 1, they acquired strategic investments from Astar Network’s Founder(s)
On October 7, they locked $1.5 million USD in liquidity. The unlock date is on October 7, 2022.
Astar Network
When it comes to DeFi and even all the decentralised applications, what is the biggest problem? The cost is increasing, and the transaction speed is slowing down, which are becoming serious problems. To move forward with blockchain technology, it is imperative to enhance the scalability of the blockchain!
The current feasible solution is Layer2. When we talk about Layer2, we not only want higher TPS but also lower transaction costs, less on-chain storage, and faster transaction speeds. These are the most important attributes a chain should have in DeFi. In this sense, the Astar and PolkaEx platforms are a natural fit.
Astar Network is an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and WebAssembly (WASM) compatible Polkadot parachain. Moreover, it supports multi-chain, cross-chain deployment and Layer2 expansion protocols. It is the smart contract platform centre of the Polkadot ecosystem. It pioneered DApp Staking, which will most likely amplify network effects. PolkaEx is the first native and fully functional DEX on Astar. In addition, PolkaEx supports cross-chain, launchpad, swap, farm, and so on.
The Astar Network’s developer team is the team with largest application and delivery for grant in Polka Ecosystem. They have won seven grants from the Web3 Foundation and has broken through many technical difficulties. It is worth mentioning that Binance Labs, with a fund of $10 million USD to support Polkadot’s ecosystem development, has invested in Astar Network first. Fenbushi Capital led the $10 million strategic investments in Astar Network.
The founder of such a technical team made a strategic investment in PolkaEx. This gave PolkaEx the confidence in its arrangement on Astar Network. Astar Network launched the $30 million USD Astar/Shiden Ecosystem-Fund phase to support participants in the Astar/Shiden Builder Program, where PolkaEx was also selected.
Cross-Chain Trading
Ethereum is still the preferred option for those who really want to do something. However, the transaction fees on Ethereum are getting higher, which discourage ordinary participants. This gives cross-chain DEXs a great opportunity for development, where ordinary participants can withdraw their assets back to Ethereum at any time and enjoy security. In addition, participants can also enjoy low transaction costs and the convenience of fast transaction speeds from other chains.
At this stage, I call most DEXs as application-level cross-chains, that is, assets that circulate across chains in one or a limited number of applications. When participating in other applications, we even need to withdraw the assets on Ethereum to perform other cross-chain transactions. This brings the participants back to the bog of high transaction costs and slow transaction speed.
Astar brings what I call chain-level cross-chains. At the beginning of PolkaEx’s chain, one of its goals was to support the transfer of value between different blockchains. That is, when you cross chains on PolkaEx, assets are essentially transferred from Ethereum to Astar, not from Ethereum to PolkaEx. This will make your PolkaEx deals and assets safer.
PolkaEx doesn’t need to worry about the security of cross-chain asset transfers, this part is handed over to Astar, which is more technically complete and acceptable. On the other hand, your Ethereum assets on the Astar chain will enter the Astar Network. You can use these assets to participate in any DApp operations on Astar without any other cross-chain operations.
All in all, PolkaEx is close to AStar. If you recognize Astar, then PolkaEx also has a future. If you don’t think thatAStar, or even Polkadot, will not succeed, then PolkaEx’s competitiveness will decrease dramatically.
Farming
Open PolkaEx (https://app.PolkaEx.io/farms). On the top of “Farms”, you can see that PolkaEx only has a “PKEX-USDC” LP staking pool.
Users participating in Farms can receive PKEX rewards by staking LP Token in the right “ Approve→Stake”.
Currently, PolkaEx provides Farms functionality. At present, only the PKEX-USDC LP staking pool is open, with an APY as high as 415.62%. Liquidity mining has just started for a few days, and it is expected that Farming will issue 15 million PKEXs as rewards, accounting for 15% of the total token supply. The purpose is to improve the protocol TVL and complete the initial distribution of PKEX to facilitate community governance.
If you want to cancel the LP staking, just click the “withdraw” button. Remember: you can cancel the staked LP token at any time without penalty, but you must wait for five days before withdrawing the LP token. The rewarded PKEX can be withdrawn immediately.
Financing information:
September 5, 2021: PolkaEx has completed a $2.5 million USD private round with TheCryptoLifeStyle as the lead investor. The participating investors are TrendsetterVentures, SkyBridge20Ventures, Crypto Legendary, RayPaka and more.
October 1, 2021: Sota Watanabe, founder of Astar Network, announced a strategic investment round.
2. Tokenomics
Total PKEX circulation is 100 million, initial circulation: 2,450,000 PKEX,
· Hard cap: $2.85 million USD.
· Private Round A: $ one million USD — Completed.
· Private Round B: $1.5 million USD — Completed.
· IDO: $350 thousand USD — Completed. Private pool allocation: $140 thousand USD; Public pool allocation: $210 thousand USD. Private pool is only available for early whitelisted winners, with guaranteed allocation for each winner. Public pool is open to all participants.
3. Project Value Analysis
Analysis of the Practical Value of The Tokens and Buy-And-Sell Potential
The use scenarios for PKEX include: trading fees for PolkaEx Swap, participation in IDO launched on PolkaEx, liquidity mining plans, staking PKEX tokens for staking rewards, participation in PolkaEx’s ecosystem governance and voting rights, etc. The use scenario for PKEX needs to be officially improved.
PKEX’s buy potential mainly comes from:
1. Investors with good expectations for Astar Network
2. Demand for farms
3. Buy-in from secondary market investors
PKEX’s selling pressure mainly comes from:
1. Cash-out by airdrop and community members
2. Cash-out by team and investors
3. Cash-out by secondary market investors
Project Value and Prospects
1. Mainly cross-chains. Users can trade tokens from different public chains on PolkaEx. Real asset mapping, high performance, low cost and high speed.
2. The investment support from the founder of Astar Network increase the prospect of online currency security. It is expected to become the DEX of Astar Network and even the entire Polkadot ecosystem. Investors should expect an increase in market value.
3. PolkaEx’s popularity is higher than that shown by TVL. Currently, it is tested only on ETH chains. In addition, the Astar Network’s mainnet is not online yet, and the APY benefit of the PKEX-USDC pool is over 400%. Furthermore, PolkaEx only introduced its Farms function. According to the official website, PolkaEx will launch five other modules in the future.
4. Cross-chain decentralized exchanges on Polkadot are an important category in DeFi. Under the current policy, many centralized exchange markets are too saturated. As a result, traffic is frantically pouring into the DEX market. Hence, the potential for future cross-chain decentralized exchanges to develop in the currency market should not be underestimated. It is very likely that dozens or even hundreds of times of return will happen, or vice versa, zero.
5. PolkaEx is a cross-chain DEX based on Astar Network. Its scalability and development are to some extent subjected to the development of Astar Network.
Note: This article does not represent any investment advice, nor is it responsible for any investment results
