CoinMarketCap takes a deep dive into Atlas DEX, a decentralized exchange that looks to maximize the efficiency of trades
Liquidity fragmentation is a major problem with on-chain trading. DEXs are traditionally plagued by gut-wrenching slippage costs, especially those that adhere to the classic constant product formula model (see AMM). Moreover, disparate liquidity availability can result in price variance depending on the DEX used.
This can mean optimal trading strategies are turned ineffective due to DEX-hopping and the need to manage multiple sign-ins, wallets, keys and interfaces.
Atlas DEX solves this classic on-chain trading problem. Launching in January 2022, Atlas will aggregate DEXs from multiple chains, including its native Solana chain, as well as the Binance Smart Chain, Ethereum and Polygon ecosystems. Further chains will be integrated in time.
How Does Atlas DEX Work?
Atlas DEX works by charting the current price-info of DEXs on multiple connected chains. Then, when a user places an order, Atlas will aggregate liquidity across chains to provide users with the best price.
Order routing occurs when an Asset A to Asset Z pairing isn’t available, but can be achieved by going through an intermediary pair. Atlas DEX will find the pairing or pairings that create the best route between the two, and then execute the trade for the user when they confirm.
Order splitting is when — due to various liquidity situations and the liquidity drain caused by a large trade executed on one particular pool — using that pool alone would result in slippage that renders the trade non-viable. In this case, orders will be split across pools available, even multichain. The mathematical principles underlying the algorithm are available in the Atlas litepaper.
Solana, Cross-Chain Bridges and Wormhole Tech
Atlas DEX chose to build on Solana due to the low transaction fees and fast transaction throughput — both of which act to further reduce overall transaction costs for traders. Solana also makes it possible to execute multi-order, multi-pool trades at the speed necessary to make them worthwhile.The DEX platform will utilize Solana’s Wormhole technology to power its cross-chain swaps. Solana’s Wormhole tech is a non-custodial cross-chain bridge overseen by guardians — of equal weight — who borrow authority from the Solana network to validate the swaps. Once the guardians approve the swap, a mint and burn process is enacted and the asset can move cross-chain.
The bridges are bi-directional, allowing for trades to be completed through them.
The Atlas DEX (ATS) token
The ATS token is the governance and utility token for the Atlas DEX. $ATS holders can receive trading discounts, further increasing the edge they gain.
Atlas DEX has a total token supply of 250 million, out of which a select portion will be airdropped to early supporters. The majority of the supply is locked and will be released over a number of years and can be earned by providing liquidity to the Atlas DEX native pools.
In time, a DAO will be set up and community voting activated to direct the future of the protocol.
The Atlas DEX Roadmap
The Atlas DEX cross-chain swap platform will launch in January 2022, aggregating liquidity from Solana AMMs and finalizing the cross-chain bridges that are so integral to Atlas’s vision.
Once they are successfully completed, Atlas DEX will launch its liquidity mining program and begin forming the governance DAO.
The following features will be established in 2022:
- Cross chain swaps launch for SOL, ETH, BSC and Polygon;
- Chainlink oracle integration;
- Liquidity pools and farms;
- All-in-one DeFi dashboard;
- Cross-chain integration for Avalanche, Harmony, Huobi Eco Chain (HECO) and other L1s & L2s.
What Makes Atlas DEX Unique?
The DEX world has a user experience problem, which hinders adoption and oftentimes leads to significant losses suffered due to improper order routing. Atlas DEX aims to minimize costs through the usage of order splitting and aggregated liquidity systems that remain operational even when trading between two different chains. This leads to a CEX-like experience, which has often been dubbed as the missing puzzle piece in DeFi.
Finding the Best Price
By aggregating the liquidity of DEXs on these chains, traders using Atlas DEX can always get the best price for their assets. Moreover, it allows for the ability to swap two assets that otherwise have not been paired, as Atlas will find the best route between the two by utilizing multiple liquidity pools across multiple chains if needed. Atlas also provides traders with automated order splitting on large trades so that the best price from asset A to asset Z can be achieved.
Seamless Solution to a Complex Problem
Since Atlas DEX allows trades to be conducted seamlessly, traders can benefit from the simplicity of swapping and transferring assets across different blockchains on the platform.
Because of this, Atlas is set to become one of the few DEXs that are accessible to less experienced users, potentially making it a potent on-ramp for retail users that otherwise have little to no experience with cryptocurrency trading.
Cross-Chain Liquidity Aggregation
Atlas DEX’s ability to aggregate liquidity and give traders an easy way to take advantage of this capability makes it an attractive draw for users, and could help position it as the leading aggregator of the cross-chain trading landscape.
Since it can be used to power decentralized on-chain trades of any level of complexity — all while ensuring the best possible outcome for the user — Atlas DEX could be poised to shake up expectations of what to expect when trading on-chain.
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