What is Bancor (BNT)?

Deep Dive

1. Core Functionality

Bancor’s ecosystem centers on Carbon, a decentralized trading protocol allowing users to deploy customizable strategies like limit orders and “buy low, sell high” automation. Unlike traditional DEXs, Carbon’s orders are irreversible upon execution and resistant to MEV attacks, offering traders enhanced control and security.

A secondary protocol, Fast Lane, enables arbitrage across exchanges while redirecting profits back to Bancor’s ecosystem.

2. Technological Foundation

Bancor pioneered the constant product automated market maker (CPAMM) model, patented in 2017 (Bprotocol Foundation). This innovation uses mathematical formulas to manage liquidity pools without order books, forming the backbone of decentralized exchanges like Uniswap.

Carbon builds on this with adjustable on-chain orders and strategies that combine multiple positions, addressing limitations of static liquidity pools.

3. Governance & Tokenomics

BNT serves as Bancor’s governance token, allowing holders to vote on protocol upgrades via the BancorDAO. The DAO controls key parameters like fee structures and protocol expansions, emphasizing decentralized oversight.

BNT’s total and circulating supply are identical at ~115 million tokens, ensuring no inflationary pressure from unminted reserves.

Conclusion

Bancor combines MEV-resistant trading tools with foundational AMM technology, governed by a decentralized community. Its ongoing legal battle over CPAMM patents highlights its historical role in DeFi infrastructure—could broader recognition of its IP reshape its ecosystem adoption?