AMA Recap-Router/IGG
In case if you have missed our AMA with IGG, then no worries we got you covered!
Here is the recap of the AMA with IGG and the answers to all questions from the community answered by Mr. Ramani Ramachandran CEO, Router Protocol.
Naeem: We will begin by asking some questions to the Router Protocol team shortly. We hope these shed some light on this new and exciting project striving to be the best cross-chain liquidity aggregator!
Ramani: Pleasure being here Naeem. Thank you for the opportunity.
Naeem: Can you please begin by giving us a high-level introduction of the Router Protocol Project, the team, and what it intends to solve?
Ramani: Indeed.
Currently, liquidity is fragmented across different blockchains and there is no chain that acts as a superhighway to allow transition from one chain to another. Router fixes this by offering a superhighway to seamlessly port liquidity across distributed liquidity islands.
So we are focused on seamless cross-chain connectivity, and smart order routing, and everything that entails.
Naeem: Very interesting. In a future where we envisage not one chain to rule them all, but interoperability between the chains, this sounds incredibly exciting!
Can you please explain how Router Protocol aggregates liquidity from both layer 1 (L1) and layer 2 (L2), and how Router achieves ‘smart order routing’?
Ramani: Router will build bridges to all major blockchains and achieve smart order routing by not only traversing through the same blockchain for best prices but also go to different blockchains to fulfill the order at the right prices.
For example, let us say it finds a better BTC/USD price on a venue on the Solana blockchain instead of saying UniSwap on Ethereum, so Router will try to fill that order from Solana. This feature is called smart order routing in traditional financial markets, and makes us as a sort of like 1inch — but across multiple chains and much faster and cheaper.
Naeem: Very cool! From your perspective, what does the competitive landscape of DeFi/DEX aggregators look like?
And secondly, in comparison to leading aggregators like 1inch, why is Router unique?
Ramani: The DEX exchange landscape is very exciting and there are a number of existing, as well as emerging, strong competitors, given that we are in the early part of the industry evolution cycle.
The fact we are truly cross-chain makes us truly unique, whereas most leading aggregators tend to focus on one blockchain, like Ethereum, only.
Also, most of the current crop is focused on L1, and the experience is highly unsatisfactory. Congestion fees are a huge issue. It is here that Router has an advantage. We are working with multiple L2 chains such as Matic, on which we have already built a super-fast, gas-less AMM called DFYN.
Dfyn is something that the IGG community is very familiar with, as they have been among the earliest users, and have been using Dfyn to trade IGG instantly, seamlessly, and with zero gas costs.
So Dfyn is one venue on L2 Matic on Ethereum. Now imagine all the other L! and L2 chains with their individual exchange venues — Avalanche, Xdai, OMG, Optimistic roll-ups etc. Now imagine something like an “Expedia” that aggregates prices across all this, and smartly routes your order so you have the most efficient execution. That is the Router vision.
Naeem: Yes the L1 issues of Ethereum are a big problem that is solved by L2.
The experience of Dfyn compared to UniSwap with regards to fees is as the saying goes “chalk and cheese”!
Ramani: Exactly!
We just need to solve for a smoother entry and exit into L2.
Naeem: So you will connect with multiple exchanges? Let’s say someone wanted IGG, and IGG existed on multiple chains and exchanges on said exchanges, then Router would be able to get the best price for the purchaser?
Ramani: Yes indeed.
Naeem: Indeed, something will no doubt be resolved but just a matter of when!
Ramani: Hopefully soon, yes.
Naeem: Ok could you please share some info about the development status and progress so far, including the testnet, main net, any partners, etc.?
Ramani: It just so happens that the team built Dfyn first, but we are not really competing with any venue on any chain. What we are focused on is ultimately building the bridges and the highways between the venues, and letting any venue on any chain come on board and make it easy for them to connect to the connecting infra that we are building.
We started off with Dfyn, which is the L2 Matic-based exchange on Matic Network, which offers a gas-less AMM experience. The exchange is live and has over $500,000 worth of liquidity at https://www.dfyn.network/.
Naeem: Awesome approach!
Ramani: Thank you!
With Router, we launched last week with a Space Farm, where you could yield farm across Matic and Ethereum, across UniSwap, SushiSwap, Dfyn, 1inch, etc. We listed on BitMax as well fairly quickly, and the initial Space Farm TVL hit around $ 3m in a week or so, after which we wound that down, and now have a Route staking program on UniSwap.
Over the next few weeks, we have many developments coming up which will be launched soon like Polkadot related roadmap related and partnerships with networks like Avalanche, BSC, Sta.fi, etc.
Naeem: Nice! Congrats on all the success so far and we’re excited to see how you guys get on with both Dfyn and Router Protocol!
Ok finally, please can you share some info on the tokenomics for ROUTE tokens? What’s special about them, use cases, and so on?
Ramani: The ROUTE token model has been designed so that the community is engaged and rewarded in the long term.
The unlocking schedule puts the team, at last, to ensure the team is long-term committed to the project. There will be no team vesting for nine months! We are here to play the long game and will do everything for long-term success of the Router.
From a governance perspective, we are planning to unlock certain innovative features such as cross-chain governance. Given that Router will be seamlessly connecting liquidity across L1 and L2 chains, there is actually the possibility of a ‘governance-right’ market place emerging. ROUTE token holders will have the ability to participate in this as well, in addition to, of course, having a say in the long-term direction of the project!
Also, from a practical investor’s perspective, it is a super low cap, low circulation, and we want to incorporate features such as buy-backs and burns with inputs from the community, given that the token has governance aspects as well.
Also, one more thing, we have a super active snapshot page, where we vote on all key decisions including those related to tokenomics such as inflation: https://snapshot.page/#/routerprotocol.eth/proposal/QmXhADH12hzNJEGFmvDtxHz6opwCUNGV5K5JCVipcuKpGM
In fact, we had a recent vote on if the community would like to continue Space Farm yield farming or not for instance. The community overwhelmingly came down on the side of limiting inflation, by the way!
Naeem: Great!
We will now begin the Q&A, where @Rsquare007 will answer a few questions. Feel free to ask any questions — any selected questions will win 10,000 $IGG!
Community questions
GD: Good afternoon! Can we assume that with the routing strategy being developed by Router Protocol the best fees are always going to be prioritized?
Ramani: Yes Sir. So trade execution is always a trade-off between certainty of execution and price.
BD: Will IGG/MATIC route farming be active soon?
Ramani: We are definitely thinking of relaunching something on this front, but stay tuned for specifics. Inflation will of course be a key factor.
V: In relation to your answer:
Router will build bridges to all major blockchains and achieve smart order routing by not only traversing through the same blockchain for the best prices but also go to different blockchains to fulfill the order at the right prices. For example, let us say it finds a better BTC/USD price on a venue on the Solana blockchain instead of say UniSwap on Ethereum, so Router will try to fill that order from Solana. This feature is called smart order routing in traditional financial markets, and this makes us as a sort of a 1 inch but across multiple chains, and much faster and cheaper.
Does Router Protocol finds this or is there a mechanism where the user needs to do something?
Ramani: Router protocol will do this for you. It will be like you booking a flight on Expedia.com. The internal searches across various booking systems will be transparent to you
GD: Do you think that with the awakening of the crypto space and blockchain technology to the need for interoperability AMMs and DEXs will substitute centralized exchanges?
Ramani: So UniSwap volumes are already higher than Coinbase. DEX’s are here to stay and will underpin fundamental financial sector transformations.
NB: Awesome AMA, exciting future, really enjoyed the initial Space Farm and especially the MATIC/IGG pair! Claiming the ROUTE tokens still leaves them on the Matic Network in this example, which still requires a manual chain-swap to the Ethereum chain.
As BitMax currently only supports deposits/withdrawals of ERC20 tokens, are there any plans to combat this or will exchanges soon support MRC20 version? How will this be more automated for the end-user in the future?
Ramani: Great question, Nick!
This is sort of one of the core problems that we are trying to solve with Polka para-chains. Currently, the validation on L2 takes a while, but with para-chains, this could be a seamless instant thing.
V: If the IGG tokens I have are on L2, and I want to exchange for a token on L1, will Router Protocol make the smooth and cheaper transition, or do I still need to do the transition from L2 to L1?
Ramani: For the moment, you will still need to use the existing Matic bridge. Once we have the Router mainnet ready by Q2, this problem should be solved for.
A: Will you have the capability of trading NFT’s in the future?
Ramani: Oh, absolutely! You will be able to trade any token that is EVM compatible!
That concludes today’s AMA. For more on Router Protocol, you can check out their social channels below!
About Router Protocol
Router Protocol is building a suite of cross-chain liquidity infra primitives that aims to seamlessly provide bridging infrastructure between current and emerging Layer 1 and Layer 2 blockchain solutions.
Website: http://routerprotocol.com/
Telegram: https://t.me/routerprotocol
Telegram announcements: https://t.me/router_ann
Twitter: https://twitter.com/routerprotocol
