Serum Swap is the first product from Serum
Plenty of third-generation blockchains are looking to replace Ethereum, and Solana is taking the lead, especially when it comes to DeFi.
It’s just hosted the launch of Serum Swap, which is the first product from Serum, which eventually plans to release the first completely decentralized derivatives exchange providing trustless cross-chain trading.
A project headed by Sam Bankman-Fried – of FTX, Alameda Research fame: and Sushi Swap infamy – Serum Swap is a simpler product, however. It’s effectively an AMM exchange that’s broadly similar in functionality to Ethereum’s Uniswap dapp.
This means it provides a simple way for users to swap various tokens against a liquidity pool. There is also a more complex trading interface for those users who want more sophisticated options.
One of the advantages provided by running on the Solana blockchain is that Serum Swap works almost instantly – under 1 second – and with tiny gas fees – 0.00002 cents.
Serum Swap supports SOL, Solana’s native token, as well as any other Solana-compatible SPL tokens including the SRM Serum token and the USDC stablecoin – and neatly some ERC20 tokens, and Bitcoin too.
In that way, Serum Swap enables users to trade tokens from three different blockchains in a decentralized manner.
Support for ERC20 tokens and Bitcoin is provided by a simple bridging solution. In future, more elegant bridging technologies will become available, such as the decentralized Solana-to-Ethereum Wormhole bridge, which burns tokens on one chain, minting their equivalents on the chain on the other side of the bridge.
Another interesting thing about Serum Swap is that the project is encouraging others to build their own graphical interfaces that hook into the underlying code so as many people as possible will use it.
Of course, in order to use Serum Swap, you will need to set up a Solana wallet and fund it with SOL tokens.
It’s also worth noting that Serum Swap hasn’t yet been audited so there is a lot of risks involved in using it. In that context, this article is more about highlighting the emergence of a new wave of DeFi products on new blockchains than an invitation to actually use them.
Remember all blockchain tech is experimental and some are really cutting-edge and highly likely to go wrong. So if you are brave enough to test this, never use more value than you’re happy to use.
Newsletter
