Introducing 0x

An Open Protocol For Decentralized Exchange On The Ethereum Blockchain

Today we are excited to announce our project, 0x, and we are releasing our whitepaper for the community to review.

0x is an open protocol that facilitates low friction peer-to-peer exchange of ERC20 tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. The protocol is intended to serve as an open standard and common building block, driving interoperability among decentralized applications (dApps) that incorporate exchange functionality. Trades are executed by a system of Ethereum smart contracts that are publicly accessible, free to use and that any dApp can hook into. DApps built on top of the protocol can access public liquidity pools or create their own liquidity pool and charge transaction fees on the resulting volume. The protocol does not impose costs on its users or arbitrarily extract value from one group of users to benefit another. Decentralized governance is used to continuously and securely integrate updates into the base protocol without disrupting higher level processes.

Numerous decentralized exchanges have been built on the Ethereum blockchain. However, they are all proprietary and incompatible with each other. 0x is not a decentralized exchange, it is a protocol for exchange. Our mission is to drive standardization and widespread adoption of the protocol, leading to safer smart contracts and a global liquidity pool.

Standardization, Decoupling, and Interoperability

Standardization benefits the entire ecosystem because it creates interoperability between dApps, creating synergies and driving network effects. 0x enables interoperability by pulling exchange functionality from the application layer into the protocol layer. It will serve as a modular building block that, when built upon, can be assembled into increasingly complex and useful applications. In this case, interoperability should yield the one thing that current decentralized exchanges are lacking most: liquidity. Liquid markets are a key piece of infrastructure necessary for the success of the token economy, and will grow in importance as more and more assets become tokenized.

Moving Forward

We will be releasing more information soon, including our roadmap, timeline and some exciting partnerships. We welcome feedback from the community and are open to collaborations, so feel free to reach out!