In the Crusher of the Month series, we are going to write about a coin/token that we have the most conviction in each month. The time frame is going to be around 1 month, or until we publish the next Crusher of the Month. In October 2017, our Crusher of the Month is 0x protocol, ticker ZRX.

What does the project do?

ZRX is currently used to pay matching fees to relayers and it will be required to vote on the development of the protocol once the governance system is put into place.

For those of you who have used EtherDelta, you know that the order book is delayed. Relayers built on 0x aim to be a more responsive version of EtherDelta.

0x is a protocol facilitating the creation of decentralized exchanges, called relayers, that host off-chain order books. 0x provides the tools and a common framework for people to build trustless decentralized exchanges that do not require users to send fund anywhere.

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Why we like it?

First mover advantage

Many projects are being built using 0x protocol and it is expected that they will roll out in the coming months. Other decentralized trading projects such as Kyber and AirSwap are not expected to launch until Q1 2018.

A couple of relayers (Kin Alpha and Radar Relay) are already live on the Ethereum MainNet. The most anticipated relayer of all, Ethfinex (developed by Bitfinex), announced on October 6 that it was edging towards the end of phase 1 and nearing the beta launch. We believe Ethfinex is going to attract a lot of liquidity and has the potential to become as large as Bittrex or Binance in token trading.

Granted, Ethfinex’s phase 1 doesn’t involve the use of 0x protocol yet, but its intention to be a decentralized exchange is well-known and should help the market learn about 0x and its potential.

Here is a list of projects using 0x protocol: https://0xproject.com/wiki#List-of-Projects-Using-0x-Protocol. The next milestones for the relayers are listed below:

Ethfinex: Phase 1 nearing beta launch, phase 2 (which will incorporate 0x protocol) will be late 2017/early 2018.

KinAlpha: Alpha testing on Mainnet began in September and more features will be added.

RadarRelay: Beta launched on Mainnet. They have said that beta is expected to last one month.

The 0cean: Public beta running on testnet in mid-October, public launch with API running on Mainnet in November – December.

Paradex: Beta testing will begin in mid-October and mainnet launch in November.

0x has more comprehensive features

0x’s current relayers function like an exchange while Kyber and AirSwap function like Shapeshift. However, according to Will Warren, CEO of 0x, it is actually possible to recreate Kyber and AirSwap using 0x protocol.

It is also possible to combine the different relayers’ order books so that the liquidity can be pooled together.

Attractive valuation

At the time of publication, 0x’s market cap is around $100 million. In comparison, the market cap of Kyber market cap is $187 million and Binance Coin (which is used to lower the trading fee on Binance) is $144 million. We believe that over time, 0x should have a comparable or higher market cap than these two projects.