2023 has been a very tough year when we went deep into the bear market, yet it has been an incredible year to focus on building. Various products were released, and many impressive milestones have been achieved by AshSwap as we grew to become one of the most important DeFi protocols within the ecosystem.
Now, going to 2024, it’s time to refresh our roadmap and reveal our plan for this pivotal year for AshSwap, the MultiversX ecosystem, and the whole blockchain space.
Core Business
We are passionately committed to the blockchain industry, driven by our firm belief in its transformative future. While the conversation often centers on blockchain’s revolutionary impact on finance, we recognize its broader potential beyond just DeFi applications.
One of the most compelling analogies for blockchain is that of a “coordination super highway”. This technology provides an unprecedented platform where individuals can collaborate with minimal need for trust. Such a paradigm shift has the immense potential to elevate our civilization, reshaping how we interact and operate on a global scale.
As we venture into this uncharted territory, the exact applications destined to catalyze mass adoption remain unknown. However, we are certain that establishing and refining a robust foundation, consisting of a token economy and decentralized financial services, is critical. This groundwork is essential to meet the forthcoming wave of demand and to fully realize blockchain’s transformative potential. This is effectively why we chose to build applications in the DeFi sector and will continue to do so.
Current State
In February 2023, AshSwap launched its Stable-swap on the MultiversX Mainnet, culminating in a year and a half of development. Following this, we rolled out key modules such as Yield Boost, Governance Staking, AshDAO, and Bribe. These modules form the essential DeFi primitives of MultiversX, enabling the creation of diverse applications on AshSwap. They also offer a robust platform for projects to boost token liquidity and for users to earn from protocol fees and bribes.
Our launch has also started a wave of DEXs being launched on MultiversX. Though having more exchanges is good for the ecosystem, it comes at the cost of users with fragmented liquidity and trading experience. We decided to take the challenge and build a Dynamic-routing Liquidity Aggregator. 6 months after launch, our Aggregator has secured a consistent spot in the top 3 most-used contracts within the whole ecosystem, with an average daily volume of nearly $1.5 million. Many projects, most notably xPortal, have integrated the Aggregator to give their users the best rates when exchanging tokens.
At this point, with a diverse set of DeFi products such as AshSwap, Hatom, DX25, and JewelSwap, MultiversX has become comparable to most DeFi ecosystems in the space. There are, however, gaps to be filled with more advanced products. We again set out to build AshPerp, the first decentralized perpetual exchange on MultiversX, arguably the most challenging product we have built. With the Battle of Perps going on at the moment and giving us useful insights from users, we are working tirelessly to complete all the modules and are on track to launch AshPerp on Mainnet in Q1.
Product Updates
AshSwap DEX
After a year of dedicated production, rigorous testing, and ongoing development, AshSwap has reached a stable phase. We have successfully launched and fine-tuned all modules, ensuring a robust and reliable platform. This stability allows other developers to build upon and integrate with AshSwap confidently, without concerns about disruptive changes. Looking ahead to next year, our focus will shift towards enhancing core metrics and significantly improving the user experience.
The ecosystem has seen a steady increase in the variety of tokens, and with MultiversX positioned for substantial growth in the upcoming bull market, our strategy is to expand our business outreach. We aim to attract more projects to utilize AshSwap for their liquidity needs, leveraging the diverse tools we provide.
Additionally, recognizing the complexities involved in token listing on AshSwap, we have been actively assisting projects in this process. Moving forward, we are contemplating the introduction of permissionless listing as a step towards achieving complete decentralization, further simplifying the process for our users and partners.
While the current design of AshSwap is well-liked by the community, its evolution during development has led to a somewhat fragmented experience. Drawing inspiration from the sleek design of AshPerp, we have boldly reimagined AshSwap’s user interface. This new design is crafted from scratch, incorporating valuable insights gained over the past year.
We aim to offer both existing and new users a more intuitive and seamless interaction with AshSwap. For those who have a fondness for the original design, worry not—we will continue to provide access to the current UI, ensuring that everyone’s preferences are accommodated.
Aggregator
The true powerhouse of our Aggregator is its Dynamic Routing Algorithm, which operates behind the scenes. With the V2 release, we’ve dramatically enhanced this system, boosting its capacity to handle 700% more traffic while halving the latency. This enhancement is a strategic move to accommodate the anticipated surge of users and DEXs on MultiversX, preparing us for future demands.
Our next work is focused on three key improvements:
- Integrating DX25, MultiversX’s First Concentrated Liquidity Model: We’ve tackled the complex mathematical model and are now fine-tuning the handling of ticks data. This intricate part of the process is nearing completion, and we’re on track to integrate this feature within Q1. This will enable users to access significantly better pricing options.
- Enhancing Aggregator Reliability: The Aggregator’s consistent performance is crucial for user trades. A substantial portion of our work is dedicated to stabilizing the off-chain infrastructure and managing errors. We’ve also implemented an advanced tracking system for active performance monitoring, ensuring continuous service improvements.
- Optimizing Gas Costs with Route Merging and Splitting: We are also working on a feature to make trades more gas-efficient. For instance, if a user wants to swap EGLD for USDT, the amount can be split into two routes:
- EGLD/USDC (xExchange) -> USDC/USDT (AshSwap)
- EGLD/USDC (OneDex) -> USDC/USDT (AshSwap) We plan to merge these steps into a single action on AshSwap’s stable pool to reduce gas costs for users.
Each of these advancements is designed to elevate the user experience, making our platform more efficient, reliable, and cost-effective.
AshPerp
The perpetual exchange model offers numerous advantages. It enables traders to leverage positions without an expiration date, providing greater flexibility and ongoing market exposure. This approach appeals to a wide range of traders, from those seeking long-term positions to those capitalizing on short-term market movements.
Notably, perpetual trading volumes on centralized exchanges are substantially higher than those of spot markets, often doubling or tripling in size. This translates into significant fee generation for these platforms. Despite decentralized exchanges (DEXs) capturing 15–20% of the spot market share, their share in perpetual trading volume is still limited, at around 2% compared to centralized platforms.
However, as the technology evolves and the market matures, we anticipate a surge in the popularity of decentralized perpetual trading. This potential growth has been highlighted in numerous 2024 venture capital reports, identifying Perpetual DEXs as a key narrative in the upcoming bull market within the DeFi space.
AshPerp is poised to play a crucial role in enhancing our financial sustainability by generating more transaction fees. While our initial phase benefitted from liquidity mining with the $ASH token, we recognize the need for a more diversified strategy moving forward. Overreliance on liquidity mining can exert undue pressure on the token’s value.
Therefore, the revenue from AshPerp will not only support Vault Liquidity Providers but will also provide incentives for $veASH holders. Moreover, a portion of these revenues can be allocated to buying back $ASH tokens, helping to mitigate the selling pressure from liquidity mining. This strategic approach ensures a balanced and sustainable growth trajectory for our platform.
Growth and Innovation
Up until now, our main focus has been on cultivating the DeFi ecosystem on MultiversX in collaboration with our ecosystem partners, and this endeavor has yielded positive results. However, with the market transitioning into a new phase and our position having evolved significantly from where we were a year ago, it has become crucial to reassess our goals in light of the current market dynamics and our enhanced standing in the industry.
- Enhance Product Quality: Continuously improve our current offerings and develop superior new products.
- User Acquisition: Expand our user base through targeted strategies and outreach.
- Revenue Growth: Increase our revenue streams through diversified and innovative approaches.
- Token Utility Enhancement: Boost the practical value and applications of our token.
- Innovation: Foster a culture of creativity and technological advancement.
- Ecosystem Integration: Establish connections with other ecosystems for mutual growth and collaboration.
- Support MultiversX Growth: Actively contribute to the expansion and success of MultiversX.
- Lay the Groundwork for the Future: Build a solid foundation to support our long-term vision and objectives.
From our market research and competition analysis, to bring our products to the highest industry level and achieve our objectives, we should aim to offer this non-exhausted list of improvements:
- On-chain and decentralized orderbook that supports spot and derivative (perpetual, options) markets with higher speed and throughput.
- Better spot and perpetual market designs.
- An advanced account abstraction model with an integrated wallet.
- Native stablecoin support.
- Free gas costs.
- Better MEV prevention and value accrual to app users.
- Different staking options without more flexible lock for $ASH and better revenue-sharing mechanism
- New infrastructure paradigm integration, such as intent to offer more liquidity
This leads us to a promising avenue for research and development: the much-anticipated Sovereign Shard SDK, which was announced at xDay 2022.
Sovereign Shard (SS)
From its inception, MultiversX has embraced modularity through its sharding architecture, showcasing a clear vision for horizontal scalability in blockchains. This approach allows for the deployment of additional chains as user numbers increase, effectively managing growth.
While there are semantic differences, the concept of shards in MultiversX bears a resemblance to appchains in terms of functionality. To cater to applications requiring enhanced performance, MultiversX has also introduced the Sovereign Shard SDK, a significant step in supporting such applications.
By building an SS, developers can benefit from not only all the technical advancements that have been made but also those that are being developed, including WASM VM, ESDT token standard, and Guardian. All the ecosystem products, such as Explorer and xPortal, can be used directly on the SS, making user onboarding seamless.
Furthermore, gaining greater control over the tech stack empowers developers to create more sophisticated and tailored features, precisely aligning with their specific requirements. This enhanced capability is exactly what we are striving to achieve.
IBC and Cosmos
The Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol (IBC) is an end-to-end, connection-oriented, stateful protocol for reliable, ordered, and authenticated communication between heterogeneous blockchains arranged in an unknown and dynamic topology.
IBC (Inter-Blockchain Communication) protocol stands as one of the most secure bridge technologies in the blockchain space. Its robustness is backed by formal verification and years of battle testing. A lesser-known fact is that integration into the Cosmos ecosystem doesn’t mandate the use of the Cosmos SDK; any chain that supports IBC can join.
Implementing IBC, sovereign shards can effectively straddle two ecosystems, acting as a vital bridge between MultiversX and the Cosmos chains. This dual ecosystem presence not only enhances the network’s capabilities but also paves the way for extensive partnerships and collaborative opportunities.
Open Research
This technology is new, and we are at the forefront of its exploration. As we delve deeper, we’re excited to share our discoveries with the community, offering insights into the potential of Sovereign Shards. Additionally, we’ve identified that one factor contributing to the limited awareness of MultiversX technology in the broader blockchain space is the scarcity of independent research.
To address this, we are committed to thoroughly investigating the distinctive architecture of the MultiversX blockchain. By publishing our findings, we aim to enhance understanding and recognition of this technology and its unique capabilities within the blockchain community.
Caveats
- Early Stage: We are in the early stages of exploration. Our ideas are still in the conceptual phase and subject to change.
- No Specific Timelines: We do not have a fixed timeline for this project yet. Our requirements are not a plain general blockchain but a highly customized one. Development can be hard and unpredictable, and we want to ensure we deliver the best without being rushed.
- Flexibility in Features: The features or specifics we mention now might evolve as we progress. Our goal is to innovate, and sometimes that means adapting our plans based on new insights or technical feasibility.
- Speculation, Not Confirmation: Our discussions about this new product are speculative and should not be taken as a firm commitment or promise. We’re sharing our excitement and ideas but are not making any official announcements at this stage.
- Open to Change: As with any research and development process, the direction and scope of the project may shift based on ongoing research, user feedback, and market trends.
2024 High-level Roadmap
Above are our big ideas for AshSwap in 2024. As we ride the crest of the latest crypto bull run and gear up for widespread adoption, we are all set to embrace the exciting new possibilities in the DeFi world.
From Neil Nguyen — CEO of AshSwap.
