At the start of 2021, we began our transition from being heavily R&D-driven to being more product-focused by releasing several major core products.
Q2 has been a quarter of battle testing, learning, and growing. The broader Ethereum and crypto ecosystems have been quieter compared to Q1 and we have taken this opportunity to keep our heads down and build.
While we will continue to operate and innovate across the stack, the whole team has been dedicated to building the best possible products and their efforts will be coming to a head very soon.
The second half of 2021 will bring many exciting upgrades that we believe will catapult Loopring into its next growth stage.
Summary of Q2
1. Loopring Wallet
In Q2 we launched a new and improved iOS version, with fewer issues and an overall smoother user experience. The iOS app has added WalletConnect support, AMM joins and exits, and has orderbook trading coming soon. Now with smart wallet 1.0 released on iOS and Android, the benefits of zkRollups and social recovery will reach a larger global audience.
Creating the smart wallet on layer-1 has been a gas heavy operation and a pain point for our users. In our upcoming Loopring Wallet 2.0 release, users can deploy the wallet on multiple layer-2 networks or EVM-compatible blockchains, thus enabling Loopring to serve a broader range of users.
We have deployed the solidity smart contracts on Arbitrum, which will reduce the cost of creating a wallet by a factor of 10x. As some users have paid upwards of $300 to create the Smart Wallet, this cheaper deployment option eliminates the costly admittance fee to living gas-free. Arbitrum deployment will be available soon with the launch of our Wallet 2.0, and we will follow with other L2s as they come online.
2. Loopring Wallet Launchpad
In Q2 we also launched our novel Launchpad mechanism for Loopring Smart Wallet users to take advantage of new project offerings in a gas-free, Layer 2 environment.
Our first project launch was DAOsquare, with the launch of RICE, their governance token.
More projects will be announced in the future along with many more unique promotions to reward our new and loyal Smart Wallet users.
3. Exchange V2 Improvements + Collaborations
Q2 brought the official launch of our new Merged Liquidity feature, which combines L2 AMMs & orderbooks into a single source of liquidity. So whether you trade on our web or mobile apps with our API, your order will be routed to both orderbooks and the corresponding AMM pools for the best price available.
We have also enabled two new stablecoins to our ever-growing list of Fast Withdrawal-supported tokens. USDC and USDT now join LRC, ETH, and DAI for this quick withdrawal feature. For a slight additional cost, fast withdrawal allows users to move their tokens from L2 to L1 within seconds. This is very convenient for those who would like to arbitrage on L1 using their funds in L2.
Many other primary listings and strategic integrations also launched this quarter. Highlights include the phenomenal success of the Deeper Network primary listing, as well as WePiggy + OpenOcean strategic cooperations with the Loopring Exchange.
The DPR primary listing showed the power of Layer 2, with users enjoying gas-free swapping and the Loopring AMM pool outpacing the Uniswap AMM pool in record-setting trading volume for the DPR/ETH pair.
4. Loopring Subgraph and Block Explorer
Parsing through our zkRollup data has never been easier with the Loopring Subgraph.
The subgraph indexes our rollup data allowing it to be accessible in real-time. While zkRollups put all transaction data on Ethereum, which is a great security attribute, it is still important to be able to explore that data.
Now with a subgraph as well as a block explorer on the way, our users will be able to sort through L2 blocks, account balances, transactions, addresses, and statistics with ease.
5. Liquidity Mining
Throughout Q2 we have run 5 rounds of liquidity incentive campaigns that covered AMM & orderbook liquidity mining as well as swap and trading tournaments. Here is round 10 as an example of how they work. Our exchange distributed more than 180,000 LRC as campaign rewards, with partners/sponsors also supplying their tokens as incentives.
With the launch of our Smart Wallet 2.0, AMM 2.0, and EthPort, we will ramp up more aggressive and broad campaigns.
For token projects or issuers who would like to incentivize liquidity for their token on Loopring L2, we created this request form.
6. Protocol Fees
Currently, as we continue to bootstrap the liquidity and growth of the Loopring Exchange, incentives (protocol fees) are being distributed to help drive this liquidity growth.
We have finished the second and third distributions of protocol fees (all paid in LRC) for those who have provided LRC AMM liquidity on our L2. The total amount of LRC distributed in our second and third batches is roughly 160,000. Note that we excluded addresses owned by Loopring from the distribution.
Our LRC tokenomics v2 model rewards LRC holders who use their assets productively for the good of the platform, as liquidity providers, insurers, and DAO members.
7. Loopring Creator Grants
Loopring Creator Grants is a brand new initiative from the Loopring Foundation this quarter.
The number of YouTube content creators (and other video platform content creators) around the world continues to grow and is becoming the go-to medium for how many new and existing crypto enthusiasts consume their content.
We want to encourage and reward some of these (often low or non-paid) creators by offering them a new avenue for revenue by helping us create video content for some of our core products.
If you or someone you know is a content creator on a platform like YouTube, feel free to check out or share Loopring Grants.
8. Loopring Media & Milestones
Media
Throughout the quarter, Loopring has been featured in many media outlets as layer-2 continues to pick up steam as a critical Ethereum narrative. Below are select examples of media or educational pieces Loopring has been covered in.
Milestones & Misc.
Q2 came with impressive milestones, the most notable being surpassing $1billion traded on Loopring v3.6 exchange. Three major ATHs were also reached, including $260M in TVL, $50M in daily trading volume, and record-breaking Google searches. We have now surpassed 21k Loopring L2 accounts. See all stats here. A new stats information dashboard and explorer will be coming soon.
LRC was listed on FTX and Paribu exchanges.
Anchorage Digital now supports LRC for institutional custody.
Path Forward
1. EthPort
EthPort is Loopring’s solution to the composability problem of Ethereum’s move to layer-2. Among L2s, zkRollups are especially well suited to help solve composability because of the use of validity proofs, which allow for instant finality and fast withdrawals. These properties are key to the designs we use.
EthPort allows cheap access to layer-1 dapps such as ETH2 staking, Yearn, Uniswap, and others directly from the rollup. EthPort gives layer-2 users access to these dapps by batching user interactions on layer-2 to reduce the layer-1 footprint and greatly reduce transaction costs for the users.
As various L2 networks come online, the need for cheap and capital-efficient L2-L2 transfers without going through L1 is instrumental for a thriving L2 ecosystem. If users want to access a dapp on another layer-2 and then come back to the Loopring Layer-2, our EthPort bridge feature will allow for a seamless movement of funds between rollups.
In addition to L1-L2 and L2-L2 composability, EthPort allows centralized exchanges to easily support withdrawing directly to Loopring’s zkRollup using standard L1 functionality while still reaping the cost savings of L2.
The core functionality of EthPort was released this quarter and we are now currently working with external partners to bring the first couple of user-facing implementations of EthPort to life.
These first implementations will be available to users in this upcoming Q3 and we are hoping to be able to share more news about this shortly.
2. Multi-Layer Wallets + Further Mobile Upgrades:
As mentioned above, the Loopring Smart Wallet is about to become a multi-layer, multi-chain wallet for users across crypto to enjoy the increased security and other benefits of Social Recovery wallets.
Arbitrum contracts have already been deployed and the user experience is currently being worked on in a new mobile upgrade coming soon.
We are also looking at deploying this new Wallet on other chains and layers such as Optimism, zkSync, and more.
After making the Loopring Smart Wallet multi-layer and multi-chain, we will also be looking to release a whole new app experience with brand new UI + UX by late Q3 or early Q4.
3. Further Exchange Improvements
Q1 brought the addition of AMM’s to compliment the existing orderbooks, Q2 brought Merged Liquidity, and Q3 will bring even more major upgrades to the Loopring Exchange.
The AMMs are about to get a big upgrade with the release of AMM 2.0, which will introduce concentrated + variable liquidity to the AMM pools.
Similar to Uniswap’s v3 upgrade, Loopring’s AMM 2.0 upgrade will allow users to implement variable liquidity over a shortened curve, which will help to concentrate the liquidity on the exchange, giving users tighter spreads and lower slippage.
On top of this, we will also be giving the whole web experience a fresh new look. More information will be released on this later in the quarter.
Questions & Feedback
If you’d like to talk to us for partnership, have questions, and/or feedback, please join our Discord, or drop us a line at foundation@loopring.org. We also have an active Reddit community.
“Tis not too late to seek a newer world” — Tennyson
Since its inception, Loopring has continuously evolved to serve the needs of its users. We originally started life as a layer-1 DEX protocol and have transformed it into a layer-2 zkRollup. Our exchange and smart wallet products were built solely atop our zkRollup and now with the launch of EthPort, our products will live in a multi-chain world. We look forward to building the bridges onto these newer worlds and integrating them into our stack for the best possible layer-2 experience.
About Loopring
Loopring is an Ethereum zkRollup protocol for scalable, secure exchanges & payments. Loopring builds non-custodial, high-performance products atop our layer-2, including the Loopring Wallet — a mobile Ethereum smart wallet, and the Loopring Exchange — an L2 orderbook and AMM DEX. To learn more, you can sign up for our Quarterly Update or see Loopring.org.
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