Kyber Network (KNC) Monthly Report August 2020
Kyber Network showing steady month to month growth, up from $275M in July to $365M in August. Not bad for a month named after one of the most controversial leaders in human history.
For context, Kyber’s total volume for all of 2018 was $70M and $380M in 2019.
The most exciting news is that Kyber is the first platform to list Ethereum-compatible pLTC tokens, created by @pTokens_io.
Additionally, Epoch 1 was a huge success with over 57 Million KNC staked and 2580 voters for their first BRR proposal, with 630+ ETH rewards distributed to voters, and much much more.
Let’s continue to break down each part of this amazing month Kyber has had.
Recent News
KyberDAO: Epoch 1
Kyber recently concluded their first KyberDAO Proposal, where the KNC community voted on-chain for the first time on the allocation of network fees that goes towards burning KNC, voting rewards, or reserve rebates (BRR).
In just 10 days, 57 Million KNC tokens ($80 million worth) were staked on the KyberDAO, with 2580 voters for the first BRR proposal.
More than 630 ETH ($220,000) has also been distributed as rewards to KNC holders who staked and voted.
Overall, this is one of the highest, if not the highest DAO participation rate in the Ethereum space!
A key objective for Kyber from the beginning was to have active voter participation and the response from the community has been nothing short of amazing.
KyberDAO Epoch 1 marks the first step towards Kyber’s transition to decentralized governance and aligning incentives for all Kyber stakeholders.
BRR-1 Proposal: Final Result
The first Burn/Reward/Rebate BRR-1 proposal in Epoch 1 lasted for 10 days.
Option B: Pro-Reward, received the highest number of votes. This means that out of the network fees collected in Epoch 2, 4.3% will be used to purchase and burn KNC, 70% will be allocated to voting rewards, and 25.7% will be given as reserve rebates.
These votes were all made entirely on the Ethereum blockchain.
Transparency is a critical pillar of the Kyber governance process. Votes are all performed on-chain, and you can access the proposal’s details page to see all the Ethereum addresses that voted for each option. Top known addresses are also displayed with their names.
pTokens Lists Ethereum-Compatible pLTC Tokens on the Kyber Network
Kyber has listed the Ethereum-compatible pLTC token — a new cross-chain token developed by pTokens project.
Announcing the news to Cointelegraph on Aug. 3, Kyber Network said that pLTC tokens will be accessible through KyberSwap and other decentralized apps, or DApps.
They will also be available on platforms powered by Kyber’s on-chain liquidity protocol.
The news comes shortly after pTokens launched pLTC token on the Ethereum mainnet on July 29.
Similar to other “pTokens”, pLTC token aims to unlock cross-chain decentralized finance, or DeFi, liquidity by connecting the underlying asset to any blockchain.
pLTC is pegged 1:1 to Litecoin (LTC), making the legacy asset fully compatible with Ethereum.
KyberSwap Implements a New Reserve Routing System
With Kyber Network’s recent protocol upgrade (Katalyst), KyberSwap is now able to implement Reserve Routing.
During a token swap, Kyber Network’s smart contracts can be routed to use specific reserve(s), instead of always searching for the best rates through multiple reserves.
As such, KyberSwap can reduce gas consumption by pre-determining the best Reserves to use before the final on-chain transaction.
In some cases, reserve routing can save up to 60% in gas costs; if presently you pay $10 for a transaction, by using reserve routing you pay only ~$4.
Reserve Routing is still challenging as the decision to choose the best reserve depends upon many factors such as trade size, number of reserves supporting the tokens involved in the trade, splitting ratio of trade across multiple reserves, optimal rates, etc.
Given the aforementioned challenges, KyberSwap has decided to take a multi-phase approach and will first start Reserve Routing for tokens that are being supported by a single reserve.
This first phase is essentially just a gas optimization applied to swaps of over 50 tokens and the majority of trades on the network, saving users 10–20% on gas fees.
As a user of KyberSwap, there is no extra step needed. Just enjoy trading with lower gas fees. Please note that KyberSwap has other initiatives in the pipeline to help users save gas. Reserve Routing is just the first step!
Coinbase Launches KNC Earn Campaign
With its simple fiat-to-crypto on-ramps and 35 million users in over 100 countries, Coinbase is undeniably one of the leading companies pushing crypto adoption across the world.
Their Earn.com initiative allows ordinary users to earn crypto while learning about crypto and their users can earn KNC while learning about Kyber.
The three available lessons cover what Kyber is, what KNC is used for, and how Kyber powers DeFi and uses simple videos to demonstrate various concepts.
You can participate and/or watch the videos here.
New Token Listings & Token Reserves
New Token Listings on Kyber Network/KyberSwap:
New Token Reserve on Kyber Network/KyberSwap:
Network Highlights
Total Value Locked Reached 10.6M USD
The network deposits have increased by more than 28.9% in the last 30 days. A growth from 8.21M to 10.6M according to DefiPulse.
Kyber Network Total Trades
Total trades decreased by 42.2% from 110,765 to 63,995 between July 31st and August (30th).
Kyber Network Total Addresses w/ Balance
Total addresses w/ balance increased by 8.9% from 76.61K to 83.8K between July 31st and August (30th).
Token Metrics
Price Increase
Whilst Kyber has seen a relatively relaxed month (when compared to the remarkable growth of Q1 and Q2), August still saw a 49.7% increase in price ($1.20 to $1.79). Not too shabby for a project that sat at 0.18c on New Year’s Day!
With all of the new upcoming features, token burns and continuous platform adoption, price increases look more than likely in the short to medium term.
Team Wallets
The Kyber Team Wallets has seen 2,075,000 tokens removed within the last 30 days.
The team wallet currently holds 6.1% of the supply, valued as of 30th Aug at $22,963,172.31 USD.
Active Addresses
On August 30 a peak of 1.65K addresses was active, transferring KNC tokens. The average daily active addresses in the last 30 days have decreased by 25% from 2.2K to 1.65K.
In/Out of The Money
76.4% of the total KNC token holders are IN the money.
This indicates that most wallets last moved their KNC tokens when the price was lower, therefore are in profit since acquiring the token.
This is explained by the token being relatively close to its all-time high.
Bull vs Bear
Bull
Whilst KNC’s price action has lagged as of late when compared to some of its DeFi counterparts, it is most certainly due some excitement. Perhaps the (potential) current reverse head & shoulder pattern on the daily time frame (TA) and continued increased in platform adoption, decrease in platform gas fees, and the increase in staking alternatives for KNC tokens (thus removing supply) (FA) could be the signal for the next leg up. Potential target areas set between 2.50–2.60 USD.
Bear
Some may say Kyber is yet to match the expectations set by long term hodlers with regards to its TVL. Whilst Q1 and Q2 brought back price action memories of 2017’s bull market, the last month or so have been relatively back and forth with 2 USD looking like a never-ending psychological barrier. TVL also remains around the 10M which to some is considered relatively low compared to some of their nearest competitors.
The opinions expressed during the Bull vs Bear series are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of Multi.io and its employees. The goal is to present a view from both sides of the market.
Upcoming News & Events
With regards to upcoming news and events the Kyber team informed us that whilst there’s nothing major that can be mentioned at this time, in general, they will:
- Write more educational material about the benefits of on-chain market making.
- Enhance liquidity on Kyber Network.
- Fine-tune their KyberDAO process and start community governance calls.
