Back in May 2023, we traveled to Mexico City as the BasicSwap team to attend Monerotopia 2023. For this edition of the Monero-centric conference, they've decided to welcome various privacy-focused cryptocurrency and blockchain projects. There, we not only hosted a booth and forged valuable connections, but also presented, on the event's main stage, BasicSwap DEX, its mission, story, and role within the broader privacy subset of the cryptocurrency economy.
Today, we're excited to announce that the presentation is now officially available on MoneroTalk's Youtube channel, and that you can finally watch it from home!
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What Happened Since This Presentation
Since this presentation, we've been hard at work improving BasicSwap's core tech and elevating its user experience.
Firstly, we've introduced a basic liquidity providing / market making tool that anyone can deploy and operate from home. While it falls short of any advanced feature, such as what would be possible via something like a Hummingbot integration, it enables more automated and logic-based management of your liquidity and offers. Of course, we plan on much more all-emcompassing solutions moving forward; this is merely the first initial step towards more comprehensive solutions in the future.
We've also pursued our work on implementing a series of user interface improvements, simplifying and refining the end-user experience. These updates have also significantly streamlined the code, enhancing the app's efficiency.
Finally, and perhaps most notably since the Monerotopia presentation, we've added the long-awaited bidirectional atomic swap functionality for Monero. As explained in this blog post, Monero atomic swaps, despite their groundbreaking nature, were previously limited by a significant technical constraint: offers could only request Monero, not offer it for other cryptocurrencies, leading to a 'one-way swapping only' scenario.
Our latest update addresses this limitation, enabling 'two-way' Monero swapping or, in other words, allowing you to offer Monero when creating swap offers on BasicSwap's order book. While this clever workaround, made possible by the SMSG network, doesn't resolve the technical limitation at the protocol level, it does so at the end-user level, making the user experience seamless with no additional steps, fees, or encumbrances.
This development positions atomic swap-based Monero DEXs like BasicSwap as a viable alternative to data-hungry and oftentimes straight up irresponsible centralized exchanges. It significantly enhances the resilience of Monero and PART (Anon) to external attacks and censorship campaigns.
What's Next for BasicSwap DEX?
With the successful launch of the major bidirectional Monero atomic swap update, our attention, in regards to BasicSwap, is now concentrated on three key areas.
Firstly, we are actively exploring the addition of more cryptocurrencies to the platform. Though we've had to postpone this expansion to prioritize core aspects of the DEX, the demand for new additions has remained strong, with many requests originating directly from representatives of projects seeking to be included on our platform. Therefore, we are now assessing the integration feasibility of several coins and hope to add a few of them in the coming weeks, alongside our ongoing work on other areas.
Secondly, we are in the process of developing a web framework that will enable BasicSwap-powered web services to be easily accessed through a web browser. For example, envision web-based exchanges akin to Changelly or ChangeNow, but driven by a completely decentralized exchange protocol (BasicSwap). This significant advancement is crucial in making BasicSwap DEX accessible to the wider crypto community, including those with less technical expertise. Moreover, the development of this web framework will allow integrations with various applications, platforms, or wallets. A prime example, as pointed out in Dr. Kap's presentation at Monerotopia, is the integration of the DEX into Particl Marketplace, which would allow for the use of other cryptocurrencies during checkout, while still settling the transaction in PART. This is but one example of what can be possible with a web framework built for integrations.
Lastly, we are committed to enhancing BasicSwap's scalability. We are considering two potential solutions for this. The first involves creating what we have temporarily named "SMSG 2.0". Although referred to as 2.0, this initiative actually requires constructing a new SMSG-like mixnet from the ground up, designed for near-infinite scalability. Though we have a design and some initial coding in place, achieving a production-ready level will demand significant time and effort. Therefore, we are also exploring alternative mixnets such as XX Network, Session, Nym, etc., to gauge the possibility of incorporating one or several of them into BasicSwap. Depending on the daily usage of BasicSwap, a balancing system could distribute the messaging load across all integrated mixnets, thus ensuring the DEX's scalability for early but substantial adoption.
And while we believe strongly in the scalability potential of SMSG 2.0, the system balancing messaging load across multiple mixnets might remain even after its readiness, if it proves effective, as it may further bolster the resiliency and decentralization of the DEX.
Of course, the elements we are currently focusing on, including the integration of more complex cryptocurrencies into BasicSwap, are substantial and will require time to fully develop. However, these efforts are paramount to realizing our vision of a seamlessly interconnected, privacy-first, and pro-liberty digital economy. Equally important is making this economy as accessible as possible, to ensure that it can be embraced by a wide audience.
Once implemented, these three significant advancements will position BasicSwap DEX to challenge traditional centralized exchanges and catalyze the broader adoption of a crypto economy that's truly independent of the legacy "fiat system".
In the interim, we invite you to support BasicSwap by testing its capabilities, sharing feedback and comments with us, and adding liquidity to the order book. Every contribution, regardless of its size, plays a vital role in building the brighter future we all strive to achieve.
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