Team releases launchpad and first decentralized exchange on the Shiden Network

As new blockchain applications arise, the number of different projects, independent chains and tokens have only risen in proportion. While some networks have excelled in accelerated payments, others have provided new staking opportunities or improved functionality for nonfungible tokens (NFTs).

The use cases may all be there; however, taking advantage of this diverse set of functionality becomes an issue of complexity as users attempt to get involved in multiple project opportunities and are unable to swap one token for the next. As it turns out, the most pressing problem faced by the decentralized exchanges that manage these transactions is liquidity. This results in slower trading, reduced efficiency and a poor user experience.

Uniswap (UNI) has succeeded in addressing these problems on the Ethereum (ETH) front, helping bring ERC-20 applications to life. However, this only solves a subset of the exchanges occurring today. With concerns around Ethereum’s scalability, networks like Shiden (SDN) on the Kusama Parachain (KSM) have arisen to address these needs and bring to life entire new decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystems that come with their own benefits and, of course, their own liquidity concerns.

PolkaEx was created, for this reason, sharing many similarities with the successful Uniswap setup while also leveraging Polkastarter (POLS) for launching new ideas on the Shiden Network. The platform has since emerged as the first cross-chain trading platform on Polkadot, and the first decentralized exchange (DEX) on the Shiden Network, providing users with a one-stop DeFi platform that supports Ethereum compatible smart contracts EVM, Solidity and ECDSA.

PolkaEx has since demonstrated the benefits of the Shiden Network, proving its higher transactions per second (TPS), lower cost per transaction and an all-around smoother trading experience for users. The team aims to continue using investor resources to help more projects take advantage of these features, assisting them with liquidity and capital raising.

Expanding network deployment

Currently, PolkaEx is available to users as a launchpad, swap, staking pool, and farming service, with two, completed IDOs under their belt. In particular, their farming service has caught the eye of many users as a place where liquidity providers can stake LP tokens for yield earnings. These earnings have climbed to over $1 million in a matter of days following the go-live. Users can take part in one of six pairs for an average of 100% APR for farming. Other reward opportunities have included a $10,000 USDC pool that took place on Nov. 17 of this year, and DApp staking, where 40% of block rewards earned go to other projects. The team behind PolkaEx has already expressed their interest in sharing a portion of these rewards with the rest of the community.

These reward models make the platform appealing for new projects looking for capital, among some of which included a record IDO that sold out in a mere 1 minute and 6 seconds and several partnerships regarding the metaverse.

In their words, the team behind PolkaEx shares, “in a multi-chain DeFi future, Layer 2s will play a major role, and we feel proud to bring a complete DeFi platform to Shiden Network. Having backers like the Founder of Astar Network, which Binance backs, gives us more reason to keep building to contribute to mass adoption; we won’t and can’t stop building and innovating.”

A growing community supports the mission of this project, including a number of cryptocurrency influencers on YouTube, like TCL. Away from social media, a number of investors have also assisted in ensuring quality IDO projects are on the pipeline on PolkaEx and are working towards expanding partnerships for increased product innovations and a greater variety of rewards.

A push for added functionality

Based on their goals to one day become a one-stop DeFi platform, a look at the PolkaEx roadmap for next year shows just that. Current plans include optimizing and adding more functions to their launchpad, like minting. Users can create new coins on the Shiden Network without coding and create nonfungible tokens on a visual interface. These two new DeFi applications will be accompanied by an Auction feature for token sales and bidding.