Decentralized exchanges (DEX) have received considerable attention from investors looking to capitalize on some of the biggest trends in blockchain. DEXs claim to solve the myriad of problems that plague centralized platforms, while offering innovative exchange solutions. Nevertheless, many of them have run into the limitations of the Ethereum (ETH) network. This is why Orca has built its protocol on the Solana (SOL) blockchain.
Orca, the future DEX preferred by the Solana ecosystem?
Launched in February 2021, Orca is a DEX based on Solana. Its strengths are instantaneous and near-free swaps. Since the launch of its governance token, ORCA, the value of funds placed on the protocol has continued to grow. To date, users have deposited over $874 million. In addition, Orca has recorded an exchange volume of over $100 million in the last 24 hours, making it the 14th largest DEX in the market, in terms of transaction volume.
Fundamentally, Orca intends to become the leading automated market maker (AMM) by leveraging the advantages of Solana. First of all, Orca incorporates a “fair price indicator” in its interface. When you make a transaction on Orca, the protocol checks that the price offered is as close as possible to the CoinGecko price (plus or minus 1%). Then, the protocol checks that the actual slippage of the transaction is less than or equal to your tolerance threshold. If these 2 conditions are met, then the interface signals it to the user with a green mark. If this is not the case, the user receives a warning message.
Finally, Orca integrates an interface that allows you to check your balances without having to open your web wallet extension. This feature may seem trivial, but it is only present on a handful of protocols. This is an obvious user interface gap. And as the competition among DeFi protocols rages on, the user interface and its ease of use are cardinal differentiators.
18 million Series A round closed with a bang
Barely a month after launching its governance token, Oraca has just announced the closing of its Series A. The $18 million round was raised through the joint efforts of Polychain, Placeholder and Three Arrows Capital. The round also received participation from Jump Capital, Sino Global Capital, Coinbase Ventures and Solana Capital.
“Our mission is to create a next-generation WMA that combines greater capital efficiency with the simple, human-centric user experience you expect from Orca.”
Orca announcement
With this influx of fresh capital, Orca will pursue 3 major areas:
- The development of smart contract functionalities and user interface;
- Promotion through global expansion, social media campaigns and NFT art projects;
- Partnering with lending platforms, aggregators and NFT projects.
Initially, the project was led by Yutaro Mori and Grace “Ori” Kwan, who developed the protocol without any help or funding. Since then, the team has grown to 8 people, including former employees of Google, Amazon and strategic consulting firm McKinsey. With this round of funding, Orca will continue to grow its team.
However, the future is somewhat uncertain for DEX, both in the U.S. and in Europe. Indeed, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the European Commission intend to strictly supervise these new kind of financial players.
