Kyber Network Crystal v2

## What Is Kyber Network (KNC)?

Kyber Network is a multi-chain hub of liquidity protocols that aggregates liquidity from various sources to provide secure and instant transactions on any decentralized application (DApp). The main goal of Kyber Network is to enable DeFi [DApps](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/decentralized-applications-dapps), decentralized exchanges ([DEXs](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/decentralized-exchange-dex)) and other users easy access to deep [liquidity pools](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/liquidity-pool) that provide the best rates.

[KyberSwap.com](https://KyberSwap.com/), its main DEX aggregator and liquidity platform, provides the best swap rates for traders in DeFi compared to individual exchanges. It also enables liquidity providers to maximize earnings via high capital efficiency. KyberSwap sources liquidity from multiple DEXes such as Uniswap, Sushi, Curve, QuickSwap, Pancakeswap, Traderjoe, Pangolin, SpookySwap, SpiritSwap, VVS Finance, Velodrome, GMX, and many others to achieve the best rates for traders on different chains. KyberSwap supports over 13 chains including Ethereum, BNB Chain, Polygon, Avalanche, Fantom, Cronos, Arbitrum, Optimism, Velas, Aurora, Oasis, BitTorrent, Ethereum PoW, and soon Solana.

KyberSwap is decentralized and permissionless, not requiring account sign-up or personal information. All transactions on KyberSwap are on-chain, which means transactions do not need a centralized third-party, like a centralized exchange, and they can be easily verified using the Ethereum or other chains’ [block explorer](https://blockchain.coinmarketcap.com/chain/ethereum).

Projects can build with KyberSwap to access its different features, such as the instant settlement of token swaps, liquidity aggregation for the best rates, liquidity pools, and a customizable business model. Kyber looks to solve the liquidity issue in the decentralized finance ([DeFi](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-decentralized-finance)) industry by allowing developers to build products and services without having to worry about liquidity for different needs.

The Kyber Network Crystal (KNC) token is a utility and governance token that is the "glue that connects different stakeholders in Kyber's ecosystem." KNC holders can stake their tokens in the KyberDAO to help govern the platform and vote on important proposals - and earn staking rewards in KNC that come from trading fees. Investors in KNC include #Hashed, Signum Capital, ParaFi Capital, HyperChain Capital. 


## Who Are the Founders of Kyber Network?

Kyber Network began its development in 2017 and is built on top of the [Ethereum](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/) blockchain. The project was founded by Loi Luu, Victor Tran and Yaron Velner, with Vitalik Buterin as an advisor. Kyber Network currently has its headquarters in the British Virgin Islands.

Victor Tran is the current CEO of Kyber Network. He is an experienced backend engineer and Linux system administrator. He was the CTO at Clixy and 24/7 Digital Group as well as a developer for several projects in Vietnam.

Loi Luu is the current Chairman of Kyber Group. He is a blockchain researcher and an advisor for various blockchain projects. He developed Oyente, the first open-source security analyzer for Ethereum smart contracts, and co-founded SmartPool, among other decentralized projects. He also worked on a scaling research project called Elastico, which inspired the design of Zilliqa, a promising scalable blockchain project.

Yaron Velner is the current CEO of B.Protocol, a decentralized backstop liquidity protocol, and was a postdoctoral researcher. Velner stepped down from his CTO position at Kyber in October 2019 but remains as an advisor.

The Kyber team comprises employees from engineering, product, marketing, strategy, and business development, as well as several advisors. According to the official Kyber Network [LinkedIn page](https://www.linkedin.com/company/kybernetwork/), the company has over 50 employees globally.

#### What Makes Kyber Network Unique?

Its multi-chain DEX aggregator and liquidity platform [KyberSwap.com](https://kyberswap.com) gives traders access to the best prices from multiple sources on different blockchains, while allowing liquidity providers to deposit tokens and earn fees with the best capital efficiency and returns.

In 2021, KyberSwap launched the world's first dynamic market maker (DMM) protocol, which reacts to market conditions to provide better capital efficiency and earnings for liquidity providers.

In 2022, their next-gen AMM [Elastic protocol](https://blog.kyber.network/announcing-our-new-kyberswap-protocol-kyberswap-elastic-9cab14259d4a) was launched with concentrated liquidity pools, customizable price ranges, auto-compounding fees, as well as an anti-sniping feature that protects liquidity providers. Together, these protocols help KyberSwap liquidity providers maximize their capital as they can mimic much higher levels of liquidity, achieving better capital efficiency, slippage, and volume. Liquidity providers can earn much more fees relative to their contribution size, while takers can enjoy extremely low slippage on their trades. Liquidity providers can also earn more with yield farming.

For developers, KyberSwap is designed to be developer-friendly. Its protocols can be easily integrated with apps and other blockchain-based protocols for any DeFi use case and possibility. Since no single liquidity protocol can fit the needs of all liquidity providers, takers, and other market participants, KyberSwap’s flexibility allows developers to rapidly innovate and integrate new protocols to cater to different liquidity needs. KyberSwap has been integrated by Dapps such as Coin98 Wallet, Krystal, DEXTools, Kattana Trade, Rome Terminal, Pegaxy, as well as other Aggregators such as 1inch, Paraswap, 0x API, Matcha and Slingshot.

KyberSwap’s ‘Discover’ feature also uses AI and on-chain metrics to identify tokens that are currently trending or may trend in the near future, helping traders make smarter and more informed trading decisions.

In the Kyber ecosystem, KNC token holders play an important role in deciding new growth and value-capture opportunities and incentive mechanisms. Through KyberDAO, KNC holders can participate in governance by voting on important proposals. Kyber's community is sizable and made up of a wide range of developers, in addition to other members of the blossoming DeFi industry.

#### How Many Kyber Network (KNC) Coins Are There in Circulation?

As of Oct 2022, Kyber Network has a total supply of 223.36 Million KNC tokens. Out of this, just over 160 million tokens are in circulation. The KNC token is dynamic, with the KyberDAO having the ability to vote to increase or decrease the supply in order to drive innovation, bootstrap liquidity, and reward early adopters of KyberSwap.

Kyber concluded its initial coin offering (ICO) on September 15, 2017, raising $52 million by selling each KNC token at a price of 0.00166 ETH. According to the official token distribution paper, 61.06% of tokens were sold in the ICO, 19.47% were saved for the founders, advisors and seed investors, and the remaining 19.47% was reserved for the company.

### How Is the Kyber Network Secured?

As an [ERC-20 token](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/erc-20), KNC is built on top of and secured by the Ethereum blockchain. In addition, Kyber uses an extensive trust and security model that protects users from misbehaving administrators or exchanges, thanks to security measures built in both at the protocol and smart contract level.

The KyberSwap and KyberDAO platforms, as well as KNC, have been audited by several third-party security firms and researchers, including [Chainsecurity](https://chainsecurity.com/security-audit/kyberswap-elastic/) and [Hacken](https://hacken.io/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/04042021_Kyber_SC_Audit_Report.pdf), which helped to determine that these various Kyber components are secure.

### Where Can You Buy Kyber Network (KNC)?

KNC tokens can be purchased and traded on a variety of exchange platforms, including prominent names like [Binance](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/binance/), [Coinbase](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/coinbase-exchange/),  [Huobi Global](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/huobi-global/), [KuCoin](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/kucoin/), [OKX](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/okx/), [Kraken](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/kraken/), and [KyberSwap](https://kyberswap.com/). The token is currently listed on more than 20 exchanges and has more than a dozen trading pairs, including [stablecoins](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-a-stablecoin) like [Tether (USDT)](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/tether/) and Binance USD (BUSD). 

If you are looking for a guide on how to buy KNC tokens or other cryptocurrencies using fiat, check out our [detailed guide](https://coinmarketcap.com/how-to-buy-bitcoin/) to get started.

Trust Wallet

MetaMask

Binance Chain Wallet

Kyber Network is a hub of liquidity protocols that aggregates liquidity from various sources to provide secure and instant transactions on any DApp.

Ethereum

Shiba Inu

Chainlink

UNUS SED LEO

Uniswap

DODO

Automata Network

Polygon Ecosystem Token

Bounce Token

Hashflow

dKargo

Node AI

Nexera

ApeX Protocol

Velar

Inscribe

Stader MaticX

Medifakt

Landwolf

Balancer is an automated market maker (AMM) that was developed on the Ethereum blockchain and launched in March 2020. It was able to raise a $3M seed round by Placeholder and Accomplice. Balancer protocol functions as a self-balancing weighted portfolio, price sensor and liquidity provider. It allows users to earn profits through its recently introduced token ($BAL) by contributing to customizable liquidity pools.

To learn more about this project, check out our deep dive of Balancer(https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-balancer.

The protocol operates a few types of pools:

Private pools give the owner governance over the pool, and make the person the sole contributor of liquidity to the pool. Also, all the parameters are mutable by the owner.

Shared pools are for those who want to become liquidity providers (LPs). The LPs are rewarded with the Balancer Pool Tokens (BPTs).

Smart pools are similar to private pools but are controlled by a smart contract. They also reward using BPTs and allow anyone to contribute liquidity to the pool.

Balancer

Bancor is an ecosystem of decentralized, open-source protocols that promote on-chain trading and liquidity.

Its main protocol, Carbon, is a decentralized trading protocol allowing users to perform automated trading strategies using custom on-chain limit orders and range orders, with the option of combining orders together to create automated buy low, sell high strategies.

By design, Carbon orders are irreversible on execution, easily adjustable directly on-chain, and resistant to MEV sandwich attacks. These capabilities give users an unprecedented level of control and automation to perform novel trading strategies on-chain.

Fast Lane, a separate open-source arbitrage protocol, allows any user to perform arbitrage between Bancor ecosystem protocols and external on-chain exchanges and redirect arbitrage profits back to the Bancor ecosystem.

All Bancor ecosystem protocols are governed by the BancorDAO via staked BNT.

Bancor

0x is an infrastructure protocol that allows users to easily trade ERC20 tokens and other assets on the many different blockchains (including Ethereum) without relying on centralized intermediaries. It is a protocol for decentralized exchange.

0x achieves this decentralized exchange functionality using a collection of open-source, publicly auditable smart contracts that work together to produce a flexible, low-friction trading protocol that developers can easily weave into their products.

The protocol is used by companies building web3 apps such as wallets, DEXes, portfolio trackes, and others. It is a used by hundreds of developers for their projects. The protocol has facilitates over $200B in trading volume since its inception. One can track its usage in its dedicated https://explorer.0x.org/.

The protocol is powered by an ERC20 governance token known as ZRX. ZRX holders can participate in protocol governance, having direct power over protocol changes and its community treasury.

0x Protocol

Band Protocol is a cross-chain data oracle platform that is able to take real-world data and supply it to on-chain applications, while also connecting APIs to smart-contracts to facilitate the exchange of information between on-chain and off-chain data sources.

By supplying reputable, verifiable real-world data to blockchains, Band Protocol unlocks a range of new use cases for developers to explore — since they can now use any type of real-world data as part of their decentralized application (DApp) logic, including sports, weather, random numbers, price feed data and more.

Band Protocol initially launched as an ERC-20 project on the Ethereum blockchain in September 2019, but transitioned to the Cosmos network in June 2020 with the release of Band Protocol 2.0. The new protocol is built on BandChain using the Cosmos SDK. Oracle nodes on BandChain not only relay data but are also involved in block production/validation, giving them a dual role.

BAND is the native token of the Band Protocol ecosystem and is used as collateral by validators involved in fulfilling data requests, as well as the main medium of exchange on BandChain — being used to paying for private data.

Band Protocol

UMA was founded in 2018 by Allison Lu and Hart Lambur, two ex Goldman Sachs traders, with the goal of making global markets universally fair, accessible, secure and decentralized.

The team drew inspiration from traditional finance derivatives to define an open-source protocol to allow anyone, anywhere, to design and build trustless financial contracts.

Curve is a decentralized exchange for stablecoins that uses an automated market maker (AMM) to manage liquidity.

Launched in January 2020, Curve is now synonymous with the decentralized finance (DeFi) phenomenon, and has seen significant growth in the second half of 2020.

In August, Curve launched a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), with CRV as its in-house token. The DAO uses Ethereum-based creation tool Aragon to connect multiple smart contracts used for users’ deposited liquidity. Issues such as governance, however, differ from Aragon in their weighting and other respects.

Curve DAO Token

Storj, pronounced as “storage,” is an open-source cloud storage platform. Basically, it uses a decentralized network of nodes to host user data. The platform also secures hosted data using advanced encryption.

In a white paper published in December,2014, Storj was first introduced to the world as a concept. It was to be a decentralized peer-to-peer encrypted cloud storage platform.

Two years later, an updated white paper was published. Here, a decentralized network  — connecting users who need cloud storage space with those who have hard drive space to sell — was described. The platform was launched in late 2018.

People with hard drive space and good internet connectivity can participate in the network. They become a unit in the network, called a node. Space providers are rewarded by Storj tokens.

Storj

Compound is a DeFi lending protocol that allows users to earn interest on their cryptocurrencies by depositing them into one of several pools supported by the platform.

To learn more about this project, check out our deep dive of Compound.

When a user deposits tokens to a Compound pool, they receive cTokens in return. These cTokens represent the individual’s stake in the pool and can be used to redeem the underlying cryptocurrency initially deposited into the pool at any time. For example, by depositing ETH into a pool, you will receive cETH in return. Over time, the exchange rate of these cTokens to the underlying asset increases, which means you can redeem them for more of the underlying asset than you initially put in — this is how the interest is distributed.

On the flip side, borrowers can take a secured loan from any Compound pool by depositing collateral. The maximum loan-to-value (LTV) ratio varies based on the collateral asset, but currently ranges from 50 to 75%. The interest rate paid varies by borrowed asset and borrowers can face automatic liquidation if their collateral falls below a specific maintenance threshold.

Since the launch of the Compound mainnet in September 2018, the platform has skyrocketed in popularity, and recently passed more than $800 million in total locked value.

Compound

LRC is the Ethereum-based cryptocurrency token of Loopring, an open protocol designed for the building of decentralized crypto exchanges.

In 2020, the average daily trading volume of the entire cryptocurrency market fluctuated in the approximate range of $50-$200 million. Most of that trading is conducted on centralized cryptocurrency exchanges — online platforms operated by private companies that store users’ funds and facilitate the matching of buy and sell orders.

Such platforms have a number of downsides common to all of them, so a new type of exchange — decentralized— has emerged to try to alleviate these disadvantages. However, fully decentralized exchanges are not without their own flaws.

Loopring’s purported goal is to combine centralized order matching with decentralized on-blockchain order settlement into a hybridized product that will take the best aspects of both centralized and decentralized exchanges.

LRC tokens became available to the public during an initial coin offering (ICO) in August 2017, while the Loopring protocol was first deployed on Ethereum mainnet in December 2019.

Loopring

Mask Network is a protocol that allows its users to send encrypted messages over Twitter and Facebook. It essentially acts as a bridge between the internet and a decentralized network running on top.

Mask Network was initially launched in July 2019, with its first use case of allowing Facebook and Twitter users to encrypt posts on the social media platforms. It then raised $2 million in a funding round in November 2020, co-led by HashKey and Hash Global, and a further $3 million funding round in February 2021 with participation from Digital Currency Group and Fundamental Labs.

Now, Mask Network offers the ability to fund Gitcoin grant campaigns directly from Twitter, as well as plans to offer peer-to-peer payments and decentralized storage functionality. It is a decentralized portal that also allows users to use DApps like crypto payments, decentralized finance, decentralized storage, e-commerce (digital goods/NFTs) and decentralized organizations (DAO) over the top of existing social networks without migrating, creating what is referred to as a decentralized Applet (DApplet) ecosystem.

Mask Network

Convex Finance is a DeFi protocol that allows Curve liquidity providersto earn a share of trading fees on Curve without staking liquidity there. Instead, LPs can stake with Convex and receive boosted CRV and liquidity mining rewards. This provides CRV stakers with better capital efficiency and positions Convex Finance as an important player in the Curve wars.

Convex has entered a competitive race to obtain as much control as possible of the Curve Finance stablecoin exchange. The more CRV tokens a protocol has, the more influence it has over interest rates on Curve, which is the largest DEX in the world by TVL. Consequently, the “Curve wars” are an ongoing race for influence over what is probably the most important protocol in DeFi.

Convex Finance

SKALE, described as a modular blockchain network, is designed to bring scalability to Ethereum. SKALE is the only blockchain network capable of running an unlimited number of fast, on-demand, pooled-security Blockchains with zero gas fees to end users. These individual chains are known as SKALE chains and can be dapp-specific or shared.

The project’s website says it wants to enable people to build and run DApps in a “decentralized modular cloud built for real-world needs and configured for your requirements.” This emphasis on decentralization isn’t at the expense of security.

According to SKALE, those who build on this platform can run Solidity smart contracts “thousands of times faster at a fraction of the mainnet cost” — with games and content streaming services among the projects that already take advantage of its infrastructure.

SKALE

Launched in 2017, Livepeer is the first live video streaming network protocol that is fully decentralized. The platform aims to become a viable blockchain-based, economically efficient alternative to centralized broadcasting solutions for all new and existing broadcaster companies.

To learn more about this project, check out our deep dive of Livepeer.

As stated in the official Livepeer whitepaper, the live video streaming and broadcasting industry is growing at a rapid pace, and the company is looking to ride this wave and introduce decentralization to the environment. Livepeer aims to streamline the broadcasting process by allowing producers to submit their work on the platform, taking care of reformatting and distributing the content to users and streaming platforms.

Livepeer

OMG Network, formerly known as OmiseGo, is a non-custodial, layer-2 scaling solution built for the Ethereum blockchain. As an Ethereum scaling solution, OMG Network is designed to allow users to transfer ETH and ERC20 tokens significantly faster and cheaper than when transacting directly on the Ethereum network.

The network is based on a novel scaling solution called MoreViable Plasma, which uses a sidechain architecture to group several transactions off-chain into a batch, which can then be verified as a single transaction on the Ethereum root chain. According to OMG Network, this technology has the potential to scale Ethereum to thousands of transactions per second (TPS) — instead of the 10 to 14 tps Ethereum 1.0 is currently capable of.

The network is powered by the OMG utility token, which can be used as one of the payment methods for fees on the OMG Network, and will eventually be stakable — helping to secure the network in return for rewards.

OMG Network

Metal DAO

Synthetix is building a decentralized liquidity provisioning protocol that any protocol can tap into for various purposes. Its deep liquidity and low fees serve as a backend for many exciting protocols on both Optimism and Ethereum. Many user-facing protocols in the Synthetix ecosystem, such as Kwenta (Spot and Futures), Lyra (Options), Polynomial (Automated Options), and 1inch & Curve (Atomic Swaps), tap into Synthetix liquidity to power their protocols. Synthetix is built on Optimism and Ethereum mainnet. The Synthetix Network is collateralized by SNX, ETH, and LUSD, enabling the issuance of synthetic assets (Synths). Synths track and provide returns on the underlying asset without requiring one to directly hold the asset. This pooled collateral enables an array of on-chain, composable financial instruments backed by liquidity from Synthetix. Some of the most exciting upcoming releases from SNX are Perps V2, which hopes to enable low-fee on-chain futures trading through the usage of off-chain oracles, and Synthetix V3, which aims to rebuild the protocol to achieve its earliest goal, being a fully permissionless derivatives protocol. Learn more about Synthetix on their blog or by joining the SNX Discord.

The platform aims to broaden the cryptocurrency space by introducing non-blockchain assets, providing access to a more robust financial market.

Synthetix

Celo is a carbon-negative, permissionless, blockchain with a rich ecosystem of global partners building innovative Web3 dapps to support a more inclusive financial system. Accessible to anyone with a mobile phone, the Celo ecosystem consists of a decentralized, proof-of-stake blockchain technology stack (the Celo platform), CELO governance asset, and several Mento stable assets (cUSD, cEUR, cREAL) that allow for real-world users to use digital assets. The open source Celo mainnet launched on Earth Day 2020.  The Celo community passed an indicative on-chain governance proposal (temperature check) to have Celo migrate to an Ethereum layer-2.  Google Cloud, Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica, and many others run validators on the Celo Platform.  Today, the Platform supports 1,000+ projects in over 150 countries are building on Celo to, helping to create the conditions of prosperity for all.  For more information, please visit Celo.org.

Celo

Ren (REN) is an open protocol built to provide interoperability and liquidity between different blockchain platforms.

To learn more about this project, check out our deep dive of Ren.

Formerly known as Republic Protocol, Ren launched RenVM, its virtual machine mainnet, in May 2020, having completed a $34 million initial coin offering (ICO) in 2018.

The protocol’s native token, REN, functions as a bond for those running nodes which power RenVM, known as Darknodes.

Ren aims to expand the interoperability, and hence accessibility, of decentralized finance (DeFi) by removing hurdles involved in liquidity between blockchains.

Ontology is a project designed to bring trust, privacy, and security to Web3 through decentralized identity and data solutions. It is building the infrastructure to provide trusted access to Web3, allowing individuals and enterprises to rest assured that through regulatory compliant digital identity solutions, users and their privacy come first.

The Ontology blockchain is a high speed, low cost public blockchain. It is designed to bring decentralized identity and data solutions to Web3, with the goal of increasing privacy, transparency, and trust. To achieve this, users and enterprises are provided with the flexibility to build blockchain-based solutions that suit their needs, while also ensuring regulatory compliance. Through Ontology’s Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), Ontology ensures frictionless compatibility with Ethereum, the first step in the creation of the Ontology Multi-Virtual Machine and further interoperability for the chain.

At its launch, Ontology chose to forego the popular initial coin offering (ICO) model in favor of a series of community distributions and airdrops of its ONT cryptocurrency.

This helped to quickly establish both organic price discovery and a passionate community and helped the project to avoid subsequent regulatory scrutiny.

For example, for a brief period any person who signed up for the Ontology newsletter received an airdrop of free 1,000 ONT, which reached a value of $10 per token soon after the token became listed on major exchanges like Binance.

Ontology launched its own MainNet on June 30, 2018 and has been up and running smoothly since.