Initial DEX Offerings Are All the Rage in Crypto – Here Are Seven To Watch
Initial DEX Offerings Are All the Rage in Crypto – Here Are Seven To Watch Pixabay

Over the years, crypto entrepreneurs have found many ways to get their tokens onto the market. In 2017 and 2018, the initial coin offering (ICO) offered direct sales to investors, but a lack of subsequent exchange listings meant many projects died due to a lack of liquidity. The next evolution was the initial exchange offering (IEO,) where a project and an exchange partner were up for a sale and subsequent listing.

Now with the DeF i and NFT rage, decentralized exchanges are starting to rival the liquidity and huge user bases of their centralized counterparts, the initial DEX offering (IDO) has become the token vehicle of choice for many projects . The IDO comes with several advantages, mainly that they offer immediate, permissionless access to listings without high fees.

For these reasons, even though the IDO is still a relatively new mechanism, many projects are now flocking to DEXs to launch their tokens. Here are a batch of seven IDOs worth keeping an eye on this summer.

Virtue Poker

Virtue Poker has some impressive longevity in a sector that’s known for moving fast and breaking things. The project was one of the first in the ConsenSys portfolio when the incubator started life in 2016 and still has ConsenSys CEO and Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin on its advisory board.

The project uses blockchain to overcome many challenges associated with legacy poker platforms, including introducing provably fair play and non-custodial gamer account balances. Virtue Poker is also the first blockchain game to become licensed, thanks to its stamp of approval from the Malta Gaming Authority.

Now, the project is teaming up with SuperFarm to launch its token on the SuperStarter platform. The partnership will also see Virtue Poker introduce non-fungible tokens into its gameplay, making this one IDO worth watching this summer.

DeFire

The Cardano platform, brainchild of Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson, has spent many years in development. However, it’s set to enter the next step on its journey to becoming fully operational with the deployment of smart contract capabilities. DeFire is a decentralized finance platform for Cardano, offering optimal execution services across DEXs.

It will be the first platform to support Cardano native token swaps and is powered by Changelly’s market-leading cross-chain swap infrastructure.

DeFire has been incubated by the same team building the OccamRazer platform, a complete launchpad for the Cardano ecosystem. In mid-May, deFire successfully secured $5 million in an initial funding round which included participation from Morningstar, SwissBorg Ventures, Cryptodrop Fund, and many more. It will now launch the IDO for the deFire cWAP token on the OccamRazer launchpad.

Revuto

Like deFire, Revuto is also gearing up in readiness for Cardano’s smart contract functionality. Revuto is a subscription manager that aims to help everyday consumers become more cost-efficient. Many of us may have been surprised to discover a transaction on our credit card bill for a long-forgotten subscription.

The project aims to overcome this with a solution that protects from undisclosed fees, avoids the trappings of a “free” trial, and saves time by simplifying the subscription process. Effectively, the user has full control over how and when they wish to pay for their subscription services, avoiding any of those nasty surprises.

Revuto recently concluded a $1.7 million private sale led by BlackDragon VC. The project will now launch an initial sale of its REVU tokens, following which it will establish partnerships with DEXs as they start to become live on the Cardano mainnet.

Shield Finance

As DeFi exploded in popularity during 2020, many enthusiastic adopters of new protocols ended up with some nasty surprises in the form of smart contract bugs. These bugs open back doors in DeFi protocols, allowing malicious parties to drain funds from honest users.

As a result, several projects have attempted to fill the gap with decentralized insurance protocols, which work similarly to a mutual fund. Against the backdrop of an ecosystem now expanding to many different platforms, Shield Finance is aiming to streamline the process of selecting DeFi insurance. Operating as a kind of “Skyscanner,” it’s a multi-platform aggregator pooling offerings from the Ethereum, Polkadot, Solana, and Binance Smart Chain DeFi ecosystems.

Fresh out of a funding round that drew $780,000 from investors, Shield Finance is now set to launch its native $SHLD token. In May, the project will undergo a public sale via Paid Network’s Ignition Launchpad.

Formation Finance

One of the biggest drivers in the growth of DeFi over the last year or so is the concept of yield farming. Cryptocurrency users lend their tokens to pools either for borrowing or to provide liquidity for exchanges, and in return, they receive new tokens as rewards. It sounds easy, but it involves high risk and demands significant time and attention from users continually pursuing the best returns.

Formation Finance has developed a decentralized risk parity portfolio allocation strategy similar to those used by hedge funds. However, in this case, assets are allocated their position in a portfolio by an algorithm.

Formation’s algorithm deposits tokens in various pools according to the optimal balance of risks and returns. The user can track their balances via a simple index token, which they receive when they deposit their funds into the Formation protocol.

After successfully closing a $3.3 million investment round, Formation Finance has now confirmed it will launch its token sale via an IDO in June.

MakiSwap

MakiSwap is among the first projects to go live on UniLayer, a multi-chain decentralized trading platform covering the Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Huobi Eco Chain (HECO), and Polkadot. MakiSwap brings the same decentralized exchange, automated market making, and yield farming features of Uniswap to the all-new DeFi ecosystem currently being nurtured on HECO.

In contrast to its DEX competitors on other chains, MakiSwap aims to offer users trading tools more commonly found on centralized exchanges, including limit orders and stop-loss orders. It could well be a move that prompts a shift towards a more professionalized trading experience on DEXs.

MakiSwap has already been through a successful funding round, raising $1.4 million from Inclusion Capital, Polygon Network, QCP Capital, and others. Following an airdrop to holders of UniLayer’s LAYER tokens in early May, the project is now set for a full public launch of its MAKI tokens. Those who stake into core MAKI token pools on the MakiSwap exchange will also be eligible for additional rewards.

Moma Protocol

The DeFi model is characterized by decentralized governance, where token holders vote on proposals that affect the protocol. In the case of lending markets, these decisions usually include which tokens to support.

Moma Protocol believes that this process is hampering the potential for scalability, liquidity, and speculation in the DeFi lending markets. Furthermore, the project believes it has a more democratic solution to the challenge - by allowing anyone to create, manage, accelerate, and aggregate lending markets on its protocol.

In doing so, Moma aims to tap into the “long tail” of the token markets, the smaller-cap tokens for which it will create new channels for generating volume and demand.

Moma recently closed a seed round led by Fundamental Labs and SevenX Ventures, which raised $2.25 million in funding. The project is now starting its IDO on the launchpad platform Genesis Shards.