THORSwap V2

THORSwap, Thorchain’s main decentralized exchange (DEX), has launched the closed beta phase of its V2. 

Under the hood, the new version features integration with the Terra network and improvements for trading with ERC-20 tokens. Furthermore, the project improves one of the biggest barriers for new cryptocurrency users: the user experience, or UX.

Thorswap – the new version

Pictures are worth a thousand words. Below, you can check the current interface from THORSwap:

The new version goes ‘straight to the point’, displaying the liquidity pools and clearing the sidebar, leaving only clear options:

It should be noted that it is possible to customize the information available on the home screen, such as the total amount allocated to TVL, the most used pools, etc.

Another interesting point is the presence of a summary of rates in the upper left corner. Since Thorchain is used to exchange native assets, the costs of each network are important information.

Thorchain and native token swap

Thorchain is currently the most advanced project within the decentralized finance (DeFi) environment in the pursuit of native asset exchanges.

In plain English, the most popular model of interoperability between blockchains today is through synthetic assets. To use BTC on the ETH network, it is necessary to issue a synthetic token, which in this case is Wrapped BTC (WBTC).

In the case of Thorchain, platforms like THORSwap allow trading between native assets. In other words: whoever arrives with BTC and wants to leave with ETH, does not leave with synthetic tokens, but with native ETH.

“B-But how is that possible?”, you ask me. Well, I’ll try to explain this complicated process in a simple way.

Summary of how it works

Thorchain communicates with other blockchains through a system called Bifrost. Bifrost is composed like this: each Thorchain node has a node in each network where there are pools. This means that if Thorchain offers exchanges between 40 different native assets, your nodes will have other nodes on 40 different blockchains.

The swap process, for the user, consists of placing the native token he wants to exchange and the native token he wants to receive. But behind the scenes, it goes like this:

• Let’s say 1 BTC is worth 13 ETH, and a user wants to make that exact exchange: arrive with 1 BTC and leave with 13 ETH. Then, he informs within the platform a BTC and an ETH wallet;
• In practice, what happens is: it sends BTC to a Thorchain address, and the transaction must be approved by 2/3 of the network nodes. Meanwhile, it is pending;
• This is where Bifrost acts as it is checking the BTC blockchain information and sending it to Thorchain;
• After the transaction is approved, the exchange is communicated to the rest of the Thorchain network. The ETH that the user will receive at the other end, in his ETH wallet, will come out of the pools of the decentralized exchange;
• Now, Bifrost does the ETH exit process, communicating the transaction to the ETH network. The user receives the 13 ETH in his wallet.

I’ll leave out the security explanations involving RUNE tokens for now. Who knows, maybe a detailed guide will come out in the near future?

Conclusion

Despite the explanations, keep in mind that the Thorchain project has already had its security flaws exploited 3 times in 2021. Audits were made after the breaches were discovered, and nothing has happened since. In any case, keep in mind that the project has its risks.

That’s it, folks. With this THORSwap V2, we see that DeFi projects are trying to make applications more investor-friendly. I hope this becomes a rule, I can’t stand messing with an ugly interface anymore.

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