I was introduced to the Stakenet DEX through Reddit while researching the Raiden Network and that projects attempt to reduce Ethereum transaction fees. While the DEX hasn’t yet integrated ERC20 token trading over the Raiden Network, it does seem to be getting closer; for the time being, the open beta has trading for XSN to Bitcoin and Litecoin to Bitcoin over the lighting network. If you want a quick intro to the DEX architecture, they put together a ~6-minute video here. Anyway, here are my thoughts on some aspects of the project

The Team

The team seems to have the skill set necessary to build the DEX, sporting a senior engineer who worked on Divi plus an engineer who works at IOHK. The one thing that bugs me is the lack of some sort of community relations team member; I know this is a DEX, but relying entirely on word of mouth for advertisement seems dangerous. To be fair though, their community has become pretty vocal supporters of the project and has essentially acted as a distributed version of that team member; most notably getting it, somewhat, talked about in a live QA hosted by Anton. UX also doesn't seem to be a strong point of the team, as some are pointing out features on the discord that are a bit convoluted to use. None of these gaps that I'm noticing cripple the team's capability, they just result in situations that are addressed post-release instead of pre-release.

The Usability of the DEX

The DEX doesn’t sport the same versatility as Uniswap in that it is in a desktop application paired with a lightning capable wallet (you can’t bring your wallet, only your coin); however, this could have been a design necessity due to how the lightning and Raiden network integration works between the DEX and the wallet. Other than that, the DEX is fairly versatile; sporting an exchange interface vs the simplified interfaces used by DEXs like Uniswap and 1inch. While this does increase the complexity of the DEX, the team is working on creating an additional DEX interface that mimics the simplicity of the aforementioned exchanges. An additional reason for replicating that may be due to the initial complexity/confusion in making swaps using lightning channels; while it may only amount to a few extra clicks before you can go to the DEX and place an order, it's a recurring bit of complexity that can be abstracted away; something the team will have done once they finish the simplified interface. The DEX being in beta means there are still some customary features that are missing such as additional currencies and the setting of a pin or password to access your wallet when opening the DEX desktop application.

The DEX Benefits

The savings that the DEX promises, between its use of the lightning network and the Raiden network, could allow traders below a certain income threshold (me included) to start trading again. Right now, with the highs that Ethereum fees have reached, low-income traders are essentially locked out of trading unless it's buying an ERC20 through a CEX and keeping it there. With most of the valuable and gain-achieving ERC20 tokens listed on DEXs and not CEXs, low-income traders are essentially cut off from 50%+ of the market and stuck with a portion of it that is more day-trading than investing. While the Stakenet DEX won’t solve this entire problem in one go*, it can solve a large portion of it.

As much as I’ve praised the DEX, I have to concede that there are features that I would have preferred to see included. The capability to bring your wallet and a simpler interface would have made the project golden; but with existing wallets incapable of using the lightning and Raiden networks, I can see why they had to opt against the first; the second is being worked on during beta, so I guess I can’t complain too much there either. After all this, I threw $50 into XSN; but I’d recommend you do your own research first.

Have any thoughts about the project? Noticed a point I missed? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

*You still incur fees from moving your existing coins (in either wallet or exchange) to the Stakenet DEX wallet. Until all other wallets and CEX wallets integrate with Raiden and lightning this other part of the problem could also possibly keep out low-income traders.