Gal Gadot. Source: NBC News
AdaSwap – one of Cardano’s first decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols – recently raised $2.6M to build a new decentralized exchange (DEX) native to the developing blockchain. Funding was led by iAngels – a female-led Venture Capital firm – and included nine other leading VCs such as Shima Capital, Pluto Digital, and Coti.
Even the producer, model, and actress Gal Gadot, alongside producer Jaron Varsano, have taken part in the round.
The AdaSwap DEX will allow users to swap Cardano native tokens and stablecoins, without relying on centralized exchanges. Its function will be similar to Uniswap, which is currently the most popular decentralized exchange on Ethereum by trading volume.
According to a press release shared with CryptoPotato, AdaSwap will “go hand in hand” with some of AdaSwap’s other protocols, including an upcoming NFT marketplace. The DEX will also reportedly include Defi capabilities, such as staking coins and earning interest from “long term” and “high yield” liquidity pools.
Various functions in the DEX ecosystem will be powered by its own native crypto token, ASW. This token can be freely exchanged for other tokens in the DEX, and transactions with it will be free of fees.
In a statement, the iAngels team said they invested in AdaSwap because they believe DeFi will bring “financial freedom and democratization to the masses”. Meanwhile, producers Gadot and Varsano called their investment an “exciting opportunity in the crypto space”.
“This is one of our first and greatest accomplishments towards building a new financial ecosystem that will have a great impact on our world,” said AdaSwap co-founder Itay Levy in a statement. “The AdaSwap team is really excited to move forward with our project backed by the best investors from both technical and commercial backgrounds.”
AdaSwap does not currently have a price listed on price trackers like CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko. ADA, however – the native cryptocurrency of Cardano – is the 9th largest crypto right now, and has a $30 billion market cap.
Cardano launched smart contracts on its platform in September. Though ADA’s price hasn’t performed well since their activation, they greatly expand the capabilities of Cardano and allow for DeFi applications like those that AdaSwap provides.
In fact, IOHK has been partnered with Chainlink for months, allowing for oracle data to be integrated into Cardano’s smart contract systems.
Featured Image Courtesy Of NBC News