Trading is now live on Karura Swap, the First Decentralized Exchange in the Polkadot & Kusama Ecosystem

Published in

Acala

5 min readJul 23, 2021

**KSM/KAR Trading Is Now Live on Karura Swap.**

Today, we’re thrilled to announce the launch of Karura Swap and the first trustless trading pair: KSM/KAR. Get started on trading on the Karura apps.

As the first decentralized exchange in the ecosystem, Karura Swap has opened trading for the KSM/KAR pair, which currently has $3,410,992.00 in Total Value Locked thanks to Karura Swap’s “Bootstrap” mechanism.

Total Value Locked: $3,410,992.00
Initial Liquidity for KSM: 9.7k KSM
Initial Liquidity for KAR: 433k KAR
Unique liquidity contributions: 1000+
Opening exchange rate for KSM/KAR: 1KAR : 0.0225KSM

This is the first time KSM has been traded trustlessly on a decentralized exchange. What’s more, transaction fees on Karura can now be paid in KSM thanks to the Bring Your Own Gas feature and the liquidity of the KSM/KAR pair.

If you contributed as a liquidity provider, you may now claim your LP tokens at the following link: https://apps.karura.network/swap/bootstrap

Read on for more information on Karura’s launch and the Karura Swap “Bootstrap” feature.

Launching Karura

It’s been one month since Karura won the first parachain slot on Kusama with over 501,000 KSM contributed to its community-backed crowdloan — and without question, DeFi enthusiasts old and new are eager to gain full access to the network’s customized protocols, including the kUSD stablecoin, the LKSM liquid staking derivative, and the AMM-style DEX with the first trustless trading pairs and liquidity providing initiatives in the Polkadot and Kusama ecosystem.

With the 48-week network lease secured, the team set into motion its launch roadmap, a strategic process of bringing Karura’s customized DeFi protocols online to complement and inform each aspect of a healthy and scalable network.

Today we’ve enabled Karura Swap and its first trustless trading pair: KSM/KAR.

With accessible KSM/KAR liquidity on Karura, users may now put their KSM to work, trustlessly swap, and prepare for the fast-approaching kUSD stablecoin loans, LKSM liquid staking, and liquidity mining programs.

Better Liquidity with “Bootstrap”

One novel feature of Karura Swap is the ability to launch a trading pair in “Bootstrap” mode, a brief warm-up period that encourages a pool to achieve adequate liquidity while working to prevent frontrunning and market manipulation. With “Bootstrap,” Karura aims to empower trustless trading at fair market rate to reflect the tenets of equitable and open finance for all.

On Karura, any given trading pair can be launched in the optional Bootstrap mode, which then invites users to secure a share of the pool and provide liquidity via one token, or with both tokens in the trading pair. During bootstrap mode, trading is temporarily disabled for a specific time period until the predetermined liquidity requirements are met. Once the bootstrap period is complete, the exchange rate is made public and trading is enabled on Karura Swap.

Enabling Bootstrap for KSM/KAR

The first example of Bootstrap was observed with Karura Swap’s inaugural trading pair: KSM/KAR. With this unique Karura feature turned on at launch, the pair was able to successfully reach its liquidity goal while allowing for the market to determine an accurate exchange rate.

Here’s how it worked:

Bootstrap was enabled on KSM/KAR during block #174245 and scheduled to close at block number #183,600 (a 36-hour period estimated to end on July 23, 2021).
The liquidity requirements were set to either 1000 KSM or 100,000 KAR.
Users were invited to contribute liquidity for KSM only, KAR only, or a combination of both KSM and KAR, in step with leading AMM-style DEXs.
At the time of contribution, liquidity providers were allocated a number of LP tokens, and indicative LP shares of the pool, which automatically adjusted as more liquidity was added.
During the entirety of the bootstrap period, no KSM or KAR trading was allowed. This ensured that the exchange rate was accurately consolidated.

KSM/KAR is now live on Karura Swap

With KAR/KSM on Karura Swap, users can now participate in trustless trading, provide liquidity to Karura Swap, and prepare for the next releases from the launch roadmap, including kUSD, Liquid KSM Lite, and KAR liquidity mining.

To get started with these DeFi initiatives, move your Kusama (KSM) to Karura (see guide), and be among the first to swap, borrow, lend, earn, and more — all with micro gas fees.

Want to learn more about Karura’s all-in-one DeFi hub?

Join the community on Discord! Meet fellow DeFi and Web3 enthusiasts, and attend weekly calls for a live team update on Karura’s launch progress.

About Karura

Karura is the all-in-one DeFi hub of Kusama. Founded by the Acala Foundation, Karura is a scalable, EVM-compatible network optimized for DeFi. The platform offers a suite of financial applications including: a trustless staking derivative (liquid KSM), a multi-collateralized stablecoin backed by cross-chain assets (kUSD), and an AMM DEX — all with micro gas fees that can be paid in any token. Karura is a blockchain platform custom-built for DeFi and powered by KAR, which enables settlement for transactions and smart contract execution, incentivizes node operators, and empowers its holders to participate in governance.

About Acala

Acala is an all-in-one decentralized finance network offering a blockchain platform secured by Polkadot, as well as a suite of cross-chain financial applications that let users trade, issue self-serviced loans, become liquidity providers, access trustless staking derivatives (liquid DOT — LDOT), and earn high-interest APY on their digital assets. The network is scalable, Ethereum-compatible, and optimized for DeFi.

Acala was founded in Oct 2019, has received several Web3 Foundation grants, has backing from Coinbase Ventures, Pantera Capital, Polychain Capital, Digital Currency Group, Arrington XRP Capital, and other top firms, and has a distributed team in New Zealand, China, Europe, Brazil, and the United States. As an open platform, Acala enables finance-oriented dApps to deploy for using smart contracts or built-in protocols with out-of-box cross-chain capabilities, security, and financial optimizations.