0x (ZRX -2.83%) is a decentralized exchange infrastructure. It enables users to trade crypto tokens across multiple blockchains, and it searches different exchanges to find the best deal on each transaction. ZRX is its native cryptocurrency and utility token, and token holders can vote on project proposals.
The 0x team has managed to attract some big backers, including crypto exchange Coinbase Global (COIN +4.51%) and NFT marketplace OpenSea, both of which invested in it in April 2022. In this guide, we'll go into more detail about how the 0x protocol works.
What makes 0x unique?
0x works with the long and growing list of decentralized crypto exchanges powering the decentralized finance (DeFi) industry. These exchanges offer peer-to-peer cryptocurrency trading, with most of them setting their prices using smart contracts. They're also open to anyone. You only need to connect a crypto wallet to use them, and no registration or personal information is required.
The difficult part for crypto traders is that there are quite a few decentralized exchanges out there, and prices can vary. It would be impossible to compare prices at all of them manually to ensure you're getting the best deal.
Fortunately, 0x does that for you. It's a liquidity aggregator that compares prices on all the major decentralized exchanges. Through its crypto trading platform, Matcha, you can enter your desired trade, and Matcha will then fetch the best price available.
It can even split up your order among multiple exchanges. For example, if the best option is to divide your order between two decentralized exchanges, such as Uniswap (UNI +0.07%) and SushiSwap (SUSHI +1.11%), 0x will do that.
Since 0x is an open-source project, anyone can use it or its code. That includes individual users, crypto exchanges, and developers, who can use it to build another application.
Where 0x came from
Will Warren and Amir Bandeali started working on 0x in 2016 and published its white paper on Feb. 22, 2017. They held an initial coin offering (ICO) on Aug. 15, 2017, to sell 500 million ZRX tokens (half of the total supply). The ICO sold out in 24 hours and raised $24 million.
The 0x team has expanded since then, but Warren and Bandeali are still with the project. Warren is the CEO, and Bandeali is the CTO. The team launched 0x Labs on June 22, 2020, with the aim of building a healthy business on top of 0x.
How to buy 0x
Many crypto exchanges have listed 0x, so it's not hard to find. Here are a few of the most popular places to buy 0x:
The 0x team deserves credit for identifying a market need before it became obvious. They started developing 0x well before the DeFi boom happened. Because of that and the quality of the project, 0x has become one of the most widely used liquidity aggregators.
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