Last updated a month ago
Liquidity on Cardano is fragmented. DEXs are not interoperable. New order book DEXs are coming online that permit more efficient limit orders that can be execute across DEXs.
We propose building and running a global batcher that actively finds limit orders and liquidity sources to ensure more efficient markets.
Please provide your proposal title
SteelSwap: Global Batcher
Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA
200000
Please specify how many months you expect your project to last
6
Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated
No
Original Language
en
What is the problem you want to solve?
Liquidity on Cardano is fragmented. DEXs are not interoperable. New order book DEXs are coming online that permit more efficient limit orders that can be execute across DEXs.
Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?
No
Describe any dependencies or write 'No dependencies'
No Dependencies
Will your project's outputs be fully open source?
Yes
Please provide details on the intellectual property (IP) status of your project outputs, including whether they will be released as open source or retained under another licence.
The foundation of this project will be built on open source tools maintained by the SteelSwap team, and the SteelSwap team will release the order matching code under the MIT license. This will not only allow anyone to use the code, but also modify it and use it for other commercial endeavors. In addition to this, the batcher will be packaged to make it easy to operate.
Please choose the most relevant theme and tag related to the outcomes of your proposal
DEX
Describe what makes your idea innovative compared to what has been previously launched in the market (whether by you or others).
The Idea: Create an open source, global batcher that matches peer to peer and permissionless protocols to actively fill orders and improve protocol interoperability.
Decentralized finance (DeFi) interoperability on Cardano is low. Aggregators are one of the few examples of interoperable functionality, where a single interface can coordinate orders to multiple decentralized exchanges (DEXs). However, DEX aggregators only submit orders to different DEXs, but orders submitted to one DEX cannot be executed on other DEXs even if another DEX has a better price. Thus, DEX interoperability is nearly non-existent, and this is bad for both traders (because they do not get the best price) and liquidity providers (because they do not get additional volume).
Among the DEX aggregators, SteelSwap has been an innovator in the space through its addition of swap hops (the ability to fill an order on one DEX and feed it into another DEX) and swap routing (trading through multiple pools to improve outputs). Even with SteelSwaps drive to increase DEX interoperability, the process is still passive in that it requires a trader to request swaps rather than discovering open orders that could be matched.
Most DEX liquidity pools are not interoperable, but some like Genius Yield and Splash are. However, there are new protocols coming online such as Cardano Swaps (aka the DeFi Kernel) and Wizardry that are peer to peer and/or permissionless. The problem is that most order books are stagnant unless there is an active matching service (or a batcher) that finds matches and fills them.
Our idea is innovative in that the focus is on creating a more efficient market, that benefits traders who want to place limit orders that can be filled against other sources of liquidity even if the orders are in a different protocol.
Describe what your prototype or MVP will demonstrate, and where it can be accessed.
The MVP will be an open source batcher that matches liquidity from multiple sources in a single transaction. The code will be publicly available under the highly permissable MIT license so that anyone can use the code as is or take parts of it to build other private products off of, helping to fulfill the ultimate goal of improved interoperability and more efficient markets. In addition to this, the MVP will also be packaged as a docker container that can be run with a BlockFrost API key.
The requirements to run this will be:
Describe realistic measures of success, ideally with on-chain metrics.
Success of this will be measured by assessing number of transactions executed by the global batchers. This can be measured through inclusion of metadata that can be tracked.
We also request that protocols that re-use code attribute our repository, but due to the MIT license it is not a requirement.
Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem
Our solution is to create an open source global batcher that matches all permissionless sources of liquidity. By bridging sources of liquidity we help to increase the drive for protocol interoperability and improve market efficiency.
Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community
This project will ultimately increase the total number of transations on Cardano, helping the broaders Cardano community by improving Cardano's metrics.
This will create a decentralized batcher network, which will support permissionless DEXs and protocols by bridging liquidity across them.
What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?
We are the builders of SteelSwap, the most advanced Cardano DEX aggregator. We do not only submit orders to individual protocols, but we also have advanced functionality that allows for protocol interoperability not found in any other aggregator. We have swap hops, which allow us to fill an order through a permissionless order book and immediately send it to a permissioned DEX. We also have swap order routing for permissionless DEXs (i.e. Splash) that allow us to route orders through multiple pools if the outputs are better than doing a direct swap.
Milestone Title
Project Requirements and Planning
Milestone Outputs
Acceptance Criteria
Evidence of Completion
A Google Doc that shows completion of the acceptance criteria. The list of participating permissionless protocols should be documented, and if excluded there should be an explanation for why they are not included. A feasibility analysis will be included to describe the work involved to incorporate the protocol.
Delivery Month
1
Cost
40000
Progress
20 %
Milestone Title
Protocol Indexing
Milestone Outputs
Index all protocols that will be included, creating a global order book (for order book DEXs) and capturing the state of individual pools for automated market makers (AMMs). The index will be created for a given trading pair (e.g. ADA/SNEK or ADA/USDM).
Acceptance Criteria
The ability to create a global state of included protocols to show all buys, sells, and AMM prices for a specified trading pairs. Before creating the matching engine, it is important to locate all buy and sell orders as well as identify the AMM pool states to be able to match the prices.
Evidence of Completion
Evidence of completion will be a video with a UI that shows order book depth for all buy and sell orders as well as price and TVL of AMM pools for a given pair.
Delivery Month
3
Cost
60000
Progress
50 %
Milestone Title
Matching Engine
Milestone Outputs
Use the indexing engine from Milestone #2 to identify orders that can be matched, and build the transactions that can fill them. This will allow protocol interoperability, where traders can place orders on their favorite protocol and have them filled with orders on other protocols.
Acceptance Criteria
Evidence of Completion
A video that shows the ability to successfully build and submit transactions that matches orders with each other. At least two examples must be transactions that include at least two separate protocols within the same transaction.
Delivery Month
5
Cost
60000
Progress
80 %
Milestone Title
Packaging and Closeout
Milestone Outputs
The final code will be publicly released under the MIT license on Github.
Included in the public repository will be a Docker file to build a docker container and run it to make setup and usage easier.
Documentation on what is included in the repository and how to use the global batcher will be included in the repository.
Acceptance Criteria
A public Github repository will all source code.
Documentation in the repository that describes the code and how to use it.
A docker file to build a docker container with complete instructions on how to run it.
Evidence of Completion
A link to the Github repository.
A video that shows the Github repository and shows how to follow the instructions to setup and run the global batcher.
Delivery Month
6
Cost
40000
Progress
100 %
Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources
All costs are assuming ADA price of $0.4, and hourly rates of $100/hr
Administration - 20,000 ADA
Server Costs - 20,000 ADA
Project Management - 20,000 ADA
Development - 100,000 ADA
Documentation - 20,000 ADA
Packaging - 20,000 ADA
How does the cost of the project represent value for the Cardano ecosystem?
The cost creates a fully open sourced project that does multiple things.
It gives semi-technical users a new source of income for matching orders.
It increases the number of transactions on Cardano.
It increases protocol utility through interoperability.
It allows protocols to use the code for new private commercial endeavors that involve protocol interoperability, which lowers the barrier to entry for new projects.
I confirm that evidence of prior research, whitepaper, design, or proof-of-concept is provided.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal includes ecosystem research and uses the findings to either (a) justify its uniqueness over existing solutions or (b) demonstrate the value of its novel approach.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal demonstrates technical capability via verifiable in-house talent or a confirmed development partner (GitHub, LinkedIn, portfolio, etc.)
Yes
I confirm that the proposer and all team members are in good standing with prior Catalyst projects.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal clearly defines the problem and the value of the on-chain utility.
Yes
I confirm that the primary goal of the proposal is a working prototype deployed on at least a Cardano testnet.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal outlines a credible and clear technical plan and architecture.
Yes
I confirm that the budget and timeline (≤ 12 months) are realistic for the proposed work.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal includes a community engagement and feedback plan to amplify prototype adoption with the Cardano ecosystem.
Yes
I confirm that the budget is for future development only; excludes retroactive funding, incentives, giveaways, re-granting, or sub-treasuries.
Yes
I Agree
Yes
Dr. Nick Schaub, PhD (aka Elder Millenial)
Elder Millenial is the founder of SteelSwap, the most advanced DEX aggregator on Cardano. He is highly interested in protocol interoperability. To that end, he maintains many open source projects for Cardano. Most importantly, charli3-dendrite, a Python package that allow building transactions for interacting with Cardano DEXs.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-schaub-99876a67/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/ElderM
Github: https://github.com/theeldermillenial/
Mark van Zon, B.S. (aka MeZuNy)
Mark is the co-maintainer of SteelSwap, and is involved in multiple other Cardano projects including Eternl and Iagon. He focuses on fullstack development and (Cardano) infrastructure.