It is time to finally share more details about the development of Hydranet Web DEX, the next big chapter of trustless trading!

When we started working on Hydranet in early 2022, there was a vision of a new type of decentralized exchange. By keeping close ties with the community, listening and exchanging ideas, and writing thousands of lines of code, the team and community undertook an enormous challenge and delivered. Now here we stand, the Hydranet Core DEX has just been released for the first time on mainnet and the Hydranet DAO is evolving with each passing day. We could not be happier with the outcome!

While we celebrate our achievements, we are also aware of the limitations of the product we just introduced to the market. It may not serve as the long-term solution for the masses we’re really aiming for. Recognizing this, we started to outline a plan that would pave the way for a necessary leap into the future. This plan is the Hydranet Web DEX, and this article marks the first introduction to this piece of tech.

The Hydranet Web DEX is the result of over a year of internal research and we are excited to finally unveil it to the public. We believe that the future is versatile and that we need to be, too. That’s why all of our services will have to be accessible from mobile devices, as we are determined to stay competitive in this ever-changing landscape. The Hydranet Web DEX will offer the same capabilities as the Hydranet Core DEX but with a lot of improvements!

Product Innovation

The Hydranet Core DEX is effectively demonstrating our vision and capabilities through live action and Layer 3 borderless trading. Developing the Hydranet Web DEX, we will strengthen this capability and improve the functionality through several innovative solutions.

The Lithium Protocol

The Lithium Protocol is our own in-house solution for Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) off-chain transactions. When developing the Web DEX, we want to establish one of the most important aspects of our solution, decentralization.

In order to achieve decentralization, we need to support multi-hub payment routing while still being fast and cost-effective. After extensive research, it was obvious that no current solution could match our requirements and that’s when the idea of the Lithium Protocol was born. And dare we say, it will be impressive. Besides having all the capabilities of the Connext Vector Protocol, the off-chain protocol used in the Hydranet Core DEX, the Lithium Protocol will also:

• Increase off-chain transaction speed by ~ x4 in comparison to Connext. This will improve the DEX swap times heavily.
• Increase decentralization by enabling multi-hop transactions / multi-hubs. A prerequisite for a decentralized architecture.
• Enable trustless off-chain liquidity pools to solve constraints related to EVM channel liquidity.
• Included watchtower capabilities.

Lightning Network Browser Node

On the Bitcoin side of operations, our new Web DEX will host a fully capable Lightning Network (LN) browser node. This novel solution will allow users to connect to the LN by just opening their browser. Since all users of the Web DEX will be provided an LN node, our Web DEX has the potential to expose a whole new crowd to Bitcoin’s Lightning Network and its capabilities directly through the browser!

Our LN browser node-enabled Web DEX will provide:

• Much faster sync times for Bitcoin as opposed to the Core DEX implementation (~ a few seconds instead of minutes), using the Rapid Gossip Sync protocol.
• An always up-to-date Lightning Dev Kit (LDK) configuration. This implies high security and full compliance to the Lightning BOLT specifications.
• Integration of Lightning Service Providers (LSP) to improve off-chain liquidity.
• Zero-confirmation channels to speed up the channel rental process.

Why Web3?

There are mainly two reasons why we want to develop the Hydranet Web DEX.

Market reach

The release of a Web-based DEX is essential to reach bigger audiences as the Web DEX is platform agnostic. It will work on mobile phones as well as computers of any operating system. Instead of having to download and install an application, the Web DEX is an easily available on-demand service. This will lower the entry barrier significantly.

A new and improved, minimal, and easy-to-navigate UI will be implemented and shipped with the new Web DEX, which will further enable users to interact effectively with the Hydranet DEX Network and the technology that we’re building.

Technical Improvements

With the release of a platform-agnostic application, any updates or maintenance would be greatly simplified and the platform could be updated seamlessly through the process of continuous integration/deployment. From a user’s perspective, being platform agnostic also diminishes the risks associated with downloading software installers that might contain malicious code.

Going web-based will also enable the developers to use more modern frameworks and a more flexible codebase, which will further enhance the maintenance and versatility of the DEX.

The development of the Hydranet Web DEX is separated from the beginning as two development tracks: the Web Wallet and the Web DEX (which will of course also include all wallet functions then). Upon completion, the Hydranet Web DEX will be supported on both desktop browsers and mobile browsers.

The Exchange Interface

The integrated exchange interface is the main attraction of our Web DEX. It will offer an orderbook-based off-chain trading experience and be complemented by a Simple Swap UI for a simpler off-chain swap experience. The designs of the trading interfaces are still under development.

Web Wallet

The Web Wallet is an integrated multi-currency wallet that will offer on-chain and off-chain activities like sending, receiving, and setting up channels for all supported networks (BTC, ETH, ARB, and more EVMs).

A Change is on the Horizon

Modern technology requires modern solutions. As an actor in the crypto industry — arguably one of the fastest evolving markets in the world today — adapting and evolving together with the tech is key to success, and for the first time in history, we will bring Layer 3 to Web3!

If you haven’t read our updated Hydranet roadmap for 2023/2024, make sure to give it a few minutes of your time! Let’s push the boundaries of what is possible and shape the next era of Web3!