Loi Luu of KyberNetwork: Decentralized Exchanges are the Future of Cryptocurrency Exchanges

It’s been said before–and will likely be repeated again–but cryptocurrencies are all the rage in 2017 and show no signs of slowing down any time soon.
Similarly, the manner in which digital currencies are transacted and traded are also making headlines–particularly in the wake of cybersecurity attacks such as WannaCry that demanded a ransom of bitcoin to retrieve the contents of a compromised computer. As such, questions have arisen as to how secure some of these exchanges are, called centralized exchanges.
By definition, CryptoCompare states that centralized exchanges “are easy to use, easy to access and they provide advanced trading functionalities like margin trading.”

That being said, CryptoCompare adds that these particular exchanges can be a security risk for funds. This is where decentralized exchanges step in. CryptoCompare defines decentralized exchanges as a an exchange that doesn’t need a third party service to hold their funds. Instead, trades happen instantaneously through an automated process.
One such company that is creating a decentralized and “trustless” exchange is KyberNetwork, a new cryptocurrency exchange that aims to solve security issues with existing exchanges. The company announced on August 15th its public token sale, which will take place on September 15: a “24 hour sale only,” the blog post reads.
The Investing News Network (INN) recently had the chance to speak with Loi Luu, co-founder and CEO of KyberNetwork, who also developed Oyente, the first open-source security analyzer for ethereum smart contracts. Luu also co-founded SmartPool, an open source project that embraces decentralization of mining pools in existing cryptocurrencies.
When asked about what Luu is excited about in the future, he said that he’s excited about what the company looks to provide in terms of making exchanges safe.
“I think decentralized exchanges are going to become more and more popular in the future,” he said.
Read on to find out more of what Luu had to say. The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
INN: Can you speak a little bit about KyberNetwork and how it differs from other cryptocurrency exchanges?
LL:  KyberNetwork is a new exchange which can offer several good properties. First of all, it’s totally decentralized and trustless. That means they don’t have to trust us, they don’t have to deposit their coins when they trade and there’s no security breach at all.
KyberNetwork is fairly easy and fast to use, so that means every time you want to trade you just send to send a transaction to the ethereum network. Once your transaction is included in any block, which is 20 seconds or so, then your trade will be confirmed. This is much faster than centralized exchanges because normally when you want to trade for the first time you need a deposit to the exchange and then you need to wait for 10-30 minutes for the deposit to be confirmed.
In short, KyberNetwork is a new decentralized exchange that is useable and is also high security.
INN: From what I read on your website, a token launch date hasn’t locked down as of yet. How close is the company getting to its presale and token launch date?
LL: We recently deployed our platform on Testnet in early August, and our token launch date will be [o]n September [15].
INN: I also note that you will be working to enable ethereum to receive payments via blockchain. What is the attraction to ethereum versus other cryptocurrencies? 
LL: First of all, ethereum is the first network that allows you to deploy expressive smart contracts. So, that means you can easily build decentralized and trustless applications on top of the network, which is totally in contrast with some other network like bitcoin or bitcast, which can only do simple things like send coins from user to user, and that’s pretty much all you can do with those.
For ethereum, you can build many interesting applications. People are building decentralized hedgefunds, etc.
INN: KyberNetwork states that risk decentralization is one of its motivators. Can you speak a little bit more about why that’s one of the company’s main focuses? 
LL: Our main focus is to have a better exchange that doesn’t require users to trust one or two people to keep their coins safe. Centralized exchanges, they keep getting hacked and user funds get stolen. That affects a lot of users and they require users to lock their funds with them before they would be able to trade. When they want to withdraw, they may get busy and the user cannot withdraw at all. These are the main motivations for KyberNetwork to make it easier and more secure to trade.
INN: On that note, many people are flocking to cryptocurrencies and blockchain because they’re becoming a more secure way to make transactions. With the rising number of cyberattacks asking for cryptocurrencies as ransom, why, or how in your mind are hackers exploiting this form of technology? 
LL: Well, I guess anything useful can be used by good and bad people. So, I’m not sure whether we can do anything to prevent the bad people to use the technology. Because the whole point of good technology is to to allow people to use it. I have seen that many exchanges like blockchain addresses the ransomware or other people that are considered criminals. People are doing something to prevent the bad activities in cryptocurrencies.
INN: So, that said, how can people ensure that their cryptocurrency transactions are secure? Is there a way to do that?
LL: As long as they use a standard software and they follow standard protocol, they will be safe.
INN: With the volatility of ethereum and bitcoin, what are your thoughts on their prices moving forward?
LL: I think because bitcoin and ethereum are really new to the market and a lot of people are jumping in. More and more people are getting to know cryptocurrencies like ethereum and bitcoin. That’s why we see a lot of volatility. In the future, like five or 10 years from now, then they will become more stable.
INN: There seems to be more and more new cryptocurrencies coming out, do you see that as a trend that’s going to continue? 
LL: I think in the future we will have several major cytpocurrencies and each of them plays some role in the ecosystem. For example, bitcoin is going to be used payment and ethereum is going to be used for decentralized networks or decentralized platforms that enable decentralized applications.
BitCast is for anonymous payments and many other coins are also coming.
INN: Looking ahead, what is KyberNetwork excited about in the future? 
LL: We are really excited about KyberNetwork. We see that need for a good and secure useable cryptocurrency exchange. If you follow the news, you see that small exchanges, big exchanges get hacked; user information gets stolen, user funds get stolen. Before KyberNetwork, there were two or three other exchanges that are also decentralized and trustless. But, they have different approaches. I think a few others are coming up as well. So, I think decentralized exchanges are going to become more and more popular in the future.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Jocelyn Aspa, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
The Investing News Network does not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the information reported in the interviews it conducts. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not reflect the opinions of the Investing News Network and do not constitute investment advice. All readers are encouraged to perform their own due diligence.