Loopring LRC / Loopring

What Is Loopring [LRC]?

LRC is the Ethereum-based cryptocurrency token of Loopring, an open protocol designed for the building of decentralized crypto exchanges.

In 2020, the average daily trading volume of the entire cryptocurrency market fluctuated in the approximate range of $50-$200 million. Most of that trading is conducted on centralized cryptocurrency exchanges — online platforms operated by private companies that store users’ funds and facilitate the matching of buy and sell orders.

Such platforms have a number of downsides common to all of them, so a new type of exchange — decentralized— has emerged to try to alleviate these disadvantages. However, fully decentralized exchanges are not without their own flaws.

Loopring’s purported goal is to combine centralized order matching with decentralized on-blockchain order settlement into a hybridized product that will take the best aspects of both centralized and decentralized exchanges.

LRC tokens became available to the public during an initial coin offering (ICO) in August 2017, while the Loopring protocol was first deployed on Ethereum mainnet in December 2019.

Who Are the Founders of Loopring?

The founder and current CEO of Loopring Foundation, which manages the development of Loopring protocol, is Daniel Wang, a software engineer and entrepreneur based in Shanghai, China.

Wang has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Science and Technology of China, as well as a master’s degree in the same field from Arizona State University.

Prior to starting work on Loopring, Wang has held multiple managerial and executive positions in major tech companies: he was a lead software engineer at the medical device manufacturer Boston Scientific, the senior director of engineering, search, recommendation and ads system at the Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com, as well as a tech lead and senior software engineer at Google.

Wang has also co-founded several companies: Yunrang (Beijing) Information Technology Ltd. and the cryptocurrency services firm Coinport Technology Ltd.

What Makes Loopring Unique?

The main idea behind Loopring is to combine elements of centralized and decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges to create a protocol that will enjoy their unique advantages and eliminate inefficiencies.

Centralized exchanges are currently the main mode of operation for crypto trading services. While highly popular and convenient, using a centralized exchange carries a number of risks, the chief of which is their custodial nature.