AirSwap (AST)

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## Basics

* Launched on:
* A decentralized token exchange based on the Swap protocol built on the Ethereum blockchain, which provides a decentralized trading solution based on a peer-to-peer design.
* A 'spoke' of Consensys.
* Enables it’s users to make slippage-free atomic swaps in an non-custodial manner.

## History

* From DeFi Rate (27-5-2020):

*"acquired Fluidity, the team behind the Airswap DEX, and multiple asset tokenization technologies for the DeFi ecosystem. AirSwap was initially founded as a joint venture between ConsenSys and Fluidity back in 2017. The acquisition comes three years later after Fluidity completed its initial AirSwap roadmap as well as having built a range of money legos on Ethereum."*

## Token

### Launch

* From their blog (10-14-2017):

*"We sold 150M of a supply of 500M AST. At the time of sale, proceeds were valued around 36M USD. The following token amounts were distributed through each of four sales: a pre-sale, beta tester sale, main sale, and the L(AST) chance sale. 85% sold out in the first minute, and the rest was sold over the course of 15 minutes."*

### Token allocation

* From their blog (22-9-2017):

1. *30% sold through October 10, 2017 (21% in presale to strategic purchasers, 0.7% in Beta Sale at a 20% discount, 8.3% in Main Sale)*
2. *10% to Advisors and Partners subject to vesting and lockups*
3. *10% to Founders subject to vesting and lockups*
4. *10% for new Partnerships*
5. *The remaining 40% will be locked for a minimum of 6 months"*

###  Utility

* From the FAQ (5-2020):

"*The AirSwap Token is an ERC20 token that is used by liquidity providers to access the network. If connect by API or by Delegates, users that add liquidity to the network must stake AST."*

* From the FAQ (5-2020):

"*The AirSwap Token operates like a license for liquidity providers to access the network. To become discoverable or broadcast intent on AirSwap users must hold a balance of AST."*

* From DeFi Rate:

*"The platform uses a native token, AST,  to provide two core two utilities. First, holding AST gives traders the ability to add their “intent to trade” to the Airswap Index. This effectively signals to peers their intent to buy or sell specific Ethereum-based tokens. Second, AST gives traders voting power to manage the roles of Oracles within the platform."*

* From DeFi Rate (6-1-2021):

*"Going forward, AST holders will be able to stake their tokens and participate in AirSwap governance. After voting, participants are can claim from a pool of collected protocol fees based on their relative voting weight. There is also a new fee being introduced to the AirSwap protocol, 100% of the fees accrued through AirSwap trades routed through Metamask will go to AirSwap governance participants. Metamask is currently charging 0.875% on trades that route through AirSwap."*

### Token Details

* From the FAQ (5-2020):

*"AirSwap does not charge fees on any trades on the network. If you wish to provide liquidity to the network, you must hold or "stake" AST."*

* From their blog (27-9-2017):

*"AST will not be burned. AST is simply locked and unlocked."*

## Tech

* Whitepaper can be found here (10-5-2017).
* Code can be viewed here (3-6-2020).
* Built on: Ethereum
* Programming language used:

### How it works

* From the FAQ (5-2020):

"*AirSwap does not take custody of any tokens. We do not sit in the middle of trades in any way. Users trade peer-to-peer which is facilitated by an atomic swap on the Ethereum blockchain."*

## Oracle Method being used

* From their blog (27-9-2017):

*"AirSwap plans to support one or more “Oracles” to provide information to help trading parties to make educated pricing decisions. When presenting at Ethereum meetups around the world and through our community channels, we received consistent feedback that these Oracles need to be deployed in a fair and transparent way.*

*We are incorporating this feedback, and we are implementing functionality where AST holders will be able to vote on the roles of each Oracle. Precise roles are still in development, voting mechanisms and processes of such Oracles, so details are not yet final. We expect to weigh voting, at least in part, based on each voter’s total AST holdings."*

## Their Other Projects

* DexIndex is an open source tool that searches Ethereum decentralized exchanges (DEXs) for the best prices and liquidity, all in one view.

* AirSwap Trader: "*An escrow solution to share and settle over-the-counter (OTC) trades with no counterparty risk, no deposits, and no fees."*

## Governance

### DAO

* Has completed the transition to Phase II (2-2021) of their decentralized peer-to-peer trading system, AirSwap, enabling token-based governance.

## Roadmap

* Can be found [Insert link here].
* From DeFi Rate (6-1-2021):

*"Is planning on a major revamp in early 2021, based on this announcement there seems to be major changes coming to the protocol from a smart contract, tokenomics, and even branding level."*

## Audits

* Bug bounty program can be found [insert here]. None according to Blockchain Security DB.

* Blockchain Security DB shows 4audits. The latest was in 10-2017.

## Pros and Cons

### Cons

* Uses atomic swaps, which has limitations.
* One address holds 65.55% of the tokens (3-6-2020).

* From a comment underneath their Medium blog (26-10-2017):

*"The thing is: what’s the purpose of AirSwap token in the whole ecosystem besides paying tx fees?*

*I have a question after reading swap whitepaper and this roadmap — would 3rd parties be able to run indexer? Would indexer charge service fees (e.g. 0.2% processing fee)? It seems to me that if AirSwap team is implementing the whole stack including indexer, oracles, etc…, then why the need of ico? Swap is a protocol, like for 0x they have 3rd party relayers, how about swap? A protocol should involve more and more adopters."*

* From a Reddit thread (26-5-2020):

*"I was an early investor in Airswap and personally know one of the developers. It's a great project, but because of the fact that they're based in the US, they had to strip their token of any features that could run afoul of securities laws, i.e. anything that would make it attractive to speculators.*

*That's why it's only at a 3M mcap with such strong fundamentals."*

## Coin Distribution

* The top address for Airswap holds 65% (11-2018)
* Update: 65.54% (3-6-2020). The top 100 holders collectively own 94.17% tokens of AirSwap. Tokens total supply: 500,000,000 | Holders: 9,406

## Team, investors, partnerships, etc.

### Team

* Is a joint venture between Consensys and Fluidity, but on the AirSwap website Fluidity is called the *"parent-company of AirSwap"*

* From DeFi Rate (27-5-2020):

*"acquired Fluidity, the team behind the Airswap DEX, and multiple asset tokenization technologies for the DeFi ecosystem. AirSwap was initially founded as a joint venture between ConsenSys and Fluidity back in 2017. The acquisition comes three years later after Fluidity completed its initial AirSwap roadmap as well as having built a range of money legos on Ethereum."*

### Investors

* Is part of Consensys Labs portfolio (7-2019)

### Partners

* Has partnerships with Digi Global
* Part of the WBTC community (still as of 8-2019)
* Partners with Wyre (As of 28-10-2019 on the website of Wyre)
* Is part of (2-3-2020) the first members of the Ren Alliance, as an Utility and Developer member integrating RenVM or adding renBTC, renZEC, etc. and to help educate the public or develop ancillary services.
* Partners with Groundhog, according to their website (21-4-2020), which is 'an associate' from Consensys.