Bancor

What is Bancor?

Bancor is a peer to peer, decentralized, open source smart token network and exchange which offers ERC20 compatible Smart Tokens and uses a native token called the Bancor Network Token (BNT). To access the features of Bancor’s platform-based exchange, users need to purchase Smart Tokens with BNT.

History of Bancor

Originating as an idea in 2016, the Bancor team is comprised of Yehuda Levi (CTO), Ilana Pinchas (VP engineering) and Eyal Hertzog (chief of product) who between them have ample experience in cryptocurrencies. In 2017, the Bprotocol Foundation was created to develop Bancor.

Bancor went live via a crowdsale in June 2017 where 39.6M BNT were sold to the public. A total of 396,720 ETH were raised during the sale, making it one of the most successful at the time. 20% of BNTs were given to partners & bounties and for long-term operation fund of the company, while 10% were kept for the core team. The remaining 50% of the BNTs were made available during the sale.

How Bancor Works

Bancor aims to interlink all the available cryptocurrencies in the world by providing instant liquidity to every coin, token and currency, via its exchange. This is accomplished using the abilities of Smart Tokens, which are tokens with Smart Contracts integrated into them. Each Smart Token holds a value in one of the other ERC20 compatible coins. Thus, anyone can liquidate their holdings in one particular ERC20 compatible coin. Reversely, anyone can purchase a Smart Token, representing one of the ERC20 compatible coins, and new Smart Tokens will be issued. The price of a Smart Token in any of the reserved coins is calculated using a pre-set CRR (Constant Reserve Ratio.)

In addition to cryptocurrencies, Bancor also plans to support popular Fiat currencies like USD and physical assets like gold. In other words, every currency now can be exchanged easily and there is no need for an exchange. Moreover, Bancor allows every coin to have a market value from day 1, without actually entering the market.

Why Bancor?

Bancor is trying to create a paradigm shift in how currencies are trading and thus they offer some great benefits to their users:

• Instant liquidity: Smart Tokens allow exchange users to purchase or liquidate any ERC20 token of their holding instantly, using Smart contracts. Because of their huge array of tokens and cryptocurrencies listed, there is no need to go to another exchange.
• Total ERC20 Compatibility: Whether launched before or after Bancor, any ERC20 compatible coin is compatible with Bancor network by default. Thus, asynchronous price discovery is possible for any ERC20 token.
• No Spread: Spread is the difference between ask price and bid price of a coin/token. As Bancor utilizes Smart Contracts to evaluate a coin, the user always gets the same buy and sell price, eliminating price spread.
• No Counterparty Risk: Instead of trusting a particular exchange to deposit money and to convert it to another currency, the user can easily switch between two currencies using Smart Contract-based Smart Tokens.
• Less Price Slip: Bancor utilizes an algorithm to predict “price slippage,” with respect to the transaction size, and this factor is included in the current price. Thus, the risk of price manipulation by big holders of a currency is reduced.
• Fiat Compatible: Bancor also works for real-world currencies like USD or real-world assets like Gold. Thus, users can easily switch between real-world assets and any ERC20 compatible digital asset, seamlessly.