Cardano is one of the leading Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain ecosystems. And with the rise in prominent energy problems, green technology’s an undying need. This technology encompasses a trio of aspects – security, sustainability, and high performance. In terms of security, Cardano is on a level of its own. Cardano has unique solutions like the PoS mechanism, amongst other techniques for evaluating performance. When you drift attention to sustainability, Cardano’s trading system is constantly undergoing upgrades, maintenance, and further development.
Astarter is an innovative smart contract system built on Cardano and implements four key product features – Dex, Launchpad, Money Market, and Tech Service. At its pivot, Astarter is an Automated Market Maker (AMM) protocol leveraging improved security and smart contracts cost prognosis features of the Cardano blockchain to avail DeFi application development to support liquidity and interoperability.
As the proliferation of DeFi continues to grow exponentially across many fonts and we approach the future, there’s a need to ensure that DeFi applications are not limited to one public blockchain and that interoperability is an indispensable base aspect.
This post will serve as an introduction to Astarter, a solution that encompasses all DeFi functions in one collection. While these might be the main forces driving innovation, Astarter can have more applications like crowdfunding, amongst others. Here’s the breakdown.
The Launchpad
If you own a startup or thinking of launching one, you must have encountered the need for a secure platform to raise funds. Astarter is revolutionizing this through its Launchpad.
Astarter’s Launchpad Open Beta Testnet went live on 25th May 2022. Beta’s first version aims to elevate Cardano’s Mainnet assets and token pool towards becoming a viable, usable, fixed exchange platform and ultimately creating a marketplace that connects pool creators and liquidity providers. Here, liquidity pool creators can initiate token exchanges in a permissionless environment while providers can earn and trade new tokens.
While this is just a starting point of the Launchpad, future versions allow users to explore and participate in multiple token pools. This structure will allow two or more parties to exchange a fixed amount of tokens at a predetermined price. It means that when you create a mining pool, you will be able to enter details of your mining pool like token contract address, limits per address, name of the mining pool, the type of the pool (either public, private, or white-list) and the final generated currency price.
Besides solving the biggest problems of automated decentralized transactions like Uniswap, the Launchpad incorporates an Initial Dex Offering (IDO) token sales mechanism with one-click deployment and issues tokens that you can customize parameters, permissionless listings, KYC registrations, and a governance DAO framework for the Astarter Tech Service.
The Decentralized Exchange
Astarter transforms a part of the functionality of Solidity and Ethernet virtual machines like those belonging to the above for deposits, exchanges, and withdrawals – all to be enacted multiple times in sequence to the block. Cardano uses an asset model likened to that of Bitcoin – called extended unspent transaction output (eUTXO) – which makes modifying the above model much more complex than you’d expect.
Regarding the AMM, Astarter is leveraging eUTXO and the Plutus Application Framework (PAF) for sequence transaction driver contracts and routing. This approach aids in reducing the negative effects of front running, impermanent loss, and price slippage in trading. For trading, Astarter can use ADA, LP-defined, or stable assets. Using ADA provides better liquidity. On the other hand, using stable assets could lead to potential losses due to price fluctuations, unlike ADA. Additionally, if you trade non-stable assets, you may encounter higher costs due to price slippage. The bright side is that these tradeoffs are mitigated through an intersection of over-collateralized LP-defined stable assets and Astarter’s AMM book liquidity protocol.
And if you’re interested in swaps, you can use Astarter Swap to buy assets A with B through a feature that allows you to receive and use assets even before making payments. This feature eases the closing of collateralized positions. Astarter Swap’s smart contract runs by completing payments during regular or cross-chain transfers.
The Money Market and Tech Service
Astarter has a Money Market that allows you to lend assets and earn interest on these loans. The Money Market also allows you to borrow assets by providing collateral. The Tech Service entails an oracle machine for bridging functions that fit in with variable source price data requirements, governance, and token Voting DAO features that interoperate with other layers.
The oracle machine tracks the prices of assets in irrelevant markets to compute the approximate prices. Using reliable asset prices approximations prevents manipulation attacks in the market. The approximations are calculated according to contract interactions and their respective weights over time to ensure accuracy and fair pricing. The system is more resilient to manipulation by incorporating a broader data set and considering long-term trends. Here’s its workflow.
Astarter’s Roadmap
Astarter has a clear roadmap that dictates how the developmental milestones will be executed. You can check it out.
Conclusion
As you have seen, Astarter’s smart contract system encircles an advanced functional design and a modular architecture that prioritizes security while striking a balance with innovations. The availability of new features maximizes flexibility in an era where a seamless decentralized application experience is desired.
If you’d like to learn more about the Astarter ecosystem, here’s a gateway to the technical specification.
