Over the last couple of days, Publish0x has been flooded with articles explaining how to trade LRC on Loopring.io, extolling its virtues, and promising you $5 if you trade there.

I understand Publish0x signed some kind of deal with them. That's why we're now paid more LRC than BAT, I assume. But I see no reason we should just use a product because we're told to.

I spent some time on the site, gave it a try, and I'm underwhelmed. I was disappointed to find out that, while no hard KYC was required, I was still required to create a user (by providing a password), and pay some gas to connect to the exchange (it was $0.97 in my case - numbers vary based on gas prices and network activity). Why do they require a user, and can't just use the wallet address, as all the other DeFi protocols do? I'm assuming it's a first step, to offer more features later. Perhaps a Fiat bridge (which will require KYC). Whatever it is, I did not see any feature or reason that made me want to sign on.

Here's a list of the traded pairs currently (4/24/2020) available on Loopring:

All of these pairs are available to trade on other sites without creating any user, by just connecting your wallet, and connecting to the contract (will cost gas, but you can edit the fee to the lowest you want):

Here's Uniswap (does not support USDT, but does support ETH, LINK and DAI):

Here's Totle (which supports them all - it makes use of Uniswap, Kyber, and Curve, among others):

Other sites like Paraswap and Kyber support LRC swaps as well (although currently Kyber lists LRC as under maintenance).

Bottom line: I don't know what's the significance, or redeeming features of LRC. I treat it as another token. I receive tips from Publish0x in LRC, and that's my only use of it. But Loopring.io, as it is right now, is not a must-use. In fact, if you're just looking to trade one of the pairs currently supported, you can do it easily elsewhere.

Just my $0.02. Stay safe!