Kyber Network is an on-chain liquidity protocol that focuses on the exchange and conversion of digital assets. Project Director Loi Luu conceived of the idea in 2017. Kyber Network conducted its ICO in August 2017, raising $60 million and becoming one of the largest ICOs of 2017. The project counts Vitalik Buterin as one of its advisers. 

Envisioned as a decentralized version of ShapeShift by Luu, Kyber Network aggregates liquidity from token holders, liquidity pools, market makers and projects, and matches them with end users, wallets, dapps and exchanges. The result is a faster and more secure exchange of tokens, in addition to increasing liquidity.

Kyber Network’s core design philosophy is guided by 3 principles: platform agnosticism, instantaneous transactions and ease of integration. These principles together steer Kyber Network towards its goals of connecting various token economies together to increase their utility and adoption.

Given the purpose of the platform, Kyber Network has made an effort to expand the ecosystem and bring more partners on board, including being integrated into HTC’s Exodus blockchain phone for the purpose of facilitating decentralized token swaps. Key players in the platform’s ecosystem include MyEtherWallet, Enjin Coin, the Opera Browser, and Coinbase.

In early 2019, Kyber Network published a list of long-term objectives: creating a permission-less liquidity protocol that can operate on any smart contract compatible blockchain; supporting the growth of decentralized economies; and establishing a stronger governance framework. Unifying the various stakeholders in the ecosystem under one democratic governance framework is a high priority in 2019.