Over the past few months, we have seen multiple cryptocurrency developers explore opportunities in the world of atomic swaps. Rather than using centralized exchange platforms, an atomic swap allows people to intermittently exchange cryptocurrencies in a decentralized manner. BarterDEX is one of several decentralized interfaces which aims to support atomic swaps in the future. More importantly, this platform is already live right now, even though few people have paid much attention to it so far.

What is BarterDEX and why Does it Matter?

No one can argue the number of centralized cryptocurrency exchanges has grown spectacularly over the past few years. Although all of these platforms seemingly make it more convenient for consumers to buy and sell cryptocurrency, they are also a major weak point in the entire infrastructure. A centralized exchange is, for all intents and purposes, not all that different from a bank exchanging your existing money for other currencies.

What’s more, a centralized exchange controls your money at all times. Many users think they are in full control, but that is not the case when dealing with any form of money on centralized exchanges. In fact, most platforms don’t even let users access their wallets’ private keys either. This is why there has been a growing demand for decentralized trading platforms. So far, a few projects are in development, but there are only a handful that are actually available for use today.

One of those accessible projects goes by the name BarterDEX. It is a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange, but it has some interesting features under the hood. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect is how this platform supports atomic swaps, allowing users to exchange value between different cryptocurrencies without going through a centralized entity. In fact, BarterDEX doesn’t take control of user funds at any point, but merely serves as an interface to promote decentralized peer-to-peer trading as a whole.

Several dozen cryptocurrencies have been integrated with this platform already. The coins supported include Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dash, Stratis, and ZCash, to name a few. Users are able to exchange these coins intermittently and without having to rely on any centralized platform whatsoever. Communities are invited to work together with BarterDEX to ensure their preferred currencies are supported in the future. Everything is open source, and anyone in the world can connect their exchange service to BarterDEX as we speak.

Interfaces such as BarterDEX also eliminate the potential for account theft or hacking attempts. After all, there is no centralized engine to be hacked, and no coins are stored on behalf of users either. Hackers looking to take advantage of BarterDEX users will have to go after those users individually, which is much easier said than done. Moreover, this new interface ensures that coin delisting is a non-issue, as the trading pairs don’t take up significant resources whatsoever.

It is well worth checking out the BarterDEX whitepaper as well, as it contains a lot of technical specifications regarding this interface. No one can deny decentralized exchanges and atomic swaps are quickly becoming the new norm. With more efforts focusing on these concepts, it is only a matter of time until we will finally be rid of centralized exchanges once and for all. The future is looking rather bright for cryptocurrency as a whole; that much is evident.