Loopring(LRC)

Founded by software engineer Daniel Wang and entrepreneur Jay Zhou, Loopring is a blockchain-agnostic, decentralized, token exchange protocol that can be implemented on any blockchain with smart contract functionality. Loopring is extensible and free and serves as a standard for building DApps that involve token exchanges. The protocol facilitates anonymous and trustless trading — the main reason it is considered suitable for creating decentralized exchange platforms and payment applications. 

Believed to be one of the best zkRollup (zero-knowledge rollup) Layer 2 solutions for the Ethereum blockchain, and also its first, Loopring processes faster yet secure transactions at 100x lower gas fees compared to native transactions on the Ethereum blockchain. 

LRC cryptocurrency is the native token of the Loopring protocol. It was released as an ERC-20 token, through an ICO in August 2017. However, the protocol itself was deployed on the Ethereum mainnet later in December 2019.

LRC price

LRC coin was launched in August 2017 through the Loopring ICO that raised 120,000 ETH — worth $45 million at that time. While the price of LRC at the time was $0.067, it quickly rose up to $0.13 by Aug. 31, 2017. 

As per our LRC live price chart, the coin’s next big push came towards the end of 2017 when, boosted by a market-wide uptrend, LRC coin registered a high of over $2 in January 2018. However, LRC couldn’t sustain that price for long, and after a temporary spike in May 2018, fell drastically in the months that followed. 

After that, LRC price remained well under $0.1 for almost two years, not showing much promise even after Loopring’s launch on the Ethereum mainnet in December 2019. The coin finally gained momentum near the end of 2020, when it rallied to breach $0.3 in September.

However, the real rally for Loopring (LRC) price came in 2021, where LRC went from under $0.20 to around $0.90 twice, once in February and then in May. A market-wide correction followed thereafter, but LRC had another big surge near the end of 2021, going from under $0.40 to as high as $3.85 on November 10, 2021. LRC’s fully diluted valuation at this all-time high was well over $5 billion. 

Most of LRC's value was lost in Q1 2022, however, and the $1 mark continued to act as resistance.

How LRC works

LRC cryptocurrency is the Loopring protocol’s utility token based on Ethereum’s ERC-20 standard, which fuels all its operations, including governance. Since a percentage of LRC is burnt each time a Loopring transaction is processed, it is a deflationary token and its circulating supply decreases with time.

LRC holders can even stake their tokens and receive a percentage of the transaction fees paid on Loopring-powered exchanges. Loopring claims that its throughput can go up to 2,025 TPS, while the cost per transaction is 100 times lower than that of Ethereum. In rough figures, the settlement cost works out to 450-800 GAS per trade on the Ethereum blockchain. From the users' perspective, they need to pay only a few cents in fees.

In order to use the Loopring protocol for a decentralized exchange, the developers must stake a certain minimum amount of LRC. The protocol, having built on the concept of zero-knowledge rollups (zk-rollups), bundles hundreds of Ethereum transactions and processes them on its Layer-2 sidechain. Being a Layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum, Loopring inherits the security features and consensus mechanism of the former, which currently is transitioning from proof of work (PoW) to proof of stake (PoS).

LRC news, updates and highlights

In a major LRC news development, Loopring announced support for ERC1155 and ERC721 NFT minting, trading and transfers. As a result, users could instantly mint and trade NFTs, almost gas-free on Loopring L2, while retaining complete self-custody and benefiting from the security offered by Ethereum. The news was made public by Daniel Wang via a detailed post on Loopring’s official Medium in August 2021.

More recently, in March 2022, GameStop Corp., the popular American consumer electronics, video game and gaming merchandise retailer announced Loopring integration with its NFT marketplace. 

Frequently asked questions about LRC

• Can you mine or stake LRC?

LRC is an ERC-20 token that cannot be mined. However, you can earn it by providing liquidity to a Loopring exchange. You may also stake your LRC coins to earn staking rewards.

• What are some of the best LRC wallets?

Loopring has its own native wallet that can be installed and used on any iOS or Android device. Besides that, you can store your LRC coins in a wallet compatible with ERC-20 tokens, including MetaMask, Ledger Nano X/S, Atomic Wallet and Trust Wallet.

• What can you do with LRC?

You can use LRC to pay transaction fees on a Loopring-powered crypto exchange. You may also stake it to earn staking rewards and/or exchange it for other well-known cryptocurrencies on exchange portals.

• How to buy LRC?

The ideal way to buy LRC is from an established crypto exchange, either with fiat currency, or using crypto coins you already hold. Look out for popular trading pairs like LRC/USDT, LRC/BTC, LRC/DOGE and LRC/ETH to execute the swap.