Loopring (LRC) is a native token ERC-20 token of the Loopring open protocol, created to build decentralized exchanges. The project was inspired by the crypto boom in 2020, which caused the average trading volume of the crypto market to increase 4 times compared to the previous period, though the exchanges were mainly happening on the centralized platforms owned by the companies. 

Loopring’s development team came up with an idea to design an exchange that will integrate the order matching from centralized platforms with the order settlement from the blockchain-based exchanges to create a service that will include advantages and eliminate disadvantages of both exchanges types. Loopring can proceed up to 16 orders simultaneously instead of a strict one vs. one trading pair. 

The project’s final goal is to improve the efficiency of order execution and to increase the liquidity of DEX’s. The network can operate on both Ethereum and Neo blockchains and is expected to soon add the support for Qtum blockchain. 

The project was firstly introduced in 2017 by Daniel Wang, a software engineer from China with a lot of prior experience in major tech companies like JD.com and Google.  In August of the same year, Initial Coin Offering (ICO) was held. The protocol went live on the Ethereum network in December 2019. 

Loopring token is controlled by Loopring protocol’s smart contracts. It can be earned via ring mining, meaning that the protocol combines individual orders into order rings, organizing public order books and recording trading history, and in some cases also transferring the orders to the other relays.