Balancer is a decentralized exchange characterized for its self-rebalancing portfolios that behave like an index fund. Users can trade assets and provide liquidity to get exposure to all underlying assets of an index fund.

Dexes

Balancer

Protocol Code Quality

Protocol Maturity

Protocol Design

Risk Rating

green

Good

* [Documentation](https://docs.balancer.fi/) 
 * Auditors 
 	* [OpenZeppelin](https://github.com/balancer-labs/balancer-v2-monorepo/blob/master/audits/openzeppelin/2021-03-15.pdf) 
 	* [Trail of Bits](https://github.com/balancer-labs/balancer-v2-monorepo/blob/master/audits/trail-of-bits/2021-04-05.pdf) 
 	* [Audits](https://docs.balancer.fi/core-concepts/security/audits) 
 * Please see our [FAQ on experienced auditors](https://help.exponential.fi/en/articles/6381015-what-are-experienced-auditors)

Exploit/Hacks

orange

* [Website](https://balancer.fi/)  
 * Token: BAL  
 * Tags: Dexes

Info

* TVL: $1.8B (Rank #9)  
 * TVL Ranking by Dexes: #4  
 * Blockchain: Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum  
 * Chain TVL  
 	* Ethereum: $1.39B  
 	* Polygon: $111.55M  
 	* Arbitrum: $20.9M

Key Metrics

Information


- Code reviewed by several experienced auditors including [OpenZeppelin](https://github.com/balancer-labs/balancer-v2-monorepo/blob/master/audits/openzeppelin/2021-03-15.pdf) and [Trail of Bits](https://github.com/balancer-labs/balancer-v2-monorepo/blob/master/audits/trail-of-bits/2021-04-05.pdf)
- Public team promotes accountability
- One mitigated protocol hack since launch


- Core protocol launched in 2020; maturity over 2 years minimizes technical risk as smart contracts are amongst the most battle-tested
- Top 1% by total value locked reduces risk
- Decentralized governance increases transparency
- Highly concentrated voting power increases risk


- No concerns identified
- Balancer pioneered the concept of multi-asset liquidity pools

Risk Assessment

Balancer innovated upon the automated market maker (AMM) model with the introduction of multi-asset pools and uneven pools with different token weightings, both of which have potential to lower impermanent loss.

What we like

The Balancer exchange can be complex and uneven pools have higher slippage costs due to its inherent design, which can result in lower trading volume and yield.

What we like less

Balancer offers a great way for you to get exposure to a diverse group of crypto assets while earning yield as the pool is automatically rebalanced by external arbitragers.

What it means for you

Summary

#### How Balancer works
Balancer pools (composed of up to 16 different crypto assets) can be thought of as a self-balancing index fund, whereby the liquidity providers get paid when their deposited funds are automatically rebalanced by external arbitragers. When a Balancer pool is created, the ratio of tokens in the pools is set. This pool is then constantly rebalanced as users make trades within the pool to ensure that each asset maintains a proportional value to the rest of the pool. The Balancer system automatically determines the best available price from its range of available pools via its Smart Order Routing (SOR) system.
#### How Balancer makes money
Balancer has several sources of revenue including trading, withdrawal and flash loan fees. Pool trading fees are highly customizable, ranging anywhere from 0.0001% to 10%. Trading and withdrawal fees were turned off at inception while flash loan fees started at a small value to ensure there is always a cost of capital to create flash loans on Balancer. Protocol swap fees were subsequently set to 10% following a governance vote in December 2021. This means a small portion of liquidity provider fee earnings are now diverted to the DAO treasury.
#### How you make money on Balancer
You earn rebalancing fees for maintaining the crypto equivalent of an index fund on Balancer. Some Balancer pools also offer additional incentives in the form of native protocol tokens and the BAL token, which represents voting power in the Balancer DAO.