In our Canto Hackathon winners interview series, we caught up with Thomas, the lead developer behind The Canto Free Public Orderbook.

TLDR; Thomas, a Physics graduate, began learning blockchain and Solidity in early 2023. He was drawn to Canto for its integration with the Cosmos ecosystem and EVM compatibility. His project, Canto Free Public Orderbook, aims to enhance Canto's FPI by offering an alternative to Automated Market Makers, addressing issues like high liquidity requirements and slippage, and enabling complex trading with direct liquidity sourcing from buyers and sellers.

Keep reading to learn more about Thomas and his vision for the Canto Free Public Orderbook.

This is part of an ongoing series featuring the winners of the Canto Online Hackathon. You can find more information about the hackathon here.

Interview with Canto Free Public Orderbook

Q1: Can you introduce yourself and tell us about your background and what drew you to Canto?

My name is Thomas, and my educational background is in Physics. I started learning solidity and blockchain technology in March 2023, so I am still somewhat new to the space. I began learning smart contract security in December 2023, and I mostly split my time between building new projects and refining my skills through audit contests. What initially drew me to the Canto blockchain was that it is both part of the Cosmos ecosystem and EVM compatible. By using Canto, I could participate in a whole new ecosystem without needing to relearn how to write smart contracts using the Cosmos SDK. The reasons I have stayed with Canto are its commitment to the promises of DeFi and it's free public infrastructure. As a developer, being able to access free public systems that provide fundamental blockchain services is something I can't accurately describe, and you really should just try out for yourself.

Q2: Can you walk us through the Canto Free Public Orderbook and explain what problem it aims to solve?

The Canto Free Public Orderbook is a project that will hopefully extend the free public infrastructure on Canto. Canto already has an Automated Market Maker, and it works great for many use cases, but some types of projects need an alternative. AMM pools require significant third-party liquidity to function, or users risk significant losses due to slippage and other quirks of an algorithmically priced token pair. As a developer who wants to launch their own protocol/token/DeFi project, you either need to source this liquidity yourself or provide enough incentives for others to provide liquidity. This liquidity or required incentives are often off-loaded to the users in some manner and will cannibalize the potential success of the project. The barrier to entry of an AMM to a newer protocol or token is too high for many projects to survive and find success.

On the other hand, an orderbook sources liquidity directly from the buyers and sellers. For example, if I decided to launch a new token, I can create multiple orders on the orderbook by providing only the newly created token and asking for amounts of Note, Canto, USDC, WETH, etc. I do not need to provide any of the latter tokens in any liquidity pool. If users want to purchase my token, they can provide the other side of the token pair and receive the tokens at the set price without worrying about slippage affecting the tokens they receive.

Orderbooks also provide other utility, such as being able to set a limit order. If the Canto token price is currently 20 cents, and I want to sell my Canto if it reaches 23 cents, I have to sit watching the AMM until it hits my price to trade. On an orderbook, I can list my Canto at 23 cents and wait for the market or arbitrageurs to fill my order when it reaches that price. An orderbook can also be used for more advanced trading schemes, which an AMM is incapable of providing.

Q3: How did participating in the Canto Hackathon help you grow as a developer?

Participating in a hackathon is an accelerated version of the development process in which you need to create and deliver a product in a specific timeframe. It is very useful to participate in these kinds of contests as a developer, as it highlights parts of the process you are lacking in without punishing those inadequacies. I learned a lot during the final weeks of the hackathon trying to get everything to fit together and mesh properly using tools I was not too familiar with yet. Hackathons are also a great place to try out new tools and technology.

Q4: What are the next steps for your project? Are there any specific goals or milestones you’re aiming to achieve in the near future?

The next step for my project is to get it on-chain. As this will be part of Canto's free public infrastructure, it needs to be written well and tested thoroughly so that users and protocols can have a high degree of confidence in using it. As the project was created in a short timeframe, it still needs to undergo further testing and formal review. I hope to have the product available in the coming months and hope it finds some use in the ecosystem.

Q5: What kind of support or resources would be most helpful for you as you continue to develop and go-to-market?

I am already in contact with Canto's G-Unit team, which is an incubator to help projects on Canto go-to-market, and we are currently working towards this goal. Any feedback from the community would be greatly appreciated.

Q6: How do you see your project fitting into the broader ecosystem of Canto and the blockchain/developer community?

Hopefully, my project will lower the barrier of entry for new projects and teams to enter the ecosystem. I would love to see other projects incorporate the orderbook into their own projects or just simply list their tokens on the orderbook for sale. Since it is a free public good, any project on Canto could easily add a section on their websites to trade tokens and source liquidity from the whole user base of the blockchain.

Q7: Do you have any advice for other developers who are considering working on projects in the Canto ecosystem?

I would encourage other developers in the blockchain space to try building on Canto and leverage the free public infrastructure. At first, I did not realize how powerful the idea truly is until I tried building my own protocols and had free access to the existing tools. Also, make sure to reach out to other developers on the Discord or Telegram; being able to share your projects and receive feedback will help you improve much quicker than in isolation.

To support Thomas, you can check him out out on:

Github:https://github.com/TLucasCrypto/Orderbook-Canto-Hackathon,  https://github.com/TLucasCrypto/Canto-Hackathon-Demo-Video,