The new field of real-time finance allows tokens to be continuously streamed between wallets. The volume of tokens transferred depends on how long the flow is open, like water through a tap. Token streaming is a genuinely new way of doing finance that is enabled by blockchain technology; it is an exciting new primitive which does not exist in traditional finance.

In this article we will look at four protocols that achieve token streaming and token swapping:

• Sablier and Superfluid, for streaming

• Ricochet and Aqueduct, for continuous swapping

1. Sablier: https://sablier.finance/

Sablier allows users to open up continuous payment streams for tokens over a fixed period of time. At the start of the period, the sender deposits all the tokens in the Sablier smart contract. During the streaming period the recipient can make partial withdrawals. At the end of the period the recipient can withdraw all the funds.

For example, 1000 USDC can be streamed to someone over a one month period. The sender will deposit 1000 USDC at the start, and the recipient can withdraw USDC amounts increasing over the month to 1000 USDC at the end.

2. Superfluid: https://app.superfluid.finance/

Superfluid allows tokens to be wrapped into "Super Tokens" which can be continuously streamed from wallet to wallet. Balances update second by second, an impressive sight in Metamask. Senders can initiate streams of the super-token with only a small deposit and a small buffer, usually worth a few hours of flow. The sender is responsible for keeping a positive balance, otherwise they get liquidated and lose their deposit. Superfluid streams are open ended; an extra transaction is required to stop or modify the stream.

For example, sending 1000 USDC per month can be achieved by first swapping 42 USDC to 42 USDCx (the super-token), and then starting a USDCx stream to the recipient, making sure to top up from time to time.

3. Ricochet: http://ricochet.exchange/

Ricochet enables decentralised semi-continuous exchange between two tokens, e.g. high precision DCA investing. A user sends a Superfluid stream of token A into the Ricochet contract. Every 20 minutes or so, the contract uses Sushiswap to exchange token A accumulated from all users for token B, which is then credited back to these users using a Superfluid Instant Distribution. There is some gas cost to these regular batch swaps, and Polygon is used for the low gas environment. At the moment token pair listing is permissioned, since the Ricochet team need to operate a bot to do the regular swaps.

Example usage of Ricochet would be a user streaming 100 USDCx per month to Ricochet, and receiving back frequent small quantities of ETHx, which gives them an accurate DCA strategy.

4. Aqueduct: https://aqueductfinance-app.vercel.app/

Aqueduct enables decentralised continuous exchange between two tokens, using Superfluid technology. To exchange token A for B, a user streams a fixed rate of token A into Aqueduct, and the protocol streams back to them a rate of token B depending on the current exchange rate. The ratio between total incoming streams of token A and token B determines the exchange rate. To become a liquidity provider, just stream in both token A and token B. In fact, there is a continuous spectrum between traders who supply only one token and pay fees, and LPs who supply both tokens in equal values and receive rewards. Aqueduct holds zero user funds, which is refreshing in an age of smart contract hacks. Interestingly, continuous swaps might help eliminate some forms of MEV such as sandwich attacks. Aqueduct is currently in testing on Goerli, and the roadmap includes permissionless listing of token pairs, a strategy that worked out very well for Uniswap adoption.

Applications

These new real-time finance protocols could be relevant to many areas:

• Recurring payments

• Token vesting

• Payroll solutions

• DCA investing

• DeFi in general

• Social & community

• Gaming

Summary

Decentralised protocols exist to stream and swap tokens. One combination to keep an eye on is Superfluid + Aqueduct which, given sufficient liquidity, achieves a perfectly continuous DCA strategy whilst eliminating some aspects of MEV.

Disclaimers

Use caution if interacting with these protocols. Learn the protocols using small amounts of funds. Multiple sources of risk may exist such as smart contract bugs, unaudited code, and trust assumptions on the protocol teams. The author holds no position in any of these teams or protocols except a small amount of $RIC rewards from using Ricochet. This is not financial advice, but I hope you have found it useful information!