Balancer is an Ethereum-based blockchain project for automatic market-making. In traditional finance, a market maker buys and sells financial instruments and profits by adding a margin on each transaction. Balancer uses algorithms for this role, and since it uses Ethereum, the algorithm can create a decentralized market. The protocol supports up to 8 assets, which allows it to create liquidity for multiple assets simultaneously.
The main benefit of the decentralized markets is that Balancer creates low slippage and better prices for end-users compared to centralized market makers. In terms of governance, Balancer uses a native token called BAL. Unlike most cryptos that people buy as speculative assets, BAL is not an investment. It is a governance tool that is mainly held by those who believe in the project's future.
However, those who provide liquidity to the ecosystem get to earn Balancer tokens that are distributed weekly. One can then change the token to any other on a Balancer exchange like ChangeNOW, where you can perform BAL exchange at competitive rates.