Perps are Ethereum’s missing foundation.

A critical gap in Ethereum’s DeFi stack is about to be filled, unlocking massive institutional capital, improving capital efficiency and reunifying years’ worth of fragmented liquidity. 

The Trillion-Dollar Market Hiding in Plain Sight

Picture the following: You’re looking at the world’s most sophisticated financial ecosystem. It has lending protocols that boast $14.6 billion in liquidity, decentralized exchanges processing billions in weekly volume, and yield strategies that automatically optimize across multiple protocols. It has everything a modern trader needs.

Everything except the one primitive that generates 78% of all crypto trading volume.

Welcome to Ethereum DeFi’s missing foundation: perpetual futures.

While traditional finance has built a $600+ trillion derivatives market, with interest rate derivatives alone commanding $530 trillion in notional outstanding — Ethereum’s Layer 1 has been running a sophisticated financial system with one hand tied behind its back.

The numbers tell a startling story:

• Traditional derivatives: $600+ trillion notional outstanding.
• Crypto derivatives: $2-5 trillion monthly volume (during active periods).

And Ethereum’s share? Nearly zero, despite hosting a staggering 63% of all DeFi’s TVL.

This isn’t just a missing feature. It’s the missing foundation that everything else is built upon. 

The Great DeFi Exodus: Follow the Volume

Remember when Ethereum was supposed to be the settlement layer for all of DeFi? That vision started cracking when users needed what L1 couldn’t provide: efficient leverage, low-latency systems, and shorting.

The migration was swift and brutal:

GMX on Arbitrum racked up $300 billion in cumulative volume, 800,000+ traders. Not a single trade was posted on Ethereum Mainnet.

Hyperliquid has generated $1.57 trillion in cumulative volume on its dedicated L1, which was purpose-built from scratch because existing chains couldn’t handle the demand.

dYdX began on Ethereum but migrated to StarkEx L2 and then built its own Cosmos chain. To this day, dYdX processes roughly $4 billion in weekly volume with 1.3 million monthly users – all outside Ethereum’s ecosystem.

Here’s the kicker: These platforms didn’t just steal users. They stole the entire economic model that was supposed to power DeFi’s next phase.

Analysts predict that funding yields from perpetuals will partly cannibalize lending protocols’ businesses as they offer leverage with dramatically lower capital requirements. While Aave requires 150%+ collateralization for leverage, perpetuals can offer 5x exposure with just 20% margin.

Untapped Liquidity: Ethereum’s $153 Billion Advantage

Here’s where the numbers get really interesting.

Ethereum Mainnet currently hosts over $153 billion in stablecoin market cap – the deepest, most liquid pool of trading capital in crypto. But this massive liquidity pool has been sitting almost completely idle when it comes to derivatives trading.

Compare this to today’s fragmented alternatives. Arbitrum’s entire DeFi ecosystem commands a ~$3 billion TVL, while all of the 73 total L2s combined amount to a small fraction of Mainnet’s stablecoin depth. 

When Synthetix launches Mainnet, it will have immediate and direct access to more than 40x the available liquidity of any L2 alternative. This enables the following:

• Multi-collateral liquidations: with deep liquidity across multiple high-quality assets.
• Instant settlement to Mainnet: for complex strategies without bridge delays.
• Atomic composability: between lending, trading, and derivatives.
• Institutional-grade infrastructure: with Ethereum’s security guarantees

The Composability Cambrian Explosion

Every DeFi primitive becomes exponentially more powerful when it can compose with derivatives. Without Mainnet perps, Ethereum has been running a financial system where you can lend, borrow, and trade – but not efficiently hedge.

So what becomes possible with native L1 perps? 

• Hedged Liquidity Provision: Earn Uniswap trading fees without price exposure by shorting your LP position.
• Delta-Neutral Vaults: Combine yield farming with derivative hedging for stablecoin-like returns.
• Cross-Protocol Strategies: Use diverse collateral (including yield-bearing assets like wstETH) as margin for perpetual positions, with instant liquidation into deep DEX liquidity.
• Institutional-Grade Risk Management: Professional hedging and leverage strategies on the most secure chain.

The fragmentation forced by L1’s perpetuals gap meant these strategies were either impossible or required complex cross-chain coordination. 

Why Previous L1 Attempts Failed

Early attempts at Ethereum perpetuals trading faced crippling infrastructure constraints and a brutal economic reality. 

dYdX started on Mainnet but couldn’t scale order-book trading. Futureswap’s token plummeted  99.99% in 9 months after failing to scale operations. MCDEX attempted to build on the L1 but quickly migrated to Arbitrum for V3.

The technical constraints were real: high gas costs, slow block times, and MEV exploitation made derivatives trading uneconomical.

Fast-forward to September 2025, and Ethereum’s infrastructure has evolved dramatically:

EIP-4844 has massively reduced data availability costs. Higher gas limits have improved transaction throughput. Hybrid architectures enable off-chain matching with on-chain settlement and a ~90% overall improvement in MEV protection through sophisticated order handling.

Most importantly, the market has proven the demand exists and validated multiple technical approaches.

The Synthetix Catalyst: Built for Ethereum’s Strengths

Synthetix Mainnet isn’t just another perp platform. It’s the first protocol architected specifically to leverage Ethereum L1’s unique advantages while solving its historical constraints.

There are two primary avenues on the Synthetix Mainnet approach, consisting of a suite of technical breakthroughs and pure timing advantage. 

The Technical Breakthroughs

• Off-chain matching for competitive price discovery, private trading functionality, and meeting high-frequency trading system performance requirements. 
• On-chain settlement: preserving composability and security.
• USDT as base settlement asset with unified multi-collateral margining.
• Five premium collateral types: USDT, sUSDe, cbBTC, WETH, and wstETH.
• SNX staking rewards with streamlined tokenomics.

The Timing Advantage

• First serious L1 perps platform since Mainnet infrastructure improvements
• Well-funded team with extensive derivatives experience
• Institutional demand for L1-secured trading infrastructure
• Market validation from L2 successes proves demand exists

The Institutional Inflection Point

Mainnet is no longer just crypto-natives and prop shops trading amongst one another. Here’s what changes the equation for institutions:

Traditional Finance sees a $600+ trillion derivatives market with professional infrastructure, established risk management frameworks, and comprehensive regulatory oversight

Today’s host of crypto derivatives products currently offer relatively fragmented liquidity across dozens of chains, extreme leverage with minimal safeguards, and, despite the warm reception of crypto assets with the new US administration, many protocols are still staring down the barrel of an uncertain regulatory future. 

Ethereum Mainnet offers a distinct and immediate solution to most of these concerns: boasting unrivaled network security, the most battle-tested blockchain infrastructure, the deepest liquidity of stablecoin pools in crypto, high composability with direct integration with established DeFi protocols, and regulatory clarity with clear, existing frameworks emerging for Ethereum-based assets.

The convergence is already happening. CME overtook Binance in Bitcoin futures open interest, and BlackRock’s IBIT ETF options reached $11 billion notional within two months.

Ethereum’s resurgence in 2025 has been driven by its focus on technical clarity with upgrades, new leadership, and growing institutional interest in its secure, composable DeFi ecosystem.

The timing for launching a perp DEX on Mainnet could not be better.

The Network Effect Multiplier

Success creates momentum.

If Synthetix Mainnet captures even 10% of current crypto derivatives volume, it would kickstart a virtuous flywheel for Ethereum, generating:

• $200-500 billion in monthly volume on Ethereum Mainnet
• Increased fee revenue for validators and protocols
• Liquidity magnetism that draws capital away from L2s and funnels it back to the L1
• Innovation catalyst for new composable strategies on the L1

But the real prize is bigger: reunifying DeFi around Ethereum’s secure foundation. 

Every protocol benefits when the ecosystem is complete. The entire Ethereum DeFi stack becomes exponentially more valuable.

Your Front-Row Seat to History

We’re witnessing a potential watershed moment in DeFi evolution. The largest, most sophisticated financial ecosystem in crypto is about to become complete.

The next few months will determine whether Ethereum reclaims its position as the comprehensive home for decentralized finance or whether the fragmented, multi-chain reality becomes permanent.

Either way, you’ll want a front-row seat.

Synthetix Mainnet isn’t just about derivatives. It’s about completing the vision of Ethereum as the world’s financial infrastructure.

Early access starts now, but this is just the beginning. Join the Synthetix community as we build the next generation of perps infrastructure on Ethereum Mainnet.

Join the conversation: discord.gg/synthetix
Subscribe to Telegram: t.me/+v80TVt0BJN80Y2Yx
Follow on X: x.com/synthetix_io

Malicious actors in the cryptocurrency space remain a constant threat to the sector and are not moved by market conditions as they strike during bull and bearish market conditions. Within the last 24 hours, Uniswap V4’s Bunni decentralized exchange (DEX) has been attacked by hackers.

Hackers exploit Bunni DEX vulnerability

According to an update from PeckShieldAlert, a blockchain security firm that monitors the crypto space, hackers have exploited a vulnerability on Bunni DEX. This has led to the hackers stealing approximately $2.4 million worth of assets.

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Critical details of who the attackers could be and the different crypto assets stolen have not been revealed. However, the theft, occurring in the midst of an ongoing bull market, is poised to affect investors who use the exchange.

As of press time, a message from Bunni on their official X handle acknowledged the “security exploit” and precautionary measures taken so far. According to the DEX, their team is currently investigating the incident and will provide details as soon as investigations are concluded.

It has, however, paused all smart contract functions on all networks while this is ongoing. Bunni has called for patience on the part of its users.

Are there security concerns over Uniswap V4 ecosystem?

The compromise on Bunni DEX by these hackers reemphasizes the need for exchanges to pay attention to safeguarding funds on their platform. This suggests that malicious actors are always scanning the crypto space and attempting to steal. Failure to secure protocols could lead to loss of funds.

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Interestingly, in February 2025, Uniswap launched a new V4 protocol that included gas efficiency. Some users have wondered if it has also strengthened its security features to protect exchanges in its ecosystem.

U.Today has consistently reported on scam alerts and activities of hackers with emphasis on how to avoid falling victim to their exploits and safeguarding funds.

Major crypto exchange Coinbase has entered a new era with DEX (decentralized) trading now integrated directly into the Coinbase app. Through the move, users will be able to trade millions of on-chain assets directly in the crypto exchange’s app.

At launch, users will be able to trade a growing list of Base-native tokens, including assets from such projects such as Virtuals AI Agents, Reserve Protocol DTFs, SoSo Value Indices, Auki Labs and Super Champs within the Coinbase app.

The recent move has no doubt boosted volumes on Base, with a Base developer drawing attention to more than $2 billion in daily DEX volumes on the Coinbase layer-2 network.

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According to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, this may be the start, as the newly launched DEX trading only caters to 1% of users of the Coinbase app. The Coinbase CEO was reacting to a surge in DEX volumes on the Base network.

According to Armstrong, “DEX trading rolled out to 1% in the Coinbase app—still early. Will ultimately support every chain our customers want.”

More to come?

DEX (decentralized) trading is now available straight from the Coinbase app. The trading feature routes orders through 0x and 1inch to gain access to liquidity on Uniswap, Aerodrome and other DEXes.

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However, this feature was only rolled out to U.S. users, except in New York State, and on the Base network, with plans to support more markets and networks in the near future.

Going forward, Coinbase says it will gradually expand offerings to support a broader range of Base assets.

Coinbase also highlighted plans to expand DEX support to include additional networks, beginning with Solana and expanding trading to more countries.

Coinbase has begun integrating DEX trading directly into its app via Base, expanding user access to millions of tokens compared to the current 300 listed assets, according to an Aug. 8 announcement.

The feature allows select US customers, excluding those in New York State, to trade newly created Base-native assets within moments of their launch using Coinbase’s existing interface.

The integration marks a significant shift for the exchange, merging the speed and breadth of decentralized finance (DeFi) markets with the usability of a centralized trading platform.

According to DefiLlama data, Base registered the fourth-largest spot monthly volume in July, surpassing $41 billion.

At launch, users can discover and trade tokens from projects such as Virtuals, SoSo Value Indices, Auki Labs, and Super Champs. 

Trades are routed through leading protocols like Aerodrome and Uniswap, with aggregators scanning available liquidity to secure the best pricing. 

Coinbase’s system abstracts away many of the complexities of decentralized trading by including a built-in self-custody wallet, sponsoring all network fees, and allowing customers to fund transactions from their Coinbase balance or USDC.

Furthermore, the company is rolling out DEX asset support in batches to ensure performance and reliability, with plans to index more Base assets daily and to expand to other networks such as Solana shortly. 

It is also preparing to extend DEX access beyond the US. Coinbase emphasized that while it does not list or review DEX assets, it will block tokens flagged as malicious or fraudulent by trusted third-party vendors and will surface on-chain data to give traders more transparency.

Coinbase says issuers who launch on Base, even without a centralized exchange listing, can reach millions of traders through the DEX interface within about an hour of their token being indexed.

Jesse Pollak, creator of the Base network, said the move “puts Base builders on a level playing field.”

He added:

“Base is for everyone, but because of the antiquated listings process, that didn’t always feel true. Now it is, and it’s up to builders to earn the attention with hard work. Onwards!”

By embedding DEX functionality into its consumer app, Coinbase is increasing asset accessibility and signaling a more profound commitment to supporting the fast-growing on-chain economy.

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And we’re back with another day of Crypto 101.

Yesterday, we covered the different types of crypto trading – if you missed it, catch up here.

And today, we’re looking at where you can do it.

More specifically, we’re comparing CEXs vs. DEXs – what they are, how they work, their pros, cons, and why you might pick one over the other.

Ready? Let’s jump in

CEXs

Full government name: centralized exchanges.

These are your classic crypto trading platforms – like Binance, Kraken, Bybit, MEXC, and ChangeNOW – where most people start their crypto journey.

And just like the name suggests, the control over these platforms is centralized – a single entity runs the show, manages your account, and makes the rules.

These platforms basically work like Tinder for crypto trades.

When you wanna buy or sell, they use something called an order book – a list of who’s buying and selling, and at what prices.

When your order matches someone else’s, the exchange connects the two and the trade happens.

However, most of the time, there aren’t enough regular people placing trades to keep things going.

That’s why CEXs rely on market makers – usually bots or companies that constantly place buy and sell orders to make sure there’s always action in the order book.

They profit from the price difference (called the spread), but more importantly, they keep the exchange liquid so you’re not stuck waiting forever for someone to match your order.

Now, when you buy crypto on a CEX, the coins don’t go straight into your personal wallet. Instead, they’re stored in what’s called a custodial wallet– a wallet the exchange controls for you.

You can see your balance, sure, but you don’t actually hold the keys to access the funds directly.

That’s why you’ll often hear the phrase: “Not your keys, not your coins.” If something bad happens or the platform crashes (hi, FTX ), you could lose access to your funds.

But in return for that trust, you usually get a smoother, more beginner-friendly experience: fiat deposits, credit card payments, mobile apps, customer support, and even features like staking or earning interest on your coins.

So, you’re giving up control for convenience.

DEXs

Full government name: decentralized exchanges.

These are platforms with no central authority – no company runs it, no sign-ups, no forms asking for your passport.

You’re in full control.

(Which is kinda the whole point of crypto in the first place.)

But how do they work without someone running things?

Well, everything everything is powered by smart contracts – self-executing code on the blockchain that processes everything automatically.

When you hit “swap,” the smart contract checks if the trade is possible, processes it, and moves the assets between wallets.

Now, DEXs don’t use order books like CEXs do. Instead, they rely on something called liquidity pools.

Think of a liquidity pool like a vending machine that’s stocked with two different tokens – let’s say ETH and USDC.

Instead of a company filling the machine, it’s regular users (called liquidity providers) who supply both tokens hoping to earn a cut of the fees every time someone makes a trade.

When you trade, you’re not dealing with another person directly. You’re just swapping tokens with the machine – taking some USDC out, putting ETH in, or vice versa.

And the price? There’s no one setting it manually. Instead, the vending machine uses a built-in formula – called an automated market maker (AMM) – that adjusts prices automatically based on supply and demand.

If lots of people are buying ETH, the pool runs low on ETH, so the AMM raises the price to reflect that.

And now, for the big difference: DEXs are non-custodial. That means you keep full control of your crypto at all times.

You connect your non-custodial wallet (like MetaMask), approve the transaction, and the trade happens directly between your wallet and the smart contract.

There’s no KYC, and the exchange itself never touches your private keys or holds your funds.

But freedom comes with risk. If you lose access to your wallet or mess up a transaction, there’s no support team to call. You’re the one holding the keys and the consequences.

To summarize:

Choose your fighter

Decentralized exchanges (DEX) reached $1 trillion in monthly trading volume for the first time in July.

According to DefiLlama data, spot trading volume grew 29.4% and reached nearly $514 billion last month, bested only by January’s all-time high of $568 billion.

At the same time, perpetual futures’ monthly volume increased 33.6% to register a new all-time high of $487 billion, with Hyperliquid registering a new record in monthly perpetual trading.

BNB dominance on spot

For the third consecutive month, BNB Chain dominated spot trading volumes. The chain’s volumes grew 15.3% and totaled $196.3 billion in July, representing 38.2% the monthly total.

PancakeSwap was the main driver behind growth, which amounted to $188.2 billion in spot trading volume. The BNB-native exchange volume is larger than the other four top DEXs combined, which is approximately $168 billion.

Uniswap registered the second-largest spot volume among DEXs in July, with $96.4 billion. Meanwhile, Solana-based decentralized exchanges wrapped up the top five.

Raydium, Meteora, and Orca registered $31.8 billion, $20 billion, and $19.5 billion, respectively. The five largest blockchains by volume remained the same between June and July, with just one slight change.

Runner-ups

Ethereum registered the second-largest monthly volume at nearly $86 billion, growing 49.3% from June, while Solana slid from second to third place in monthly spot trading volume despite growing 36.6% to reach $85.1 billion. 

Base and Arbitrum maintained their posts from June as the fourth- and fifth-largest blockchains by spot trading volume, respectively. 

Base’s volume increased by 46.8% and reached $41.6 billion, the first time the layer-2 blockchain surpassed $40 billion since January. At the same time, Arbitrum was the only chain in the top five with one-digit growth, reaching $19.2 billion in volume after jumping 7.4%.

Hyperliquid’s perpetuals reign

Hyperliquid became the first blockchain to surpass the $300 billion threshold in perpetual volume, reaching $323.4 billion in July after a 48.3% growth.

The volume surpasses Ethereum’s $48.7 billion by a large margin, which held the spot of the second-largest chain in perpetual trading volume last month. Despite the difference, Ethereum has grown by almost 56% since June.

The difference is even larger when decentralized exchanges for perpetual’s volumes are considered. Hyperliquid reached $313.4 billion, dominating 64.3% of the market and posting 16 times Jupiter’s volume of $19.4 billion.

Solana, BNB Chain, and Arbitrum wrap up the top five in perpetuals with $37.2 billion, $21.6 billion, and $19 billion in volumes, respectively.

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Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer, David Schwartz, has revealed that regulatory risks are the main reason why the company and its partners have not embraced the XRP Ledger’s decentralized exchange (DEX) for payment settlements.

The statement came in response to a user on X (formerly Twitter) who questioned the DEX’s underwhelming activity despite Ripple’s wide-ranging institutional partnerships.

According to the community, the network has over a decade of development behind it and more than 300 financial partners. As a result, it is expected to facilitate far greater on-chain volume than it is currently processing.

Why is Ripple not using XRPL DEX for payments?

In his post on X, Schwartz acknowledged the slow progress, attributing it to institutional reluctance around public liquidity pools. He said:

“Institutions have historically preferred to use digital assets off-chain rather than on-chain. I think we’re close to changing that because institutions are starting to see the benefits of moving on-chain.”

Schwartz also pointed out a key concern in the difficulty of verifying liquidity sources on an open DEX. In his words, Ripple currently avoids using the XRPL because “we can’t be sure a terrorist won’t provide the liquidity for payment.”

Considering this, Ripple or its counterpart engaging with the DEX poses serious legal and reputational risks without reliable controls.

To address these concerns, Schwartz highlighted ongoing efforts to introduce permissioned features. One such tool under development, permissioned domains, could help institutions identify trustworthy liquidity providers, potentially unlocking safer use of on-chain payment rails.

BlackRock could still adopt XRPL

Despite the issues Schwartz cited, the Ripple CTO expressed a belief that traditional financial institutional players like BlackRock might find it more efficient to build on existing networks like XRPL, rather than create standalone blockchains from scratch.

He cited Circle’s USDC strategy as a prime example of this trend. Instead of launching its own blockchain, Circle deployed its stablecoin across multiple public networks to leverage scale, interoperability, and existing liquidity.

According to Schwartz, these traits position XRPL as a strong candidate for future enterprise-grade tokenization projects. He argued that public chains offer the kind of asset mobility and infrastructure depth that private solutions struggle to match.

BlackRock has already entered the space through Ethereum. Its tokenized money market fund, BUIDL, has amassed over $2.4 billion in assets, making it the largest of its kind.

Schwartz suggested that this precedent may hint at how future institutions could use XRPL in similar ways, provided compliance features catch up.

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