Share this article
DeFi Tech, CeFi Speed: dYdX Touts New StarkWare Integration
The throughput solution comes as Ethereum gas fees hit historic highs.
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 12:16 p.m. Published Feb 24, 2021, 3:01 p.m.
Make us preferred on Google
Decentralized finance (DeFi) trading venue dYdX is now onboarding users to a new version of its platform built on StarkWare’s Cairo software.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Cross-margin perpetuals are now available to early signups at zero gas fees thanks to a proprietary implementation of the layer 2 solution. The exchange previously settled directly to the Ethereum mainnet, which has become more painful given a sustained rise in the cost of transaction fees.
A platform for cryptocurrency derivatives, dYdX lists both BTC/USD and ETH/USD perpetual contracts, lending, spot and margin trading. The platform has $250 million in total value locked (TVL), according to DeFi Pulse. It remains one of the more high-profile trading venues in the DeFi ecosystem, with notables Three Arrows Capital, DeFiance Capital and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) participating in its Series B last month.
The StarkWare implementation relies on a cryptographic innovation to boost speeds by moving the heavy computation off-chain.
“ZK-Rollups offer high throughput, instant finality (no danger of trade rollbacks), self-custody, and privacy, and are therefore well suited to the high-value exchange use case,” dYdX said in a statement.
Read more: Optimism ‘Soft Launches’ Ethereum Throughput Solution With DeFi’s Synthetix
The derivatives exchange will reduce minimum trade sizes and trading fees in light of the infrastructure upgrade, the firm added in a blog post.
dYdX said it scoped out alternative options including other blockchains. The team also considered Optimistic Rollups, but found they were “not as battle-tested” as ZK-Rollups. Indeed, ZK-Rollups have been on the market for at least a year by way of Matter Labs’ ZK-Sync and Loopring. DeFi exchange Synthetix, on the other hand, went with Optimism to transfer to Optimistic Rollups.
More For You
Pudgy Penguins is building a multi-vertical consumer IP platform — combining phygital products, games, NFTs and PENGU to monetize culture at scale.
What to know:
Pudgy Penguins is emerging as one of the strongest NFT-native brands of this cycle, shifting from speculative “digital luxury goods” into a multi-vertical consumer IP platform. Its strategy is to acquire users through mainstream channels first; toys, retail partnerships and viral media, then onboard them into Web3 through games, NFTs and the PENGU token.
The ecosystem now spans phygital products (> $13M retail sales and >1M units sold), games and experiences (Pudgy Party surpassed 500k downloads in two weeks), and a widely distributed token (airdropped to 6M+ wallets). While the market is currently pricing Pudgy at a premium relative to traditional IP peers, sustained success depends on execution across retail expansion, gaming adoption and deeper token utility.
More For You
Bitcoin's Quantum threat is ‘real but distant,’ says Wall Street analyst as doomsday debate rages on
Wall Street broker Benchmark argued the crypto network has ample time to evolve as quantum risks shift from theory to risk management.
What to know:
- Broker Benchmark said Bitcoin’s main vulnerability lies in exposed public keys, not the protocol itself.
- Coinbase’s new Quantum Advisory Council marks a shift from theoretical concern to institutional response.
- Bitcoin’s architecture is conservative but adaptable, according to Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer, with a long runway for upgrades.
