Unchained Ethereum's Layer 1 Lacks a Perp DEX. Synthetix Intends to Change That - Ep. 926
16 snips
Oct 17, 2025 Kain Warwick, founder of Synthetix and Infinex, dives into his latest venture: a perpetuals DEX on Ethereum's mainnet. He explains the rationale behind this contrarian move and details his hybrid optimistic order book model. Kain discusses the challenges of operating on Layer 1, including gas costs and liquidations, while envisioning a future where DeFi can outcompete centralized exchanges. The conversation also touches on the choice of USDT as a settlement asset and the potential of intertwining services into a 'super app' for on-chain trading.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Hybrid Perps On Ethereum L1
- Building a perpetual DEX on Ethereum L1 can succeed because L1 now has far more block space and performance than in 2019.
- A hybrid design with off-chain matching and on-chain settlement lets you keep margin on L1 while matching orders quickly.
Separate Matching From Margin
- Keep order matching off-chain to achieve sub-50ms fills while batching and settling trades to L1.
- Keep margin and liquidation logic on-chain to avoid bridging and attract liquidity.
Tradeoffs Of A Centralized Matcher
- Using a centralized off-chain matcher yields speed but sacrifices full permissionlessness; you can later decentralize the sequencer.
- Traders mostly care that their orders get filled fast; on-chain margin finality matters less to them in the short term.