Perpetuals

Hyperliquid grew from Jeff and iliensinc’s self-funded trading team into a Layer 1 whose exchange lives in chain state. HYPE’s 2024 user distribution aligned traders with that system, while HLP and the JELLY vote revealed who absorbs losses and when validators can rewrite a market’s ending.

Aster grew from the merger of Astherus's yield products and APX Finance's perpetual exchange. ASTER now supports staking and validator listing votes, while product access, fee policy and reserve execution remain governed by separate rules and operators.

Lighter is an Ethereum-anchored application-specific ZK rollup for order-book trading. Proofs constrain matching and state updates, while a sequencer, prover, governor, security council, interface operator, and LIT utility programs remain separate control surfaces.

Jupiter grew from Solana routing into Perps, a launchpad experiment and a staked-token electorate. JUP carries votes and token-funded rewards, while product revenue, JLP assets and operating keys remain separate from a holder's legal rights.

PancakeSwap turned a BNB Chain AMM into a multichain product family and used CAKE to subsidize liquidity. Its current 400M cap and burns are governance policy layered over an uncapped, MasterChef-owned token contract; holder votes do not equal product ownership.

Raydium is a family of Solana liquidity programs, while RAY is a separate SPL token. Pool fees can fund RAY purchases, but bought tokens go to a protocol address rather than creating a holder fee claim; upgrade and fee-config powers remain with multisigs.

GENIUS is the BNB Chain token associated with Genius Terminal, not similarly named GENI, GENS or GNUS assets. Shuttle Labs operates the noncustodial interface, while a separate Genius Foundation DAO is described as governing protocol safety. Public materials leave the token’s admin keys, unlock schedule and live holder governance unresolved.

Derive grew from Lyra's options AMM into a three-part derivatives system: an OP Stack rollup, onchain margin protocol, and company-operated orderbook. DRV replaced LYRA at 1:1 and becomes governance weight only through stDRV; it is not equity or a withdrawal claim. A centralized matcher, permissioned sequencer deployment, external oracle data, bridges and upgrade paths remain distinct control surfaces.

DYDX is the native gas, staking and governance token of the Cosmos-based dYdX Chain, not the same asset as Ethereum ethDYDX. The one-way migration bridge stopped receiving Chain recognition on June 13, 2025, and only 15% of current net protocol revenue is assigned to the validator/delegator distribution module.

GMX grew from the XVIX and Gambit communities into a perpetuals protocol. V1’s shared GLP pool closed to new liquidity in July 2025; V2 isolates risk in GM pools, while signed oracles, keepers, Timelock roles and conditional GMX buybacks remain critical control points.

ARKM is the Ethereum token at 0x6E2a…b050 used for Arkham's intelligence marketplace, rewards and some exchange fee discounts. Its documents describe governance and a one-billion allocation, while the upgradeable token owner retains mint, pause and upgrade powers that holders do not share.