Perpetuals (perps) are one of the most important financial primitives in crypto. For the first time Solana makes it viable to build derivatives markets that live fully onchain without sacrificing the performance that real traders and institutions require.
Most perps volume today flows through either CEXes or hybrid architectures that rely on offchain sequencers or matching engines.
We view that as a transitional state, not a permanent one.
We want to support teams building onchain perps, other derivatives, and the applications around them, that prioritize price discovery infrastructure. Our support takes several forms: distribution, technical assistance, and above all, capital.
What we are looking to support
We are looking to support teams building:
1. Fully onchain execution. Every order submission, oracle update, match, cancellation, and settlement occurs onchain.
Hybrid architectures that rely on offchain infrastructure, matching engines, or settlement paths compromise the integrity that makes onchain markets worth building in the first place. Trustlessness is a property we value deeply and want to see more of on Solana.
2. Competitive pricing through real price discovery. Models where price is set based on two-sided flow, not pool-based or as a function of deposits.
Accordingly, we are particularly interested in architectures such as orderbooks, RFQ systems with genuinely competing makers, or alternative designs where price emerges from active participants setting bids and offers against each other.
3. Solana-first. Teams building on Solana specifically, optimizing for its design, and contributing to its culture and ecosystem in a durable way.
Application revenue should be structurally routed back to the chain, preferably set at protocol level from launch rather than being solely contingent on future governance discretion.
4. Innovation. New ideas, innovations, architectures, and optimizations that will help Solana collectively fulfill its vision of being financial infrastructure for the most demanding of global markets.
It’s taken a lot of ingenuity, experimentation, and R&D for Solana to arrive at the unique market structure that has made Solana the best spot venue for many assets. It’ll take the same rigor of experimentation for perps and other derivatives markets, and we want to support new products that move the industry forward.
5. Experienced teams. Teams that may have built offchain or hybrid perps architectures to date that want to migrate to a fully onchain execution model.
We’ll support existing teams with a live product that are willing to explore a fully onchain, on-Solana model.
6. Open Source. We prioritize teams that open source their work; core contracts and execution logic should be open and verifiable.
Onchain integrity means little if the code behind it can't be inspected. Contributing to Solana culturally means contributing in the open.
Let’s build open, transparent, decentralized markets together.
What if I’m not building a perps protocol but want to contribute to the mission?
We also welcome teams building complementary infrastructure and products to perps: frontend integrations, vaults, structured products, aggregators, advanced trading interfaces, market making operations, social trading applications, and so on.
Grants may be available. Eligible teams can apply at solana.org/grants-funding or through their local Superteam chapter.