Another Solana project has “broken up” — but this time it’s an amicable split 😅
BULK founder @kdotbulk posted a long thread on X today to formally state: BULK will no longer call itself a Solana DEX, but rather a “purpose-built trading L1” — packaging an order book, matching engine, and risk engine into a single chain.
1️⃣ Why the move: He said that to serve HFT, execution needs to be faster, and throughput limits affect real-time risk management, especially when scaling to 100,000 or even 1,000,000 users; he also explicitly said there was friction with Solana leadership over execution preferences.
2️⃣ What it looks like now: Collateral is still on Solana for now, and BULK’s own ledger records balances, positions, and margin. Funds deposited from Solana will continue to stay on Solana.
3️⃣ What they want to do: They plan to connect chains like Arc, Tempo, Arbitrum, and HyperEVM, sharing one margin system and one order book, with deposits on chain A and withdrawals on chain B. Note: this part is a “plan,” not something already live.
4️⃣ Side note: Solana co-founder toly replied that he still supports good founders, “Go crush it,” but he also has his own products to worry about; the same goes for Bullet and Backpack. BULK replied: you’re on our cap table, aren’t you.
My take:
This is actually becoming a more common path — once an exchange grows big enough, it wants its own execution layer, and Hyperliquid has already proven that this route can work. BULK’s logic is: “wherever the user’s money is on-chain, that’s where you plug in,” consolidating fragmented liquidity into one order book. That narrative itself is reasonable.
But it needs a reality check: multi-chain settlement sounds simple, but the real challenges are cross-chain confirmations, risk control, and withdrawal liquidity. No matter how polished the roadmap looks, what matters is actual depth and trading data.
For the $SOL ecosystem, moves like this are more about a project choosing a different technical stack, not some fundamental bearish signal — no need to overinterpret it.
Source: @kdotbulk X thread (10/29), @toly X reply
Not investment advice, DYOR.
BULK founder @kdotbulk posted a long thread on X today to formally state: BULK will no longer call itself a Solana DEX, but rather a “purpose-built trading L1” — packaging an order book, matching engine, and risk engine into a single chain.
1️⃣ Why the move: He said that to serve HFT, execution needs to be faster, and throughput limits affect real-time risk management, especially when scaling to 100,000 or even 1,000,000 users; he also explicitly said there was friction with Solana leadership over execution preferences.
2️⃣ What it looks like now: Collateral is still on Solana for now, and BULK’s own ledger records balances, positions, and margin. Funds deposited from Solana will continue to stay on Solana.
3️⃣ What they want to do: They plan to connect chains like Arc, Tempo, Arbitrum, and HyperEVM, sharing one margin system and one order book, with deposits on chain A and withdrawals on chain B. Note: this part is a “plan,” not something already live.
4️⃣ Side note: Solana co-founder toly replied that he still supports good founders, “Go crush it,” but he also has his own products to worry about; the same goes for Bullet and Backpack. BULK replied: you’re on our cap table, aren’t you.
My take:
This is actually becoming a more common path — once an exchange grows big enough, it wants its own execution layer, and Hyperliquid has already proven that this route can work. BULK’s logic is: “wherever the user’s money is on-chain, that’s where you plug in,” consolidating fragmented liquidity into one order book. That narrative itself is reasonable.
But it needs a reality check: multi-chain settlement sounds simple, but the real challenges are cross-chain confirmations, risk control, and withdrawal liquidity. No matter how polished the roadmap looks, what matters is actual depth and trading data.
For the $SOL ecosystem, moves like this are more about a project choosing a different technical stack, not some fundamental bearish signal — no need to overinterpret it.
Source: @kdotbulk X thread (10/29), @toly X reply
Not investment advice, DYOR.