Vertex, the decentralized exchange (DEX) for spot and derivatives trading of digital assets, has launched on Arbitrum, a popular network built on top of the Ethereum blockchain. With an off-chain order book layered on top of an on-chain automated market maker, Vertex offers a decentralized, self-custodial exchange that combines the benefits of Aave, dYdX, and Uniswap.
Vertex has been working on the protocol for about a year, with institutional traders and retail traders using Arbitrum already showing interest in the platform. The DEX has drawn backing from several industry-leading firms, including Jane Street, Dexterity Capital, and Hudson River Trading, among others.
The rise of decentralized exchanges has been fueled by the collapse of FTX and other centralized trading platform blowups last year, prompting traders to shift toward self-custody. Ethereum layer 2 system Arbitrum is now the fastest-growing blockchain in total value locked and has surpassed Ethereum in daily transaction volume.
By building Vertex on Arbitrum and using an off-chain sequencer for the order book, the DEX can process between 10,000 and 15,000 transactions per second and match orders in 10 to 30 milliseconds. This speed rivals leading centralized venues and surpasses that on other decentralized exchanges, making Vertex an attractive option for traders looking for a fast, secure, and efficient way to trade digital assets.
Vertex co-founder Darius Tabatabai said, "The [automated market maker] is quite conventional, but we have a bunch of tech under the surface that enables you to do leveraged AMMs, to do looping, and we have an inbuilt money market. So you can think of it as a combination of Aave, dYdX and Uniswap, with an order book."