The new derivatives trading platform will combine the core features of a DEX and elements of a centralized cryptocurrency exchange. GammaX is a Singapore-based company that builds a high-performance hybrid crypto derivatives exchange. It announced the closing of a $4,000,000 seed round. StarkWare, which developed zero-knowledge technology and Dexterity Capital, were backers.
The round also includes Alphanonce and Genesis Trading, Cobo, Genesis Trading. Kyber, Ledger Prime. Matrixport. Profluent. Uncorrelated. GammaX shared the announcement with Decrypt.
GammaX’s anonymous co-founder, Defi Das, stated in a statement that “our mission is to create a world’s fastest and most complete, easiest-to-use, and responsive exchange available for traders.” We are combining the best of both central and decentralized exchanges in order to accomplish that.
GammaX founder, the GammaX cofounder, said that GammaX has interviewed “hundreds” of traders from around the globe to find out what they are looking for in a next-generation perpetual forwards exchange.
DeFi Das said, “What we’re hearing is that many exchanges in our industry fail in a variety areas when it comes down to a top trader experience.”
GammaX explains that the order book and matching engine of the platform are kept off-chain. Settlement and custody of funds are handled on-chain via smart contract.
Because blockchain infrastructure is still maturing, fully decentralized counterparts may not be able to provide traders with a satisfactory user experience. GammaX’s vice-president of marketing James Ryan said Decrypt that once blockchain infrastructure is up to speed, they may reconsider this decision.
GammaX, unlike other decentralized exchanges that are built on Ethereum is built on StarkWare’s layer-2 solution called StarkEx – a trading engine that supports a variety of services including derivative trading.
StarkEx hosts a variety of applications, including dYdX which is a popular margin trading platform, NFT-centric projects Immutable, Sorare and the spot decentralized Exchange (DEX) DeversiFi.
GammaX states that perpetual contracts trading requires fast price feed updates across a range of trading pairs. This information is not possible to scale at layer 1 due to its cost-effectiveness and speed.
StarkEx technology offers other advantages such as the ability to trade fee-free. Transaction fees are only required when a user makes a deposit or withdraws funds from the GammaX smart contracts.
According to Das DeFi “Gamma symbolises high-energy speed and physics in physics. It is also used in options trading as an acceleration measure, which is why we chose GammaX.
StarkWare CEO Uri Kolodny said that GammaX is a talented, entrepreneurial team with a history of bringing new products to market. We look forward to working together to bring a new era in derivatives trading.”
GammaX beta launch
GammaX will open its beta network to beta testers in the coming weeks, before opening up to mainnet users later in the fall.
At the beginning, there will only be two trading pairs: Bitcoin & Tether. Ethereum and Tether can both trade with 20X leverage. GammaX plans to increase the number of pairs available during the public testnet and mainnet releases.
The same goes for the addition of new features. “This will be evaluated in the closed beta phase where GammaX works closely with traders to assess which features are most important to their lives and which make them more comfortable,” James Ryan, vice president of marketing, told decrypt.
According to Ryan, “GammaX will be testing exotic derivatives, cross-collateral-margin, as well as intelligent liquidity algorithms to provide deep liquidity for a high number of trading pairs.”
GammaX, like many other exchanges, is also looking to launch its own token with a rewards system that will appeal to both advanced and beginner traders, according to the exchange.
These incentives include trading rewards, referral rewards and “earn to Learn” opportunities. This program aims to educate GammaX users about crypto derivatives and help them master the nuances.
