The views expressed within this article do not necessarily represent those of the entire DerivaDEX protocol ecosystem, which is a broad network of users, developers, and other participants. All changes to DerivaDEX must undergo a public governance process ad be approved by the decentralized DerivaDEX community through the DerivaDAO before being incorporated into the protocol.
DerivaDEX is a decentralized derivatives platform that combines the security and autonomy of a DEX with much of the performance and usability typically associated with centralized exchanges.
Since its inception, DerivaDEX has been governed by a DAO, ensuring that any modifications to the protocol must undergo an on-chain proposal and receive a successful vote.
The DerivaDEX Foundation has determined that the most recent release version of DerivaDEX on testnet.derivadex.io fulfills requirements for the platform to achieve both its performance and security objectives.
Furthermore, the Foundation suggests that the protocol follow a launch strategy that seeks to maximize the following objectives:
Safety: ensuring network resilience and financial security of assets.
Compliance: ensuring compliance with all applicable laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which DerivaDEX operates. [1]
Timeliness: improving speed of launch, doing so incrementally, to allow for more feedback and participation from the ecosystem.
Transparency: empowering the ecosystem with information and the ability to weigh in on the governance of the protocol.
In the interest of a prudent, staged release process, the Foundation suggests a stepped approach to the platform’s release, which must ultimately be voted on and passed through governance procedures. This suggested process is detailed below.
The DerivaDEX Foundation expects an on-chain proposal in line with this plan for “Stage 1: Pilot” will be made by early next week. No proposed stage of the platform, including Pilot, is available to users in the USA or other restricted territories.
Stage 1: Pilot
The Foundation suggests an initial proposal for a “Pilot” mainnet.
For a detailed summary of the current features and parameters of the testnet release, see the proposal at forum.derivadex.com, and the platform documentation.
You can also try the release on testnet at testnet.derivadex.io.
This proposal contains the exact contracts and execution code that has been tested on testnet.derivadex.io, but with an additional safety mechanism: only a small number of testing partners are enabled to access and trade on the platform.
The exact code in this proposal has been available on testnets at staging.derivadex.io, and with the access limitation disabled on testnet.derivadex.io.
This version of mainnet will allow the protocol to unearth problems unique to a mainnet production deployment, without wider risk to user funds. This version should be limited in duration.
All partners that will be testing on Pilot must commit to send any DDX earned via trade mining during this period to a DAO-controlled account.
As always, every modification to the DerivaDEX protocol must be proposed and approved via the governance process. The Foundation suggests a Pilot with these limitations. However, any DAO member is free to create competing or modified proposals.
Stage 2: Guarded Launch
This upgrade contains only one planned change: to remove the limitation on participants to early partners.
At this point, all other parameters are expected to remain the same as they are in testnet.derivadex.io, unless the DerivaDAO proposes and votes otherwise, or new information is discovered.
Stage N: Beyond a Guarded Launch
At this stage, the platform can be scaled via individual proposals, that can lift various limits, introduce features, or modify other parameters. Some examples include:
- Trading pairs
- Number of participants
- Maximum collateral deposit limits
- Minimum collateral deposit size
This proposed approach which follows three basic phases (Pilot, Guarded Launch, and Beyond a Guarded Launch) is suggested by the Foundation as a stepwise way to release the platform while taking reasonable precautions at each stage, and minimizing the risk involved with each new update.
Although DerivaDEX contracts have been audited, and the platform has been extensively tested, there is no way to guarantee a platform that is free of bugs or exploits.
Furthermore, any emergent problems must be resolved via the governance process, meaning all resolutions to problems are dependent on the timely and successful actions of the DerivaDAO community.
Appendix:
[1] It is the intention of the Foundation that transactions on DerivaDEX will be offered only to persons and entities that are not “U.S. Persons” or “United States Persons” as defined and described in the rules and regulations of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
