Introducing dYdX

The Protocol for Decentralized Derivatives

Antonio Juliano
dydxprotocol
Published in
2 min readSep 26, 2017

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Today we’re announcing dYdX, a decentralized protocol for financial derivatives built on the Ethereum blockchain.

dYdX enables trustless peer-to-peer short sells and options on any ERC20 token. The protocol is open source and free to use.

Learn more at dydx.exchange, read our whitepaper, or join us on slack. We will be open sourcing the contracts and launching a beta exchange platform soon.

The rise of decentralized technology has led to an explosion of blockchain based digital assets. Many centralized and decentralized platforms designed to facilitate the efficient exchange of these assets already exist, and more are in development. Such platforms allow investors to take long positions in various assets. However, it is currently very difficult to take short, hedged, or more complex financial positions.

dYdX is a protocol for short selling and derivatives built on the Ethereum blockchain. dYdX provides decentralized peer-to-peer shorting, lending, and options trading of any Ethereum based token. dYdX enables a wide array of financial strategies:

  • Short sells allow investors to profit on price decreases, and can be used for speculation or to hedge existing positions
  • Fully-collateralized low risk loans for short sellers allow token holders to earn interest fees
  • Options can be used to hedge positions, manage volatility, increase leverage, and more

dYdX is fully trustless, so you’ll never need to trust your coins to an exchange or anyone else. dYdX utilizes the 0x Protocol for decentralized exchange functionality, as well as its own fully collateralized peer-to-peer lending protocol. dYdX uses off-chain order books with on-chain settlement to enable efficient markets. Using 0x orders for token exchange allows dYdX derivatives to use existing 0x buy/sell liquidity.

It’s still early days for dYdX, but we’re excited to take on the $1.2 quadrillion derivatives market. If you’re interested in learning more, please reach out to me at antonio@dydx.exchange. We’re always looking for talented individuals to join the team.

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Antonio Juliano
dydxprotocol

Founder of dYdX. Previously software engineer @Coinbase and @Uber. CS @Princeton