Decentralized derivatives exchange

What is dYdX?

Decentralized perpetuals exchange and trading infrastructure.

Category
Decentralized derivatives exchange
Headquarters
San Francisco, CA / distributed ecosystem
Founded
2017
Employees
50-100 ecosystem/company signals
Total funding
About $87M disclosed for dYdX Trading
Status
Private company plus decentralized protocol; valuation not publicly current

What is dYdX?

dYdX is a decentralized derivatives exchange company. The dYdX Foundation reported all-time cumulative trading volume above $1.55T and $64.7M cumulative protocol fees since v4 in 2025 reporting.

dYdX builds and supports decentralized exchange infrastructure for perpetual futures trading, including dYdX Chain, wallets, APIs, rewards, and ecosystem governance. Its public product surface includes Perpetual futures trading, dYdX Chain, Mobile and web trading apps, API access, Rewards and staking, and related services for crypto traders, market makers, validators, integrators, and DeFi developers.

The dYdX Foundation reported all-time cumulative trading volume above $1.55T and $64.7M cumulative protocol fees since v4 in 2025 reporting. As of June 2026, the safest read is a crypto protocol ecosystem with a private company/foundation footprint rather than a conventional SaaS company. Revenue, usage, and customer numbers are described only where the company or public filings disclose them; otherwise this profile uses public scale signals rather than invented private figures.

What does dYdX offer?

dYdX offers Perpetual futures trading, dYdX Chain, Mobile and web trading apps, API access and adjacent workflow products.

  • Perpetual futures trading· Exchange
  • dYdX Chain· Blockchain
  • Mobile and web trading apps· Product
  • API access· Developers
  • Rewards and staking· Token economics
  • Market Mapper· Markets
  • Governance· Protocol

How does dYdX make money?

dYdX economics come from maker-taker trading fees, protocol revenue mechanisms, token incentives, and ecosystem services around decentralized derivatives.

dYdX economics come from maker-taker trading fees, protocol revenue mechanisms, token incentives, and ecosystem services around decentralized derivatives. Public pricing signal: dYdX docs list maker-taker trading fees by 30-day volume tier, with taker fees starting around 5 bps and maker fees around 1 bp for the lowest tier in default software settings. The important commercial driver is trading volume, liquidity depth, market listings, institutional integrations, token incentives, and protocol governance.

dYdX's unit economics depend on trading fees, incentive spend, validator/security costs, liquidity-provider economics, token value, and protocol revenue retention. For sellers, this means the strongest pitch ties to measurable savings, growth, compliance, reliability, or revenue enablement rather than generic productivity claims.

Who leads dYdX?

dYdX is led by Antonio Juliano, with a leadership team spanning protocol engineering, trading systems, governance, liquidity, market structure, and ecosystem growth.

  • Antonio JulianoFounder & CEO/President figureFounder, since 2017Founded dYdX and returned to lead core company direction.
  • Eddie ZhangPresidentExecutive leaderPublic leadership signal for business and ecosystem execution.
  • David GogelStrategy / Foundation leadership signalEcosystem leaderVisible in dYdX Foundation and ecosystem communications.
  • dYdX community governanceProtocol governanceOngoingTokenholder governance influences protocol parameters.

How do you contact dYdX's leadership?

dYdX does not publish verified personal executive email addresses in its official materials. Use the public contact path below, or a verified relationship-based introduction, rather than presenting guessed personal addresses as verified.

Email formatOfficial contact/community routes; personal executive format not verified

How much funding has dYdX raised?

dYdX's capital history is About $87M disclosed for dYdX Trading; latest status: Private company plus decentralized protocol; valuation not publicly current.

2017: Seed - $2M; $10M valuation reported by founder history (Andreessen Horowitz and Polychain led early funding.) 2018: Series A - $10M (a16z/Polychain-backed growth round reported.) Jan 2021: Series B - about $10M (Crypto investors backed derivatives expansion.) Jun 2021: Series C - $65M; total $87M (Paradigm led; valuation not disclosed in company coverage.)

dYdX's company funding is distinct from token, protocol, and foundation economics. This profile treats undisclosed valuations, undisclosed round sizes, and public-company market values conservatively, using only public figures or clearly labeled capital-history views.

How did dYdX get here?

dYdX's path runs from founding through product expansion, major financing, and its current private company plus decentralized protocol; valuation not publicly current status.

  1. 2017FoundedAntonio Juliano starts dYdX.
  2. 2018Series Aa16z participates in early financing.
  3. Jun 2021Series CParadigm leads $65M round.
  4. 2023dYdX Chain migrationProtocol shifts toward app-chain architecture.
  5. 2025Buyback programProtocol governance launches/expands DYDX buybacks from revenue.
  6. 2026Trade Anything roadmapEcosystem focuses on broader market listings and integrations.

Who are dYdX's competitors?

dYdX competes with category incumbents and newer specialists that attack the same buyer budget from different product angles.

  • HyperliquidHigh-volume onchain perpetuals exchange.
  • GMXPerpetuals DEX using pooled liquidity.
  • Perpetual ProtocolDeFi perpetuals protocol.
  • VertexHybrid orderbook DEX for spot and derivatives.
  • AevoDerivatives exchange focused on options/perps.

dYdX — frequently asked questions

Agent CTA Background

Revenue work. On autopilot.

Start Free TrialBuilt for revenue teams who care about quality.