$0.1250

Perpetual Protocol is a decentralized exchange for futures trading on Ethereum and xDai. It allows users to take long or short positions with up to 10x leverage on assets like BTC, ETH, DOT, SNX, and YFI. The platform is non-custodial, meaning traders maintain control of their funds, and all transactions occur on-chain. It uses a virtual automated market maker to provide liquidity with predictable pricing based on constant product curves. These vAMMs are designed to be market-neutral and fully collateralized. The project aims to build a secure and accessible decentralized derivatives platform, with plans for expansion to other chains, leveraged tokens, and dynamic liquidity.

Perpetual Protocol was founded by Yenfen Weng and Shao-Kang Lee, entrepreneurs from Taiwan who previously worked on payroll and accounting solutions for crypto startups. The team is largely based in Taiwan. The project has received backing from notable investors including Zee Prime Capital, Multiarrows Capital, CMS Holdings, Binance Labs, and Alameda Research. In 2020, it completed a seed funding round led by Multicoin Capital, raising $1.8 million.

Perpetual Protocol seeks to offer a user-friendly perpetual contracts trading platform with strong liquidity and minimal slippage. It achieves this through a virtual automated market maker rather than a traditional order book. The vAMM is initialized with a set liquidity, and trades adjust prices based on supply and demand. For example, if the vAMM starts with 100 vETH and 40,000 vDAI, a user depositing DAI to go long on ETH would raise ETH's price, creating an incentive for others to short if the price deviates from market rates. This mechanism finds equilibrium without the need for external liquidity providers. All trades settle in USDC, and the use of xDai enables fee-less and instant transactions.

The total supply of PERP is 150 million, with a circulating supply of 68.7 million at present. The token distribution includes 7.5% for a Balancer Liquidity Bootstrapping Pool, 4.2% for seed investors with a vesting schedule, 15% for strategic investors, 21% for the team and advisors, and 54.8% for ecosystem and rewards, with the latter subject to community decisions. PERP serves as a utility token for governance and incentivization. Its value loop involves staking and trading fee rewards increasing token value, which raises awareness, boosts protocol usage, and ultimately increases trading volume and fees.

Perpetual Protocol has undergone security audits by Consensys and Peckshield. It is governed by the community and offers a bug bounty for developers who discover vulnerabilities in its smart contracts. The network operates on xDai, while the PERP token is an ERC-20 asset on Ethereum. Ethereum uses a proof-of-work consensus mechanism, with miners securing the network. Perpetual Protocol integrates Chainlink as an oracle for funding rate calculations, but it does not rely on an on-chain oracle for price feeds to prevent manipulation via flash loans.

PERP can be purchased on several cryptocurrency exchanges, including UniSwapV2, Binance, Kraken, and Gate.io.