Defx Raises $2.5 Million for Dark Pool DEX Launch

Coin WorldMonday, Jun 16, 2025 7:34 am ET
2min read

Defx, a new Layer 1 blockchain designed specifically for trading, has successfully raised $2.5 million in a seed funding round. This funding will support the launch of a dark pool decentralized exchange (DEX) for perpetual futures trading, where critical order flow details, position sizes, leverage, long/short exposure, and liquidation thresholds are fully encrypted using zero-knowledge technology. This ensures that while transaction integrity remains publicly verifiable on-chain, sensitive trading information is kept private.

The investors in this round include prominent names such as Pantera Capital,

, Gumi Cryptos, CoinShares, Robot Ventures, Cadenza Ventures, Baboon , and angel investors like Sandeep Nailwal (Polygon) and Mahin Gupta (Liminal). The funding will be used to develop and launch Defx’s Layer 1 blockchain, which will provide real-time, on-chain trading infrastructure for perpetual contracts across a variety of assets including cryptocurrencies, commodities, currencies, and indices.

Defx aims to address a significant issue in most DeFi trading systems, where transaction data is fully visible on-chain. While this transparency is beneficial, it also exposes sensitive trading details such as order size, leverage, and liquidation thresholds. For traders managing large positions or running structured strategies, this visibility can introduce risks around execution and position integrity. Defx’s solution is to integrate zero-knowledge proofs directly into the execution layer, keeping trade intent private while maintaining full verifiability on-chain. This includes encrypted order parameters, hidden profit and loss metrics, and no public exposure of open trades or collateral details. All transactions are publicly verifiable through on-chain proofs, ensuring trust at the protocol level and creating a more neutral, execution-focused environment for market participants.

Defx is designed as a Layer 1 blockchain specifically for perpetual futures, featuring sub-millisecond matching, a central limit order book (CLOB), and support for contracts on both EVM and Solana. It does not rely on bridges or wrapped tokens, allowing users to bring assets directly from various blockchains such as Solana, Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, and Berachain. The chain architecture includes cross-margin and multi-collateral trading accounts, as well as a liquidity layer composed of vaults, liquidity providers (LPs), and market makers. This system ensures deep liquidity for traders and passive yield for capital allocators, with full on-chain transparency.

Defx supports a wide range of assets, including crypto, FX markets, commodities, TradFi indices, and interest rate perps. Trades can be funded with diverse collateral options, such as stablecoins, top cryptocurrencies, and yield-generating tokens, while maintaining underlying asset exposure. The founding team behind

Labs—Darshan Bathija, Sanju Sony Kurian, and Soumyadeep Das—have been building web3 businesses since 2018. They previously led Vauld, which became a leading crypto lending business in Asia, serving close to 1 million customers. Their experience navigating the challenges of the 2022 crypto winter has informed Defx’s architecture, focusing on risk management and the importance of self-custody to redefine how on-chain wealth is managed without counterparty risk.

Future initiatives for Defx include the launch of public incentive programs, trading competitions, additional vault integrations, spot trading, social memecoin trading, self-custody embedded wallets, native on/off ramps, and the expansion of community-driven initiatives. Defx is poised to bring dark pools to DeFi, offering a zk-powered, privacy-first perps

with real performance, real yield, and no counterparty risk. Defx is a purpose-built Layer 1 blockchain designed for trading perpetual futures across various markets, combining a high-performance CLOB engine with zero-knowledge proofs and a vault-based liquidity system to offer private, composable, and verifiably fair on-chain trading. The protocol enables encrypted order flow, multi-collateral margining, and native cross-chain onboarding without bridges or wrapped assets.

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