"Telegram Trading Aims to Spark dYdX's Comeback Amid Earnings Slide"

dYdX, a leading decentralized exchange (DEX), is accelerating its roadmap to integrate Telegram-based trading as part of broader efforts to enhance platform performance and user experience following a significant decline in earnings. According to dYdX’s 2025 roadmap, the platform plans to launch Telegram trading in September 2025, enabled by its recent acquisition of Pocket Protector, a social trading app. As part of this acquisition, Pocket Protector co-founder Eddie Zhang joined dYdX as president and emphasized the importance of strengthening the platform’s competitive positioning to increase market share and deliver long-term value to the community and ecosystem [1].

The move comes as dYdX reported a sharp drop in earnings over the past 12 months. According to data from DefiLlama, the platform generated $3.2 million in the second quarter of 2025, down from $20.1 million in the same period of 2024—representing an 84% decline [1]. Total value locked (TVL) has also fallen significantly, dropping to $312 million as of late July from $1.1 billion in October 2021. In response to these financial challenges, dYdX rebranded its core development company from dYdX Trading to dYdX Labs, signaling a new phase of innovation and technological experimentation [2].

Among the key upgrades outlined in the roadmap are the introduction of partner fee shares, scale and TWAP (time-weighted average price) orders, and designated proposers. The partner fee share program aims to incentivize liquidity providers and volume contributors by allowing them to earn up to 50% of protocol fees. Scale and TWAP orders offer traders more execution flexibility, including the ability to split large trades into smaller, time-based intervals. The designated proposers feature is designed to reduce latency by assigning specific validators to process transactions more efficiently [1].

In parallel, dYdX is expanding its user-facing features to improve accessibility and reduce transaction costs. These include social login options such as Google and Apple, direct USDC-to-DYDX swaps via an Osmosis integration, and customizable fee tiers that allow token stakers to receive reduced trading fees. Additionally, free and instant deposits for over $100 on major blockchains such as Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Solana have been introduced to streamline the onboarding process [2].

The platform is also preparing for future developments, including the introduction of spot trading and real-world asset (RWA) perps. These initiatives are intended to broaden dYdX’s appeal by offering exposure to traditional financial markets and private assets, further aligning the protocol’s growth with broader trends in the DeFi sector. According to the roadmap, these features will launch with support for Solana and other chains will follow shortly thereafter [2].

The DeFi sector as a whole has seen significant growth in 2025. As of late July, total TVL across all DeFi platforms and blockchains stood at $158.2 billion, up from $115.9 billion at the start of the year—a 36.5% increase. Ethereum remains the dominant blockchain for DeFi, accounting for $93.9 billion or 59.4% of the total value locked [1].

Source: [1] DeFi platform dYdX plans Telegram trading in roadmap (https://cointelegraph.com/news/defi-dydx-telegram-trading-roadmap-earnings) [2] Telegram Trading, Performance Upgrades, and Token Utility (https://www.dydx.xyz/blog/august-roadmap-update)