synfutures

Background

SynFutures is a decentralized derivatives exchange committed to democratizing the derivatives market by enabling users to trade any asset and create arbitrary futures contracts within seconds. By leveraging blockchain technology and smart contracts, SynFutures facilitates the creation, trading, and settlement of futures contracts on a multitude of digital assets, including cryptocurrencies, traditional equities, and commodities. This open and permissionless platform empowers users to list and trade futures contracts on any asset with a price feed, thereby lowering the barriers to entry in the derivatives market and fostering a more inclusive financial ecosystem.

Key Strategic Focus

SynFutures' strategic focus centers on providing a decentralized, permissionless platform that allows users to trade a wide array of assets through futures contracts. The platform's core objectives include enhancing capital efficiency, improving liquidity, and offering a user-friendly experience for both retail and institutional traders. By integrating features of automated market makers (AMMs) and traditional order books into a unified liquidity model, SynFutures ensures deep and adaptable liquidity under varying market conditions. The primary markets targeted by SynFutures encompass both cryptocurrency enthusiasts and traditional financial market participants seeking exposure to digital asset derivatives.

Financials and Funding

Since its inception, SynFutures has successfully secured significant funding to support its growth and development. In June 2021, the company closed a $14 million Series A funding round led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Framework Ventures, Pantera Capital, Bybit, Wintermute, CMS, Kronos, and IOSG Ventures. This round followed a $1.4 million seed round raised in January 2021 from Standard Crypto and Dragonfly Capital, bringing the total funding to $15.4 million at that time. In October 2023, SynFutures announced a $22 million Series B financing round led by Pantera Capital. The capital raised has been utilized to enhance platform development, expand product offerings, and strengthen the company's market position within the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.

Pipeline Development

SynFutures has been actively developing and launching innovative products to cater to the evolving needs of the DeFi community. In July 2021, the platform introduced decentralized Bitcoin hash rate futures, allowing users to hedge or speculate on the mining difficulty of Bitcoin. In January 2023, SynFutures launched NFTures, an NFT futures trading platform that enables users to trade long and short positions on non-fungible tokens (NFTs), thereby opening up new avenues for NFT investors to manage risk and speculate on future prices. These developments underscore SynFutures' commitment to expanding its product suite and addressing diverse market demands.

Technological Platform and Innovation

SynFutures distinguishes itself through its proprietary technological platforms and innovative methodologies:

• Oyster AMM Model: The Oyster Automated Market Maker (oAMM) model integrates concentrated liquidity and limit orders, combining the benefits of traditional order books with the automated liquidity provision of AMMs. This model enhances capital efficiency by allowing liquidity providers to concentrate their funds within specific price ranges, thereby improving market depth and reducing slippage.

• Fully On-Chain Order Book: Unlike many decentralized platforms that rely on off-chain solutions for order management, SynFutures boasts a fully on-chain order book. This setup enhances transparency and security, as all transactions are verifiable on the blockchain, reducing reliance on third-party systems and mitigating risks associated with centralization.

• Single-Token Liquidity Provision: The platform allows liquidity providers to supply liquidity with a single token, rather than requiring pairs as in typical AMM setups. This simplification lowers the entry barrier for potential liquidity providers and reduces the complexity involved in managing liquidity pools.

Leadership Team

SynFutures is led by a team with extensive experience in both traditional finance and blockchain technology:

• Rachel Lin, Co-founder and CEO: Prior to founding SynFutures, Rachel was a founding partner of Matrixport, one of Asia's largest digital asset neobanks, and managed structured derivatives sales at Deutsche Bank.

• Other Founding Members: The team includes professionals from global financial institutions and blockchain technology companies such as Credit Suisse, Nomura Securities, Ant Financial, and Bitmain, bringing a diverse range of expertise to the company.

Competitor Profile

Market Insights and Dynamics

The decentralized derivatives market has experienced significant growth, with platforms like SynFutures contributing to the expansion of DeFi offerings. The market is characterized by increasing demand for innovative financial instruments that provide users with more control and flexibility over their trading strategies.

Competitor Analysis

Key competitors in the decentralized derivatives space include:

• dYdX: Utilizes a centralized order book, allowing traders to submit order types used in many traditional exchanges, such as limit orders and stop-loss orders.

• Perpetual Protocol: Employs a Virtual AMM (vAMM) to improve capital efficiency, allowing traders to provide collateral for trading across all markets in a single vault without the need for liquidity providers to supply liquidity directly to the AMM pool.

• MCDEX: Utilizes a vAMM and allows users to create futures in a permissionless way, aiming to add value by enabling the creation of futures contracts without centralized control.

SynFutures differentiates itself through its unique oAMM model, fully on-chain order book, and single-token liquidity provision, offering a distinct value proposition in the competitive landscape.

Strategic Collaborations and Partnerships

SynFutures has established several strategic partnerships to enhance its platform and expand its ecosystem:

• Lido Finance Partnership: Integrated the wstETH/ETH trading pair on SynFutures through the SynFutures Perp Launchpad program, enhancing the platform's offerings.

• Vooi Integration: Partnered with Vooi, a cross-chain intent-based perpetual DEX aggregator, enabling users to trade and provide liquidity on Vooi while earning Oyster Odyssey (O_O) points.

• CygnusFi Collaboration: Launched the wcgUSD/USDC perpetual market with up to 10x leverage and O_O rewards, incentivizing user participation.

• Bifrost Network Partnership: Introduced the BtcUSD/USDC perpetual market with up to 10x leverage, expanding the platform's asset offerings.

• HashKey Collaboration: Strengthened regional market presence through a partnership with HashKey, a prominent digital asset service provider in Asia.

• Degen Partnership: Launched the DEGEN/ETH perpetual market, providing incentives like O_O points, trading fee rebates, and DEGEN APY rewards.

• Turtle Club Collaboration: Offered SynFutures users a 25% boost in Turtle Points and a 30% O_O points boost for new liquidity providers, with added revenue-sharing incentives.

• Onchain Summer Campaign by Coinbase: Enhanced visibility in the Base ecosystem through inclusion in Coinbase's Onchain Summer campaign.

Operational Insights

SynFutures' strategic considerations in relation to major competitors focus on leveraging its unique technological innovations to offer a superior trading experience. The platform's oAMM model and fully on-chain order book provide distinct competitive advantages by enhancing capital efficiency, liquidity, and transparency. These differentiators position SynFutures favorably within the decentralized derivatives market.

Strategic Opportunities and Future Directions

Looking ahead, SynFutures aims to continue expanding its product offerings and technological capabilities. The company plans to enhance cross-chain functionality, facilitating integration with additional blockchains to increase overall liquidity and accessibility. By improving user interfaces and support systems, SynFutures seeks to lower the entry barrier for new users while enhancing operational efficiency for seasoned traders. These strategic initiatives are designed to strengthen SynFutures' position in the DeFi space and ensure it remains at the forefront of innovation in the derivatives trading market.

Contact Information

• Website: synfutures.com

• Twitter: twitter.com/synfuturesdefi

• Telegram: t.me/synfutures

• Discord: discord.com/invite/synfutures

• Medium: medium.com/synfutures