What DDEX does

DDEX is a decentralized margin exchange and on-chain perpetual futures protocol founded in 2017 and headquartered in Beijing, China. The platform enables users to trade Ethereum and Bitcoin with up to 5x leverage, borrow instantly, and lend to earn interest, marketed with claimed best-in-DeFi spreads on ETH/USDT and WBTC/USDT and fair-market liquidations. DDEX operates on the open-source Hydro Protocol (audited in 2019) and has expanded into multi-chain liquidity and AI-mediated matching, launching an AI Smart Matching Technology for on-chain perpetuals in December 2025 and a Trade-to-Earn incentive program in October 2025.

The company's revenue model relies on transaction-based streams: trading fees from leveraged positions (up to 5x on ETH/BTC pairs), interest spread from borrowing/lending operations, and potential integration fees from partner platforms. Go-to-market is primarily product-led growth via a self-serve web interface with no disclosed pricing tiers, supplemented by community channels (Discord, Reddit, Telegram, Medium, GitHub) and event-driven positioning at industry summits such as AMPLIFY 2026 Hong Kong.

DDEX serves two principal customer segments: DeFi traders seeking leveraged margin with professional order types, and GameFi users reached through the October 2025 strategic partnership with NEO FANTASY, which extends trading infrastructure into multi-chain metaverse gaming ecosystems. The company also courts institutional crypto-financial participants, as evidenced by its co-hosting role at AMPLIFY 2026 alongside ChainTimes, GAEA VENTURES, and other regional crypto firms. Operational maturity is mixed — recent product launches and partnerships indicate active development, but key trading endpoints on the public site currently return 404, and the only disclosed priced funding (a $2.1M seed in March 2018 led by Initialized Capital with ZhenFund) points to either lean burn or capital constraints. Ownership structure, formal headcount, regulatory standing, and current revenue are all undisclosed in available sources.

Name

DDEX

Website

https://ddex.io

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

DDEX is a decentralized margin exchange and on-chain perpetual futures protocol founded in 2017 in Beijing, serving DeFi traders and GameFi users with leveraged ETH/BTC trading, borrowing/lending services, and an AI-mediated on-chain matching layer.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Decentralized Cryptocurrency Exchange

NAICS

Securities and Commodity Exchanges (523210), Securities and Commodity Exchanges (52321)

SIC

Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services (6200), Commodity Contracts Brokers & Dealers (6221)

akta.pro primary industry

Margin Trading & Collateralized Borrowing (Exchange-Operated) (FSADAAAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Smart Contract & Token Operations Infrastructure (Lifecycle, Corporate Actions) (FSAGAMAH), Crypto Custody & Exchange Wallet Services (Integrated) (FSADAAAG)

Keywords

• Decentralized exchange
• Margin trading platform
• DeFi lending
• Crypto spot trading
• Perpetual futures protocol

Headquarters

HQ city

Beijing

HQ country

China

HQ region

Asia

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Margin Trading Fees: Revenue generated from leveraged trading transactions on the platform with up to 5x leverage on ETH and BTC pairs
2. Lending/Borrowing Interest: Interest income from instant and transparent borrowing and lending operations on the platform
3. Platform Integration Fees: Potential fees from integrating DDEX's decentralized trading infrastructure with partner gaming platforms

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

DDEX is a decentralized margin exchange and Web3 trading platform that offers peer-to-peer spot and margin trading for digital assets (ETH, BTC) with up to 5x leverage. The platform also provides crypto lending and borrowing services that allow users to earn interest on deposits or borrow against holdings, all settled on-chain via audited smart contracts.

Product overview

DDEX is a decentralized margin exchange and perpetual futures protocol offering a platform for leveraged trading on Ethereum and Bitcoin with up to 5x leverage, alongside lending/borrowing services for earning interest. The platform has expanded to include AI Smart Matching Technology for on-chain perpetual contracts and a Trade-to-Earn incentive program. The product portfolio centers on core margin trading and lending services, supplemented by AI-powered trading features and incentive mechanisms.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Margin Trading Decentralized peer-to-peer margin trading of digital assets (ETH, BTC) with up to 5x leverage, fair market price liquidations, and AI-matched order execution. Targeted at individual DeFi traders.
• Spot Trading Decentralized peer-to-peer spot trading of digital assets settled on-chain via audited smart contracts. Targeted at individual crypto traders seeking non-custodial execution.
• Crypto Lending and Borrowing DeFi lending and borrowing service that allows users to deposit digital assets to earn interest or post collateral to borrow funds on-chain. Targeted at crypto holders seeking yield or short-term liquidity.

Quantifiable outcome

• Best spread on ETH/USDT and WBTC/USDT in DeFi
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• ChainTimesminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 20 April 2026Co-host of AMPLIFY 2026 Hong Kong summit, a two-day event themed 'AI × Web3 × Quant — Quantifying Growth in Web 4.0' held in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong on April 20-21, 2026.
• GAEA VENTURESminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 20 April 2026Co-host of AMPLIFY 2026 Hong Kong summit alongside ChainTimes, positioning DDEX among leading crypto-financial institutions and investors in the region.
• AetheriumXminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 20 April 2026Co-host of AMPLIFY 2026 Hong Kong summit. DDEX participated in live AI trading demonstrations alongside AetheriumX at the event.
• Origins NetworkminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 20 April 2026Co-host of AMPLIFY 2026 Hong Kong summit, with Origins Network also presenting project spotlights at the event.
• Monera DigitalminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 20 April 2026Co-host of AMPLIFY 2026 Hong Kong summit, participating in discussions around AI agents, on-chain autonomous trading, and institutional digital credit.
• NEO FANTASYcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 October 2025Strategic partnership announced to integrate NEO FANTASY's blockchain-based metaverse gaming platform with DDEX's decentralized trading platform. The collaboration aims to enhance access to digital assets and decentralized markets for GameFi users across multiple chains, fostering greater adoption of decentralized finance within gaming and Web3 communities.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Synthetix: Decentralized synthetic asset protocol powering perpetual futures on its infrastructure (including Kwenta). Comparable to DDEX as on-chain derivatives infrastructure in the broader DeFi ecosystem, though Synthetix operates more as a base-layer protocol.
• OKX: Large centralized crypto exchange offering spot, margin, perpetuals, and DeFi products. Comparable to DDEX in offering margin and perpetual trading on crypto, but operates as a centralized incumbent across a much wider product portfolio.

Direct peers

• GMX: Decentralized perpetual exchange on Arbitrum and Avalanche offering leveraged trading without traditional order books. Directly comparable to DDEX in offering on-chain perpetual contracts and lending-like liquidity provision to DeFi traders.
• dYdX: Leading decentralized perpetual futures exchange offering margin trading on crypto assets. Directly comparable to DDEX in product category (on-chain perps), target market (DeFi traders), and business model (fee-based decentralized exchange).
• Perpetual Protocol: Decentralized perpetual contract exchange originally built on Optimism. Directly comparable to DDEX in offering leveraged perpetual futures via smart contracts to DeFi traders across multiple chains.
• Hyperliquid: Emerging decentralized perpetuals exchange with on-chain order book and AI-driven matching. Closely comparable to DDEX on technology stack (on-chain matching engine), product (perpetual futures), and target customer (professional crypto traders).

Emerging players

• Vertex Protocol: Cross-chain decentralized exchange offering spot, margin, and perpetuals. Comparable to DDEX on multi-chain liquidity aggregation and integrated spot/derivatives trading for DeFi users.
• MUX Protocol: Decentralized leveraged trading protocol aggregating liquidity across multiple chains and DEXs. Comparable to DDEX's multi-chain liquidity thesis and leveraged trading product.
• Kwenta: Decentralized perpetual futures exchange built on Optimism using Synthetix infrastructure. Comparable to DDEX's on-chain perpetual trading offering and DeFi trader target segment.
• Aevo: Decentralized derivatives exchange combining options and perpetuals. Comparable to DDEX's on-chain derivatives focus and AI-augmented trading infrastructure, though Aevo has stronger options product depth.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/HydroProtocol
• Xx.com/ddexio2018
• Facebookfacebook.com/ddex.io.exchange

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors3 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments1 record

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about DDEX