Who is behind
each perp DEX.
Founders, disclosed funding, backers and a seven-point track-record checklist for 50 perpetual DEXs, from official sources.
By PerpsAtlas Research · Data as of . The text below is calculated from the same capture as the directory and changes when the data does.
- Venues checked50
- Team named20
- Funding disclosed21
- Self-funded2
What we found
For 50 perp DEXs we checked who is behind them using official sources: team pages, founders’ own posts, investor announcements and, for funding only, major news outlets (labelled on each venue page). 20 name at least some team members, 11 name no one in official material (common in DeFi), and for 19 we could not verify either way.
21 venues have disclosed funding amounts. Disclosed rounds are not the whole picture: amounts are often unannounced, and some venues are funded by a parent company or say they are self-funded.
The checklist counts seven facts we could confirm: a named team, stated founder experience, disclosed funding, a published audit, no major incident on record, more than a year live, and six months of activity data. It is not a safety rating: “–” on a venue page means not verified, not “no”.
Teams and backers by venue
| Venue | Checks confirmed | Team | Disclosed funding | Backers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Variational | 7 of 7 | Named | $60.30M | Dragonfly Capital, Bain Capital Crypto, Bain Capital Crypto (lead) |
 GRVT | 7 of 7 | Partly named | $35.50M | Further Ventures, ZKsync |
 Orderly | 7 of 7 | Partly named | $25.00M | Pantera Capital, Dragonfly Capital, OKX Ventures, Leading Ventures |
 SynFutures | 7 of 7 | Named | $37.40M | Polychain Capital, Framework, Pantera Capital, HashKey Capital |
 Lighter | 6 of 7 | Partly named | $89.00M | Haun Ventures, Craft Ventures, Founders Fund, Ribbit Capital |
 Extended | 6 of 7 | Partly named | $19.00M | Tioga Capital, Semantic Ventures, eToro, Jump Crypto |
 dYdX | 6 of 7 | Named | $87.00M | Three Arrows Capital, DeFiance Capital, Paradigm, QCP Capital |
| StandX | 6 of 7 | Partly named | Self-funded | — |
 Ostium | 6 of 7 | Named | $27.50M | General Catalyst, Jump Crypto |
 Bluefin Pro | 6 of 7 | Named | — | Polychain, Susquehanna (SIG) |
 Hyperliquid | 5 of 7 | Partly named | Self-funded | — |
 SoDEX | 5 of 7 | Partly named | $19.15M | HongShan, GSR Markets, SmallSpark.ai |
 Paradex | 5 of 7 | Partly named | — | — |
 Derive | 5 of 7 | Named | $3.30M | Framework Ventures, ParaFi Capital, Variant |
 Aster | 4 of 7 | Not named | — | Binance Labs (now YZi Labs) |
 Polymarket Perps | 4 of 7 | Named | $2.07B | General Catalyst, Joe Gebbia, Founders Fund, 1confirmation |
 ApeX Omni | 4 of 7 | Not named | — | — |
 Arcus | 4 of 7 | Partly named | — | Robinhood Crypto |
 Veranta (Avantis) | 4 of 7 | Partly named | $12.00M | Pantera Capital, Founders Fund |
 Pacifica | 4 of 7 | Not verified | — | — |
 Jupiter Perps | 4 of 7 | Not verified | $35.00M | ParaFi Capital |
 RISEx | 4 of 7 | Named | $4.00M | Vitalik Buterin, Stani Kulechov, Galaxy Ventures |
 TxFlow | 4 of 7 | Not verified | — | — |
 Astros | 4 of 7 | Not verified | — | — |
 BULK | 4 of 7 | Partly named | $8.00M | 6th Man Ventures, Robot Ventures |
 Decibel | 4 of 7 | Partly named | — | — |
 edgeX | 3 of 7 | Not named | — | Circle Ventures |
 Vest | 3 of 7 | Not verified | $5.00M | Jane Street, QCP Capital, Amber Group, Coinbase |
 GMX | 3 of 7 | Not named | — | — |
 Phoenix Perps | 3 of 7 | Not verified | $20.00M | Paradigm, Electric Capital |
 Aevo | 3 of 7 | Not verified | $8.75M | Paradigm (lead) |
 SunX | 3 of 7 | Not verified | — | — |
 Perpl | 3 of 7 | Not named | $9.25M | Dragonfly Capital (lead), Ergonia |
 Hibachi | 3 of 7 | Not verified | — | — |
 Storm Trade | 3 of 7 | Not verified | — | — |
 SparkDEX Perps | 3 of 7 | Not verified | — | — |
| Antarctic | 2 of 7 | Not named | $7.00M | — |
 Primit | 2 of 7 | Not named | — | — |
 Nado | 2 of 7 | Not named | — | — |
 PopDEX | 2 of 7 | Not named | — | — |
 Bullbit | 2 of 7 | Not verified | — | — |
 Gate Perp DEX | 2 of 7 | Not verified | — | — |
 Meridian | 2 of 7 | Not named | — | — |
 gTrade (Gains Network) | 2 of 7 | Not verified | — | — |
 Bullet | 2 of 7 | Not verified | — | — |
 Synthetix | 2 of 7 | Not verified | $12.00M | Framework Ventures, Paradigm, Coinbase Ventures |
 Injective Perps (Helix) | 1 of 7 | Not verified | — | — |
 Aftermath Perps | 1 of 7 | Not verified | — | — |
 Katana Perps | 1 of 7 | Not verified | — | — |
 DipCoin | 1 of 7 | Not named | — | — |
Common questions
Which perp DEXs have public teams?
20 of the 50 venues we checked name at least some team members in official sources; see the table.
Does a strong team or big investors make a perp DEX safe?
No. Backing and experience are useful context, but well-funded venues have also had exploits and outages. Check audits, incident history, and only deposit what you can afford to lose.
More data reports
- Perp DEX trading fees compared: maker and taker
- Highest-leverage perp DEXs: maximum leverage by venue
- Perp DEX restricted countries: US, UK, Canada and more
- Perp DEX market share by open interest
- Which perp DEXs earn the most fees
- Perp DEX volume vs open interest: turnover ratio
- Perp DEXs without a token yet, ranked by open interest
- Perp DEXs by blockchain: where open interest settles
- RWA perp DEXs: who offers stocks, gold and FX perpetuals
Open interest and fees: DefiLlama, captured 08 Oct 2026 · 14:43 UTC. 24h volume: CoinGecko derivatives exchange data (rolling 24 hours, converted from BTC), captured 08 Oct 2026 · 14:43 UTC. Token prices and 30-day price change: CoinGecko, at the time shown on each venue page; a parent-project or chain token is labelled and is not evidence of a claim on exchange revenue. Changes compare the last 30 days with the previous 30 days (OI as a daily average, fees as a total) and need at least 95% daily coverage. A trend label needs the 30-day move to pass a threshold (OI ±25%, fees ±30%) on a minimum base (OI ≥ $5M, fees ≥ $100K per 30 days); with 90 days of history both horizons must agree. Venue-reported volume is not audited; ⚑ marks volume above 25× open interest. “—” means unavailable, never zero. Full method ↗
Market data, not investment advice. Venue links in the directory may be referral links; they never change rankings. Disclosure