Officially entering DeFi! FTX founder announces launch of "Serum" based on Solana blockchain platform

FTX exchange and Alameda Research founder Sam Bankman-Fried announced today that they are launching the decentralized finance (DeFi) project Serum.

Focus on the DeFi Blue Ocean Market

Looking at the recent market environment, DeFi is undoubtedly a concept sector that industry professionals are focusing on. Taking the well-known exchange Binance as an example, on July 23, the exchange announced the successful integration of Chainlink's Oracle solution into the "Binance Smart Chain" testnet. This move aims to provide better infrastructure for developers who want to build DeFi protocols on the Binance Smart Chain, indicating that even centralized exchanges are beginning to turn their attention to this emerging industry. However, just as Binance is making moves, another young exchange seems to have taken the lead by launching a new project in an attempt to grab a slice of the DeFi pie.

FTX's DeFi Platform on Solana

Recently, FTX Exchange and Alameda Research founder Sam Bankman-Fried stated that DeFi currently faces many challenges and development dilemmas, such as high transaction fees, centralized oracle price feed concerns, and native stablecoin risks. Today, Sam Bankman-Fried announced the launch of the decentralized finance (DeFi) project Serum.

According to the Serum whitepaper, the project is a fully decentralized derivatives trading platform built on the Solana blockchain project. The platform features faster transaction speeds, lower on-chain transaction costs, physically settled leveraged trading contracts, fully decentralized cross-chain trading, and interoperability with Ethereum.

Sam Bankman-Fried stated in an interview:

"By using cross-chain swaps and tokenization, Serum will be able to directly tap into the Ethereum ecosystem, allowing Ethereum-based applications and wallets to access it directly."

Native Token - SRM

The native token of Serum is SRM, with a total supply of 10 billion tokens, of which 1 billion tokens are in circulation. The initial circulation rate is approximately 10%, with a linear annual growth rate of about 15%, estimated to take 7 years to fully distribute. The initial chip distribution is as shown in the following figure:

Similar to most DeFi governance tokens, the SRM token has limited governance rights, a token buyback and burn program, cash flow rewards, cross-chain node staking rewards, and fee discounts. In addition, the Serum Foundation stated in the whitepaper:

"As an incentive, Serum ecosystem partners will distribute a portion of their SRM holdings to users who hold their own native tokens, with this portion of SRM expected to account for at least 5% of the total SRM issuance."

In other words, holders of native tokens from Serum ecosystem partners (such as FTT and SOL token holders) may have the opportunity to receive SRM token airdrop rewards.

How Will Tokens Be Auctioned?

MSRM is a special token synthesized from 1 million SRM tokens, which can freely convert between MSRM and SRM. It is reported that 3% of the total SRM supply will be offered in private placement in the form of MSRM, divided into two phases.

The first phase (225 MSRM, July 26 to July 29) is a seed round private placement offered in a purchase format. The initial issuance price of the first MSRM is $50,000 (SRM = 0.05 USD). The price for each subsequent MSRM will increase by $400.

The second phase (75 MSRM in total, starting from July 30) will be conducted through a Dutch auction starting at the highest price of the seed round private placement in the first phase, with the maximum quantity from the first phase being 225 MSRM.

Both phases of MSRM purchases have lock-up periods and will be gradually unlocked over 1 to 7 years after the token is listed.