dYdX Annual Report 2025: Moving from Volatility Cycles to Institutional Liquidity

By 2025, decentralized derivatives have become a major part of DeFi, with dYdX among its most influential platforms. With a cumulative trading volume of more than $1.5 trillion and a redesigned token model that aligns the success of the protocol with token holders, the protocol is no longer just a DEX, but is evolving into a complete layer of market infrastructure.

The year 2025 will be remembered as the moment when decentralized finance (DeFi) moved from its experimental phase into the realm of permanent institutional commitment. Second For the new dYdX 2025 Ecosystem Annual Reportthe protocol has successfully navigated the shift from chasing occasional volatility to building programmatic and sustainable liquidity.

With the perpetual trading volume on the chain approaching the $10 trillion mark worldwide, dYdX’s strategic shift towards deep integrations, professional executions and a robust buyback model indicate that the “decentralized Wall Street” vision is finally starting to mature.

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The numbers that matter: $1.55 trillion and the recovery narrative

The protocol recorded a total trading volume of $1.55 trillion across all versions of the protocol. The report also shows a U-shaped recovery during the year.

After a relatively quiet second quarter, in which the volume of trade fell to $ 16 billion amid a wider consolidation of the market, the protocol came back strong in the last quarter. Q4 2025 saw trading volume grow to $34.3 billion, representing the strongest quarter of the year.

This rebound was not only a result of market beta, but was driven by the launch of the community-driven Market Mapper and a series of rate holidays that saw liquidity in major pairs like BTC-USD and SOL-USD reach parity with top centralized exchanges (CEX).

The key indicators of the Protocol for 2025 include:

• Revenue Protocol: $64.7 million in fees generated by the launch of dYdX v4.
• Storage Security: $48 million in rewards distributed to users securing the dYdX chain.
• Market Expansion: Jump to 386 markets in total, representing a 200% increase in asset availability.
• User adoption: Almost 85% year-over-year increase in DYDX holders, now reaching more than 98,100 unique addresses.

Tokonomics 2.0: The fast wheel of purchase is in motion

For years, there has been significant debate about the utility of DeFi governance tokens. In 2025, dYdX gave a concrete answer in expansion The DYDX Purchase Program His own. What started as a pilot experiment has evolved into a protocol-level procurement mechanism, systematically implemented and managed by the Sub-Treasury (SubDAO).

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Through a series of governance-driven updates, in particular Proposal #313The community voted to redirect 75% of the protocol’s net revenue towards the systematic recovery of DYDX from the open market. These tokens are not only burned, they are stacked to increase decentralization and secure the network, creating a flywheel effect:

1. The higher amount results in more taxes.
2. More fees lead to bigger purchases.
3. Buybacks increase the amount of concentrated DYDX, strengthening the security of the network and reducing the supply of liquid.

Since January 2026, the program has bought 8.46 million DYDX and used it for staking, with a total market value of $1.72 million at the time of purchase. This mechanism has contributed to a constant average annual rate of 3.3%, providing a predictable return to long-term owners in an already volatile market.

Solana Spot is the disjointed user experience

One of the most important technical advances in 2025 was the introduction of native spot trading in Solana. Historically, dYdX was synonymous with immortal. Expanding its range of products to include spot markets, the protocol now brings together a wider range of institutional strategies, such as cross-market hedging and cash and carry trades.

The report also highlights a major change in the way users interact with the protocol through… Pocket Pro Bota native business interface in Telegram. By meeting merchants where they live (social media apps), dYdX has dramatically lowered the barrier to entry. This non-integrated approach allows users to manage positions, track rankings, and execute trades without leaving their social workflow.

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Additionally, the Market Mapper initiative has decentralized the listing process. Instead of waiting for a central committee to list an asset, the community can now propose new markets without permission. This has allowed dYdX to capture the long tail of digital assets, ensuring that it remains the leading destination for emerging tokens.

Institutional infrastructures: bridging the gap

To compete with centralized exchanges (CEX), sub-second response time and fairness of execution are non-negotiable. The 2025 report presents a major revision in protocol plumbing.

It was well executed Order Entry Gateway Services (OEGS) and proposed proposals Significantly increases block time consistency. By moving critical infrastructure to “bare metal” servers, Ops SubDAO was able to reduce monthly operating costs from $35,000 to just $6,000, while reducing latency for high-frequency traders.

Enterprise adoption is also enhanced through deep integration with professional tools such as CoinRoutes and ccxt and Foxify Trade. These integrations allow hedge funds and market makers to treat dYdX as a software endpoint, allowing them to seamlessly route order flow between centralized and decentralized venues.

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Governance and the SubDATO Era: A Sovereign Machine

In 2025, the ecosystem handled a record 135 governance proposals, showing a level of community engagement rarely seen in DeFi. The SubDAO model is now fully functional, with dedicated entities managing different aspects of the protocol:

• dYdX Foundation: Focus on strategic coordination and organizational clarity. In 2025, the Foundation published a white paper compliant with MiCA, explaining Internal compliance considerations The changing European regulatory landscape
• Branch sub-operations: Responsible for technical health of the dYdX series, managing protocol updates (v8.1) and public validator dashboards.
• Branch of the Ministry of the Treasury: Manage the expansion of treasury assets from 45 million to more than 85 million DYDX, while overseeing the buyback program.
• Limited dYdX Scholarships: Relaunched with 13.1 million DYDX to fund high-impact research, development tools and ecosystem growth initiatives.

dYdX Raise: $20M Catalyst

To kick off the momentum of the year, the ecosystem launched a massive $20 million dYdX Surge business competition. Unlike traditional trading competitions that favor whales, Surge is designed to reward consistent liquidity performance and sustainable flow volume across a wide range of markets.

The program achieved great success, contributing to an increase in sales volume of $17 billion in the affiliate channel alone. By the end of 2025, the Partner Program has been renewed to offer up to 50% of revenue share to level 1 partners, ensuring that the growth of the protocol is shared with the influencers and platforms that drive it.

As 2026 approaches, dYdX’s mission is clear, and the focus shifts from “growth at all costs” to “sustainable market dominance.”

With the chain expecting more than $10 trillion next year, dYdX is doubling down on its distribution strategy. This includes more ways to stream via mobile bots, deeper enterprise API support, and a continued focus on regulatory compliance. dYdX enters 2026 with a more agile cost structure, a more aggressive token alignment model, and a technology stack that finally matches the performance of centralized giants. For those watching the “DeFi vs. Venture Finance” war, The 2025 report makes one thing clear: the advantage in the chain is no longer just a theory, but a $1.5 trillion reality.