A review of 9 Perp DEX projects expected to airdrop in 2026

Author: fiyalkin, Crypto KOL

Compilation: Felix, PANews

Recently, crypto KOL fiyalkin summarized a list of Perp DEX projects that may conduct token issuance in 2026, including brief introductions, key data, and more. These projects are all in the early stages of development and have not issued tokens yet. Below are the details.

1. Variational

Variational is a decentralized peer-to-peer (P2P) derivatives trading protocol built on Arbitrum, focusing on on-chain trading, settlement, and clearing of broad derivatives such as perpetual contracts, options, and futures.

Based on the Variational protocol, several applications have been developed, including Omni for simple perpetual trading, and Pro for advanced traders and institutions.

Unique tech stack:

• Zero trading fees for all positions, deposits and withdrawals only cost $0.1
• Loss rebate: When users close losing trades on the Omni platform, there is a 2-4% chance to immediately receive a full loss rebate.
• Wide market coverage: Omni supports emerging markets like RWA, volatility, totaling 485 markets
• Sufficient liquidity: Omni’s liquidity management system integrates liquidity from CEX, DEX, DeFi, and OTC channels.

The project’s points program has been online for less than a month. Early traders have shared 3 million points, with 150,000 points distributed weekly. Currently, circulating points are about 3.3 million. Considering that points programs usually last around six months, this is still a very early stage.

The current open interest (OI) of Variational’s open contracts reaches $670 million; daily trading volume is $1.5 billion; and there are 12,000 traders weekly.

Additionally, Variational has raised $11.8 million from institutions such as Coinbase, Dragonfly, Bain Capital Ventures, between 2024-2025.

( 2. Ethereal

Perp DEX platform Ethereal deeply integrates Ethena Labs’ synthetic USD USDe, aiming to build a “one-stop DeFi app” centered around USDe.

Moreover, Ethereal is the first DEX to offer daily yield on margin, meaning users’ margin can earn returns even while holding open positions, allowing compound interest on every trade.

Ethereal, as an EVM application chain, is configured as follows:

• Settling via Arbitrum One
• Arbitrum execution environment
• Celestia data availability

Currently, Ethereal’s open positions amount to $45 million; daily trading volume is about $80 million; and the total number of traders is 8,000.

) 3. Hibachi

Hibachi is a privacy-focused trading platform. In March 2025, it received $5 million in seed funding from Dragonfly, Electric Capital, and Echo. The team members come from Citadel, Tower Research, IMC, Meta, Google, Hashflow, and others.

Hibachi has launched social features and upgraded chart annotation functions. Since releasing a beta version last June, it has accumulated over $6.7 billion in trading volume, with a daily volume of $7 million, open interest (OI) of about $1.5 million, and over 2,000 daily active traders. It has launched a new points system, but no tokens have been issued yet.

4. Cascade

Cascade is a 24/7 new broker offering perpetual markets covering cryptocurrencies, US stocks, and private assets, with zero trading fees. Currently, some invited depositors can access the platform, which is expected to open to the public in early 2026. Initially, the platform will offer over 10 perpetual markets, with plans to expand the product lineup gradually.

The project has raised $15 million from investors including Polychain Capital, Variant, Coinbase Ventures, and Archetype, and has established partnerships with Arbitrum, Base, Chainlink, and Pyth Network.

5. Pacifica

Pacifica is a Perp DEX built on Solana, aiming to combine CEX speed with DeFi transparency and non-custodial security. Founded in January last year, it is fully self-funded without venture capital. The team includes members from Binance, FTX, Coinbase, NFTperp, and financial institutions like Jane Street and Fidelity, as well as AI companies like OpenAI, DeepMind, and ByteDance.

Currently, Pacifica’s open interest (OI) is about $71 million; daily trading volume reaches $600 million; and the total number of traders is 33,000.

( 6. Extended

Extended, developed by the former Revolut team, is a Perp DEX that aims to integrate cross-asset collateral, unified margin, Perp, spot, and lending into one application. Besides cryptocurrencies, Extended also offers RWA/TradFi markets such as Euro and S&P 500, using USDC as collateral.

Extended is live on Ethereum L2 Starknet mainnet, supporting over 50 trading pairs with up to 100x leverage. Its open interest (OI) is about $200 million; daily trading volume is approximately $1.5 billion; and daily active users number 4,200.

The project has completed $6.5 million in funding, with investors including Tioga Capital, Semantic Ventures, StarkWare, and others.

) 7. Nado

Nado is a high-performance centralized limit order book (CLOB) DEX built on Ink L2 (an EVM-compatible L2 network launched by Kraken), developed by the former Kraken team, combining CEX-level speed with DeFi’s non-custodial security, providing a unified trading experience for spot, perpetual, and funding markets.

Main features of Nado:

• Trading spot and perpetual markets: supporting major currencies like BTC and ETH, with perpetual leverage up to 20x.
• Nado engine: the core is a high-performance off-chain sequencer and on-chain risk engine, settled via Ink L2. New trades enter the order book with 5-15 ms latency and are settled in batches on-chain.
• Unified margin: all user investments are used as collateral across spot, perpetual, and currency markets within a single margin account.
• Currency markets: deposits earn automatic yields, with flexible collateral like wETH or USDT0 for margin lending, enabling quick position cycling through spot margin trading.
• Low fees: taker fees as low as 1.5 basis points, maker rebates up to -0.8 basis points, tiered based on trading volume. The more you trade, the lower the fees.

Currently, Nado’s open interest (OI) is about $90 million; daily trading volume reaches $500 million; and about 2,000 traders trade daily.

8. TradeXYZ

TradeXYZ is a Perp trading platform focused on RWA and traditional financial assets, built on Hyperliquid L1’s HIP-3 protocol, developed by Unit.xyz, aiming to realize a “trade any asset anytime, anywhere” 24/7 global capital market.

Supported maximum leverage:

• Silver: up to 20x
• XYZ100 (tracking Nasdaq futures): up to 25x
• EUR/USD & USD/JPY: up to 50x

Currently, TradeXYZ’s open interest (OI) is about $221 million; daily trading volume is approximately $570 million.

( 9. Reya

Reya is an on-chain exchange built on Ethereum, providing institutional-grade execution. It has raised $19 million from institutions including Robot Ventures, Coinbase, and CoinList.

Reya is based on Ethereum, utilizing innovative, trading-specific ZK Rollup technology:

• Speed: transaction execution time less than 1 ms
• Security: verifiable order execution and settlement via ZK-Proofs, with executed trades settled on Ethereum
• Reliability: no single point of failure, using Rollup design, with multiple rotating L2 nodes

Currently, Reya’s open interest (OI) is about $22 million; daily trading volume reaches $550 million; total traders number 7,200.

Related: 69 potential airdrop projects in 2026 (including scoring, tracks, interaction methods)