Most people know that the most profitable business in the crypto space is contracts.
But can you imagine that a low-key dark horse perp DEX, which has only been operational for a year, surpassed Ethereum, Base, and other leading public chains in revenue within 24 hours? Extending the time frame to 7 days, it has trampled over DeFi veterans such as Uniswap, Jupiter, AAVE, and Lido. It is not only one of the few projects without token issuance within the top 15 of daily revenue but also the perp dex with the best liquidity depth for buying BTC and ETH within a 0.01% price difference range.
This revenue curve's new 'monster' is called edgeX.
Why is the revenue curve so fierce?
Unlike Hyperliquid that we are familiar with, edgeX is a ZK-structured perp dex. The team is incubated by Amber, with core members gathering a group with deep experience in high-frequency trading from firms like Goldman Sachs and Jump Trading. In terms of product form, edgeX is more like a 'comprehensive base for on-chain finance': besides the perp dex, there are also eStrategy (the vault) and two other product lines of edgeX chain.
As stated at the beginning of the article, the quality of the product is directly reflected in the revenue. Therefore, comparing the revenue within the perp dex sector more directly highlights edgeX's ferocity.
As a perp dex that has only been operating for a year, edgeX's fee revenue in the past 30 days is $10.53M, far exceeding the $3.85M of veteran GMX and $1.92M of dYdX. In other words, edgeX's revenue is almost more than twice that of GMX and over five times that of dYdX.
Data Source: DefiLlama
So, how did edgeX break into the top tier of perp dex with its revenue curve? The answer may lie in trading depth and rates, the two metrics that traders care about the most and find most intuitive.
In terms of liquidity depth, edgeX currently ranks second among all Perp DEXs. Taking the core BTC/USDT as an example, within the 0.01% price difference range, edgeX's order book can support up to $6M in BTC order volume, surpassing hyperliquid ($5M), Aster ($4M), and Lighter ($1M). Although the overall depth is still slightly less than hyperliquid, edgeX has the best depth among all perp DEXs for the vast majority of tokens, aside from hyperliquid. More extended discussions on this point can be found in the latest article by edgeX's research lead Dan (Understanding DEX Liquidity: A Comparative Look at Trading Efficiency), which delves deeper into the topic.
Additionally, edgeX offers extremely competitive rates for both Makers and Takers: only 0.015% for Makers and 0.038% for Takers, significantly lower than Hyperliquid's 0.045%. Furthermore, users can unlock VIP1 status by registering through ambassador referral links, allowing Taker rates to drop to 0.036%, and becoming an ambassador can enjoy up to 35% in fee rebates—saving on trading costs while continuously accumulating airdrop points.
With such advantages in trading depth and rates, edgeX's moat has naturally formed, driving the growth of the revenue curve. Even without issuing tokens yet, it proves that edgeX has the ability for continuous 'token buybacks' and to generate funds for ecological construction.
What's even more intriguing is to look at the overall income ranking: among the Top 15 protocols (excluding the issuers of stablecoins USDT and USDC), only four have made it to the forefront without issuing tokens, and edgeX is one of them.
Data Source: DefiLlama
Many friends in the Chinese crypto community may not have heard of this dark horse's name, as this perp dex rarely engages in narrative packaging, and its community audience is more prevalent in South Korea and North America.
In other words, this is a clear case of high revenue, low valuation, and still in the token window period, a scarce alpha.
Currently, edgeX uses edgeX Points as contribution metrics, distributing weekly, with a total of 2.4 million already distributed. Acquisition methods include trading volume, positions, vault participation, and invitations, while edgeX's Messenger ambassador program is ongoing.
Trading volume can be manipulated, but profit revenue cannot lie. Whether in traditional finance or the web3 industry, only the genuine willingness to 'pay by users' is the most direct validation of 'product sustainability'.
In less than a year, edgeX has achieved cash flow ranking in the top 15 of the industry, a highly certain growth curve, and perhaps also a strongly certain alpha. What kind of FDV will it launch with in the next stage, and what returns will it provide to early participants? We can look forward to that.
(The above content is excerpted and reproduced with the authorization of our partner PANews, original link | Source: BlockBeats)
"How did the revenue surpass Uniswap without issuing tokens?" This article was originally published on (Blockbeat).
