The DEX
Pactol
A perpetual futures exchange that settles on-chain. Named for the river.
Why it exists
Every exchange asks you to believe it still holds your money. Pactol is built so you never have to: it proves solvency every five minutes, and if it ever stops proving it, you can withdraw without anyone's permission.
How it works
A hybrid design: a deterministic matching engine off-chain for speed, with custody and settlement on-chain so the venue cannot quietly become insolvent. The engine is event-sourced and replayable, which means its execution can be independently audited rather than taken on trust.
It publishes a proof of solvency every five minutes — a cryptographic commitment that user liabilities do not exceed the vault's actual balance, verifiable by anyone with the open-source tool rather than by asking us. If the operator ever stops committing, an escape hatch lets users withdraw directly against the last honest state.
Matching, margin, funding and liquidation run off-chain in a deterministic engine — fast enough to trade, and replayable, so its execution can be audited rather than trusted.
Custody and settlement are on-chain. Every five minutes the venue commits a cryptographic sum of what it owes, and the contract rejects any commitment exceeding the vault's real balance.
If commitments stop, an escape hatch opens and users withdraw directly against the last honest state. The operator cannot trap funds by going quiet.
What is true today
- Deterministic matching, margin, funding and liquidation engine, built
- Custody and proof-of-solvency contracts deployed to a public testnet
- Open-source verifier — solvency can be checked without trusting us
What is not
- Testnet only. It has not launched, and it holds no real money
- No external security audit, and no MIDS integration yet