Author: Biteye
Original title: Canceling TGE, Phasing Out: Why Is StandX Exiting Just as PerpDEX Is at Its Peak?
Recently, more and more crypto projects have shut down, but StandX @StandX_Official is somewhat unique. Most projects raise funds, issue tokens, experience a price decline, and eventually cease operations as users gradually leave; StandX, however, chose to shut down directly before its TGE.
Over the past year, Perp DEXs have been among the most crowded startup directions in crypto. Projects like Aster @Aster_DEX, Lighter @Lighter_xyz, and Variational @variational_io have emerged one after another, while the market continues to search for the "next Hyperliquid."
While the entire赛道 is still accelerating, StandX has chosen to stop.
A few months ago, StandX was rapidly expanding.
StandX initially focused on the yield-bearing stablecoin DUSD, and only shifted its focus to a Perp DEX in the second half of 2025. The Alpha launched in October 2025, with Mainnet officially opened in November, allowing users to trade perpetual contracts using DUSD as collateral while continuing to earn yield on their DUSD.
StandX truly began its rapid growth, coinciding with the peak of Perp DEX.
With the wealth effect from Hyperliquid and Aster, the market is increasingly searching for the "next Hyperliquid," with capital and users flooding into Perp DEXs, allowing StandX to enter a growth phase.
After entering 2026, StandX experienced rapid data growth. In January, daily Perp trading volume reached approximately $158 million. After launching Position Yield in April, open interest grew from around $25 million to over $100 million. By June 28, StandX briefly ranked fourth on DeFiLlama for daily Perp DEX trading volume; in July, the official figures disclosed approximately 235,000 users and $700 million in daily trading volume.
At the time, the team continued to expand, gradually launching products such as Universal Markets, Community Maker Yield, and Community Vault, aiming to move beyond a standard Perp DEX toward a more open derivatives market.
No one expected the project, still in its growth phase, to hit the pause button just as it was entering its golden stage.
Perp DEX is hot, but mid-tier projects are becoming increasingly difficult.
The entire Perp DEX market is still growing, with platforms like Hyperliquid, Aster, and Lighter continuously competing for users and liquidity, while new projects such as PaperTrade continue to emerge.
Liquidity is inherently an expensive business: it requires bringing in market makers, subsidizing makers, and competing for trading users through Points, rebates, and airdrop expectations. The larger the scale, the higher the ongoing costs required.
As a result, many projects have recently begun to shift their approach, no longer building an entirely new trading and liquidity system from scratch.
For example, TradeXYZ is built directly on Hyperliquid’s HyperCore via HIP-3; the recently launched PaperTrade reads Hyperliquid’s BBO prices and executes trades using its own liquidity providers.
In contrast, StandX chose to build its own order book and has never taken VC funding, relying solely on the team’s own capital. How much money does it cost to maintain such a level of liquidity today?
How are previous balances calculated?
After ceasing token issuance, the most immediate question is: What happens to the costs previously incurred for points and TGE expectations?
Over the past year, many users engaged in continuous trading to earn Points, genuinely incurring fees, slippage, funding rates, and capital opportunity costs. If the tokens are ultimately not issued, these costs will not disappear.
Just now, StandX announced its resolution: a one-time DUSD airdrop to the community, with no lock-up period, and historical participation activities such as pre-deposits, Alpha, Mainnet trading, market making, and referrals will all be included in the distribution.
The official explanation states that most of the previous revenue has already been returned to users through SIP-2 and SIP-3, so this time all remaining project revenue will be used for the airdrop, supplemented by additional funding from the team.
Airdrop inquiries will open on October 26, claims will begin on November 1, and will end on December 31.
Finally, at the very end
The end of StandX does not mean that Perp DEXs are no longer viable. On the contrary, this sector remains highly active, with new projects continuously emerging.
But StandX offers a rare example: it didn’t fail to build a product or lack users entirely; rather, after achieving trading volume and reaching a certain scale, it chose to stop voluntarily.
Of course, many users who have been waiting a long time will be disappointed by the decision not to launch a token. But compared to projects that continue to keep their communities hooked with Points, airdrop expectations, and claims of “TGE is coming soon,” despite knowing the project has made little progress, StandX’s handling of this situation has been relatively respectful.
Instead of repackaging a story already decided to end as a TGE for the secondary market, it used remaining revenues and team funds to compensate the community, giving StandX at least a relatively dignified conclusion.
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