IDEX

IDEX operates as a decentralized exchange (DEX) for cryptocurrencies, conceptualized as a hybrid platform that merges features from both centralized and decentralized exchanges. The company was founded in 2016 by brothers Alex and Phil Wearn and was initially known as Aurora before rebranding to IDEX in 2019. Alex Wearn, the CEO, brings a product management background from his time at Amazon, Adobe, and IBM. COO Phil Wearn has a background in accounting and astronautical engineering and was previously a co-founder of EtherEx, an early DEX on the Ethereum blockchain.

The brothers' journey began in 2016 with a stablecoin project called Decentralized Capital, but they soon pivoted to focus on decentralized exchanges, launching IDEX in late 2017. Their experience with EtherEx highlighted the latency and high network costs of fully on-chain models, which directly informed IDEX's hybrid architecture. This model utilizes an off-chain trading engine and order book combined with on-chain settlement via smart contracts. This structure is designed to offer the high-performance and real-time trading experience of a centralized exchange, including features like limit and stop-loss orders, while maintaining the non-custodial security of a DEX, where users retain control of their private keys.

IDEX's core offering is its Hybrid Liquidity (HL) platform, which integrates a traditional central limit order book with an Automated Market Maker (AMM) liquidity pool. This system automatically routes trades to the best available price across both limit orders and the liquidity pool, aiming to provide tighter spreads and constant liquidity. The platform operates on multiple blockchains, including Ethereum, Polygon, and Binance Smart Chain, utilizing Layer-2 scaling solutions like Optimistic Rollups to reduce transaction costs and increase speed. The business generates revenue by charging trading fees, with a model that typically differentiates between makers (0.1%) and takers (0.2%). Users can also stake the native IDEX token to participate in securing the network and in return, earn a percentage of the trading fees collected. This staking mechanism is funded by transaction fees rather than token inflation, with rewards paid in assets like ETH.