By Jae, PANews
StandX’s Oct. 15 announcement that it will gradually cease operations and abandon its planned token generation event has put a brake on the decentralized perpetual exchange market, at least for traders who were treating the sector as a points-to-airdrop pipeline.
Instead of following the more common path of launching a token at a high valuation and leaving the secondary market to absorb the damage, StandX chose a more measured exit. The protocol said it would compensate community users with a one-time DUSD airdrop. That does not erase the hit taken by users who had spent a long period farming StandX points.
With StandX stepping back, PANews reviewed nine mainstream Perp DEX protocols, looking at fundamentals, points systems and the main risks that could shape the next round of airdrop opportunities.
Mature leaders: stronger footing, thinner upside for late entrants
These protocols generally have more polished products, steadier trading activity and clearer team backgrounds. They are often seen as the sector’s top students. The trade-off is that most of their incentive campaigns are already in the middle or late stage, which means early rewards have been spread across a large pool of participants and marginal returns for newcomers have fallen sharply.
Variational: clearer expectations on token allocation
Variational was founded by former engineering and quantitative research executives from Genesis Global Trading and has raised more than $61.80 million from Bain Capital Crypto, Dragonfly Capital and Coinbase Ventures, among others. Its retail-facing app, Omni, is deployed on Arbitrum and offers perpetual trading through an RFQ model.
Among Perp DEX projects that have not yet launched a token, Variational has built a visible lead. Its total value locked is about $291 million, 30-day trading volume stands at $81.465 billion and open interest is $997 million.
On incentives, Variational has said 32% of the genesis airdrop will go to point holders, a relatively large allocation for a venture-backed project. The protocol measures trading contribution through Omni Points and pairs that system with zero trading fees and a loss refund program. Eligible losing trades can receive real-time compensation of 1% to 15%, lowering participation friction for retail users.
The drawback is timing. The points campaign is already in a late-stage sprint, and early users have accumulated sizable balances, leaving less room for new capital to earn meaningful upside.
Extended: a crowded old points pool
Extended was built by a former crypto team from European digital bank Revolut and completed a $12.50 million strategic round led by retail brokerage giant eToro in the middle of this year. The protocol charges zero maker fees and around 0.025% taker fees, giving it a competitive cost profile.
Its TVL is about $119 million, with $7.12 billion in 30-day volume and roughly $92.98 million in open interest.
The points program is nearing its end. Total points issued are around 69.24 million, close to the 70 million threshold, and weekly issuance is capped at 600,000 points.
There is also a governance risk around scorekeeping. Extended cut points for some accounts in August, showing that it retains broad discretion over the rules. With the total pool near its ceiling, new participants face lower points output per dollar deployed.
Pacifica: a hot Solana-native target
Pacifica is deployed on Solana and was launched by former FTX COO Constance Wang together with technical staff from Jane Street, Binance, OpenAI and DeepMind. One feature that sets it apart is its funding model: the protocol says it runs on its own business revenue and has no outside venture backing, leaving token ownership cleaner than many peers.
Pacifica currently has about $24.19 million in TVL, $10.751 billion in 30-day volume and $60.31 million in open interest, a small footprint with high turnover.
Its points design is straightforward on the surface. Every Thursday, the protocol distributes 10 million points and emphasizes genuine trading activity, while reserving the right to claw back rewards tied to wash trading, fake orders and Sybil behavior. Community expectations are that an early airdrop ratio could come in near 30%.
The uncertainty sits in the scoring formula. Pacifica uses a dynamic black-box algorithm, making it hard for users to model return on capital in advance.
Nado: tied to Kraken’s Ink ecosystem
Nado is deployed on Ink, the chain inside the Kraken ecosystem, and includes former Vertex team members among its developers. PANews noted that Kraken and Ink could provide user, capital and trading-scene synergies, while Vertex’s technical background may help product quality.
Nado’s TVL is about $50.79 million. Its 30-day trading volume is $10.34 billion and open interest is around $41.04 million.
The project’s main draw is its link to INK airdrop eligibility. Ink has already listed trading records and liquidity provision on Nado as important evaluation metrics for the INK token airdrop. Early high-activity traders can also receive the official "Templars of the Storm" NFT, which carries points boosts. The protocol is now in Season 2 and distributes 950,000 points a week.
Still, the campaign is no longer early. Historical point accumulation by first movers means new users may struggle to earn strong marginal returns.
New-season window: earlier entry, lower saturation
These protocols launched points campaigns more recently, so competitive saturation is lower and new users still have a chance to narrow the gap with top participants. The flip side is that the protocols themselves are usually less mature, and the uncertainty is higher.
TxFlow: a fresh campaign to watch
TxFlow is a dedicated L1 focused on trade execution and also operates as a Perp DEX. It says it can support up to 250,000 TPS for high-frequency trading concurrency and single-block finality. Like Pacifica, it follows a zero-investor token allocation principle and has no private fundraising rounds, giving the community a larger share of the cap table.
TxFlow has about $30.09 million in TVL, $3.773 billion in 30-day trading volume and $30.35 million in open interest.
On Oct. 12, TxFlow officially launched Season 1 of its points campaign, distributing 1.25 million points weekly to traders, with extra rewards available through referrals. Because the campaign has just started, it is one of the less crowded targets in the market right now.
Its architecture also brings friction. Users need to bridge assets onto a dedicated network, which may be less convenient than operating in the EVM ecosystem, and its real throughput and stability still need to be proven in practice.
RISEx: transparent mechanics, long timeline
RISEx is deployed on RISE Chain, an Ethereum layer-2 backed by $7.20 million in investment support from Vitalik Buterin, Galaxy Digital and Finality Capital. The protocol has around $20.61 million in TVL, $3.42 billion in 30-day volume and $36.37 million in open interest.
RISEx launched its "Ignite Season 1" points plan on July 20, distributing a fixed 200,000 points per week. The program could run as long as the second quarter of 2027, turning participation into what PANews described as a points marathon.
A campaign this long keeps user capital and attention tied up over time. Weekly points issuance does not provide a clear way to infer any future token valuation, which leaves the balance between time cost and potential reward hard to judge.
Perpl: a bet on Monad ecosystem growth
Perpl is a Perp DEX built for Monad, the parallelized high-performance EVM chain. It has raised $9.25 million in a round led by Dragonfly Capital, with Mirana Ventures and HashKey also participating.
It is still small in absolute terms, with TVL of about $3.31 million, 30-day trading volume of $539 million and open interest of $9.25 million.
Perpl started its mPoints campaign on June 10 and distributes 50,000 points each week. Users can earn through trading, providing liquidity and referrals. The participation case here is essentially a wager that Monad’s ecosystem expands enough to lift platform activity.
That remains uncertain. Ecosystem buzz does not automatically translate into deep trading demand, and Monad’s actual growth may or may not be enough to support Perpl’s volumes.
Narrative premium: projects tied to larger ecosystems
The appeal of this group does not rest only on product metrics. Their value also comes from attachment to broader ecosystem stories that could deliver extra tailwinds if adoption expands.
Arcus: an RWA-oriented early mover on Robinhood Chain
Arcus is being incubated deeply by dYdX Labs and built together with Robinhood Crypto. The protocol focuses on self-custodial tokenized stock perpetuals. It combines years of design experience from the dYdX team and access to the Robinhood Chain ecosystem.
Arcus currently has about $58.73 million in TVL, $9.276 billion in 30-day trading volume and $99.21 million in open interest.
It launched Season 1 of its points program on Oct. 1, distributing a fixed 250,000 points per week, while spot trading carries zero fees. The founder of dYdX has also said publicly that future Arcus token allocations will tilt toward the dYdX community.
If Robinhood Chain eventually absorbs significant onchain demand for securities and derivatives trading, Arcus, as one of its early native protocols, could benefit from that first-mover position. Compared with older platforms that have already run multiple rounds of incentives, its early-stage participation window is wider.
Ondo Perps: points do not necessarily imply a new token
Ondo Perps is developed by Ondo Finance and lets traders use tokenized U.S. stocks and ETF spot holdings as collateral for leveraged perpetual positions. The protocol recorded $4.272 billion in 30-day trading volume and $95 million in open interest.
Ondo launched its points program on July 23, issuing 5 million Ondo Points per week based on trading volume and position size. In addition to points, the platform offers a weekly USDC reward pool and referral rebates, allowing users to collect both points and USDC rewards through trading activity.
But the project is structurally different from the classic not-yet-tokenized airdrop trade. Ondo Points function more like loyalty points, and the team has never promised that they will convert proportionally into ONDO or a new token. Since ONDO is already circulating, expectations for an independent new token should be kept in check.
The second half of the airdrop game is about selection, not just volume
PANews’ overall breakdown places Variational, Extended, Pacifica and Nado in the more mature camp, where products are relatively proven but points competition is already intense. TxFlow, RISEx, Perpl and Arcus represent the next wave of opportunities, with more room for early positioning.
StandX’s exit does not mean the Perp DEX airdrop cycle is over. It does highlight a basic market reality: incentives can quickly inflate trading volume, and points can be issued continuously, but what remains scarce is a protocol’s ability to deliver on promises, retain users and build sustainable revenue.
In the next round of Perp DEX airdrops, the winners may not be the traders who generate the most volume. They may be the ones who judge project narratives, real demand and participation costs more rationally.