Hyperliquid and Project X: The Rise of a New Force in on-chain Trading

Hyperliquid, as a recently outstanding trading platform, has a daily trading volume exceeding $15 billion, capturing over 74% of the on-chain perpetual contract market share. Its ambition is not limited to becoming a single on-chain trading platform but also aims to build the Hyper EVM ecosystem network centered around itself.

Recently, the new project Project X in the Hyper EVM ecosystem has attracted the attention of the community. This decentralized exchange (DEX) went live just three days ago, and its total locked value (TVL) has already surpassed 40 million dollars. As an emerging project, the ecological positioning and team background of Project X are worth exploring in depth.

To understand the birth of Project X, it is necessary to review its founding team's previous work, Pacmoon. As a social meme project on the Blast blockchain, Pacmoon once achieved a fully diluted valuation (FDV) of over $200 million at its peak, driven by social fission and community consensus through the "Yap model" (. However, the current FDV of the project token PAC has dropped to around $35,000, nearly approaching zero. This is partly due to the decline in popularity of the Blast network, and partly reflects the ephemeral nature of the project.

Although Project X has not yet publicly disclosed the identity of its founder, the team mainly consists of 7 members. These include Lamboland, who is responsible for growth; BOBBY, who is in charge of product operations; hisho, who handles product design; and Ali, who provides creative direction. Additionally, the team includes a CTO with a YC background and two DeFi native backend developers.

According to the publicly available information, at least four members have participated to varying degrees in the construction of the Pacmoon or Blast networks. In particular, Lamboland and BOBBY, who are the founders of Pacmoon.

![Can Project X replicate the growth trajectory of Hyperliquid with 100% self-raised funds and a grassroots team in a second venture?])https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-bc016dea18e4a307d96f299da04fd6a1.webp(

Currently, the team is turning its attention to DeFi infrastructure, focusing on automated market maker decentralized exchanges )AMM DEX(. Project X aims to break through the framework of "mimicking certain DEX" by redefining the competitive logic of trading platforms through innovative distribution mechanisms, incentive designs, and user experiences. As stated on its official website: "Technology is converging, and the key to the next round of DeFi will be how to allocate value more efficiently, design incentives, and keep users engaged."

Project X adopts a phased development strategy, currently focusing on the first phase "HyperEVM DEX". In the future, it will gradually expand to "EVM Aggregator" and an undisclosed third phase, with the ultimate goal of becoming "the preferred trading platform for crypto traders".

As a core product, HyperEVM DEX is positioned as an AMM DEX, but has made differentiated designs in user experience and incentive mechanisms.

1. Fee Distribution: In version V3, 86% of the trading fees are directly allocated to liquidity providers )LP(, while the remaining portion is used for protocol operations. This ratio belongs to the "high LP returns" tier among similar AMMs.
2. V2 Pool Preparation: Although the V2 version has not yet been launched, the team has indicated that in the future they will further enhance LP returns through more complex market-making strategies such as dynamic fees and cross-chain liquidity aggregation ).

After the completion of the HyperEVM DEX construction, the second phase of the "EVM Aggregator" will focus on cross-chain trade aggregation, allowing users to access the liquidity of multiple EVM-compatible chains with one click through Project X, addressing the current pain point of "multi-chain DEX fragmentation."

The points mechanism of Project X is the key to activating user growth. Points are the core credentials for users participating in the ecosystem and may directly relate to token airdrops or ecological rights in the future. Currently, points are mainly acquired through the following methods:

1. Liquidity Provision ( LP ): Users can deposit assets into the liquidity pool of the HyperEVM DEX and earn points based on the transaction fees generated.
2. Trading: Users complete spot trading on the platform and earn points based on the trading scale and frequency.
3. Invite Friends: By sharing a unique invitation code, users can receive double rewards.

To quickly cold start the ecosystem, Project X has also set up short-term incentives, including a daily pool of 1 million points and a points multiplier reward for the first month.

It is worth noting that the funding source of Project X is quite special. The official website clearly states "100% self-raised funds, no VC, no angel investment, no private placement." The advantage of this model is that the team has stronger control over the project and is more inclined towards "long-termism." However, it also comes with potential risks, such as weaker risk resilience, which may make it difficult to compensate users for losses in the face of extreme market conditions or smart contract vulnerabilities.

Overall, Project X, as an emerging force in the Hyper EVM ecosystem, has an innovative model and development potential that is worth paying attention to. However, investors should still carefully assess the associated risks when participating.