Vertex V3: The Vision for 2025 and Beyond

Vertex enters 2025 positioned at the frontier of decentralized finance (DeFi). The coming year marks a defining phase for the future direction of Vertex.

Here are some highlights of what Vertex has in store for 2025:

• 25 Chains in ‘25: Expand the support of Vertex Edge to 25 chains by the end of 2025, reflecting a target deployment of 18 more chains this year on top of the 7 chains that Edge is already plugged into.  
• Vertex VLP: A pool-based, modular liquidity engine designed to optimize market depth, leverage, and increase asset availability plus listing speeds on every chain plugged into Vertex Edge. The VLP will complement Vertex’s existing orderbook-based architecture. 
• Decentralizing the Sequencer: Further decentralizing the sequencer will introduce redundancy and failover protection, eliminating single points of failure, thereby bolstering the trading platform's security and reliability across chains.

Let’s explore the strategic pillars that will shape Vertex’s trajectory in the coming months – it’s time to unpack Vertex V3.

25 in '25: Expanding Edge to 25+ EVM Blockchains

Since its inaugural launch in February 2024, Vertex Edge has thrived as a unified orderbook layer between chains, sharing perpetual liquidity across 7 EVM chains beyond Vertex’s original home on Arbitrum. 

With Edge, Vertex comes to a blockchain near you. Whether you’re an anon that prefers Base for memecoins and AI agents, Sonic for farming Gems and Points, or Abstract for the friendly UX, Vertex does not compel traders to shift to a solitary chain, instead it immerses itself within their favorite DeFi habitats. 

The expansion of Edge to more EVM chains transcends mere access to the Vertex product suite across networks, it’s resilient to the dynamism of trend-driven volatility. User preferences change, shiny new L1s and L2s emerge, but Vertex’s multi-chain presence remains steadfast. 

The ability to rapidly deploy to any EVM-compatible chain ensures Vertex is not held hostage by the rise and fall of a single L2, but rather grows in parallel with the innovation of the industry. Go where the users are, be everywhere, and deliver the superior on-chain trading experience no matter the scene. The Vertex way.  

Now, it’s time to accelerate.   

As new L2 and L2 EVM chains continue to proliferate across DeFi, seamless liquidity between chains becomes paramount. Vertex Edge, strategically poised to harness the expanding modular DeFi landscape, aims to extend its reach across over 25 chains by year's end – cementing its role as DeFi’s multi-chain liquidity hub. 

That’s right, anon. More chains mean deeper cross-chain liquidity, abundant incentive programs to engage with, and a seamless trading experience spanning all of your favorite chains.

25 chains in ‘25 – powered by Vertex Edge. 

Why This Matters

• Frictionless Access – Users shouldn’t switch platforms; platforms should meet users where they are. By integrating with diverse chains, Vertex Edge eliminates barriers to participation and scales in parallel with the proliferation of a modular DeFi ecosystem. 
• Localized Liquidity – While maintaining cross-chain perpetuals, localized money markets on each chain will enhance capital efficiency and unlock new revenue streams. 
• Strategic Incentives – Multi-chain expansion aligns Vertex with ecosystem-native incentives, driving protocol growth and user adoption as Vertex users can enjoy a vibrant variety of trading rewards, points, and other incentives exclusive to chains supported by Edge. 

The Vertex Liquidity Pool (VLP): Redefining DeFi Liquidity

In 2024, protocol-controlled liquidity reshaped perpetual DEXs. In 2025, Vertex takes this evolution further with Vertex Liquidity Pool (VLP) – a modular liquidity engine designed to optimize market depth, leverage, and increase asset availability on every chain plugged into Vertex Edge.

VLP isn't just another addition to the Vertex product suite either; it's a revolutionary suite of innovations aimed at tackling the core challenges of DeFi trading while opening new avenues for our community. 

Here's what makes us enthusiastic about VLP:

• Enhanced Liquidity: By offering deep, efficient markets, VLP ensures smoother trading experiences.
• Broader Token Access: Facilitates faster listing and supports long-tail assets, expanding market variety.
• Yield Opportunities: Introduces a passive yield source for liquidity providers, enhancing their engagement.

The VLP architecture enables assets to transition from pool-based strategies to orderbook listings, integrating with Vertex’s core cross-margined, cross-collateralized offerings. VLP's mechanisms are intentionally straightforward, relying on simple algorithms to avoid the need for discretionary adjustments, ensuring reliability and predictability.   

The VLP also addresses some of the friction points Vertex currently experiences based on community feedback, such as adding a native Vertex yield product and improving the scope and pace of the listings process, particularly for spot assets.

Key Features of the VLP 

• Spread Trading – By seamlessly connecting spot and perpetual markets, VLP enhances liquidity, making executions smoother and pricing more efficient. Additionally, a spread trading AMM within VLP will generate deep liquidity across all supported chains, enhancing the trading experience without the need for additional market makers or further $VRTX incentives.
• 100x Leverage Pools – Offering up to 100x leverage with robust risk controls, VLP will attract both sophisticated traders and liquidity providers (LPs) seeking improved returns. The system will effectively manage risks with higher fees and funding rates for the pools enabling high-leverage trades. 
• Long-Tail Asset Support – Market makers often neglect smaller tokens. VLP ensures liquidity across a wider range of assets, fostering a more diverse trading environment with a faster listing process.

In particular, one of the key innovations of the VLP is the concept of “virtualization” between spot and perp markets. For example, if you’re trading Bitcoin on Vertex, you’ll have access to three interconnected markets: 

1. Spot
2. Perp
3. Spread

When you trade on the spread market, the system automatically executes related trades on the spot and perp markets for you via the virtualization concept. Virtualized orders create real liquidity, making it easier for everyone to trade while also attracting more advanced traders looking for high-efficiency opportunities. 

The VLP is also notably different from market incumbents such as GLP and HLP. For example, the evolution of the VLP will be driven by a few core principles that are unique to Vertex.

• Orderbook Efficiency: VLP leverages orderbooks for superior liquidity, which remains the most effective mechanism for the vast majority of trading scenarios.
• Transparency: All trading mechanisms are designed to be open and transparent, ensuring fairness and equal treatment for all users.
• Multichain Integration: Reflecting Vertex’s commitment to a multichain future, VLP is inherently multichain, allowing seamless asset flow.

VLP pools will be ubiquitous across all Vertex instances, harnessing Edge’s cross-chain perpetual liquidity to generate spot liquidity on each chain. This approach not only shares yield and risk across networks but also opens up a spectrum of cross-chain applications, such as leveraging perpetual liquidity to create spot liquidity. 

The knock-on effect is the ability of the VLP to create pockets of spot liquidity on every EVM chain plugged into Edge, potentially unlocking novel use cases such as seamless asset bridging through Vertex Edge or other strategies originating from the community and users! 

If liquidity is the lifeblood of DeFi, then the VLP not only improves execution for traders but also creates sustainable, protocol-native yield for Vertex LPs. As strategies evolve, liquidity depth and capital efficiency will continue to strengthen. 

Complementary to Vertex’s existing product suite, the VLP unleashes a more dynamic and user-friendly trading environment, soon to be available on all of your favorite chains via Vertex Edge. We're thrilled to continue sharing developments as we realize VLP's potential. 

Join us as we shape the future of decentralized finance with Vertex and make sure to stay tuned for more updates! 

Decentralizing the Edge Sequencer 

In 2025, Vertex will deepen its commitment to security, scalability, and decentralization. With plans to further decentralize the Edge sequencer, Vertex can continue to accelerate its cross-chain expansion while augmenting the resilience and censorship-resistance of its high-throughput orderbook. 

Benefits of Decentralization:

• Resilience: Decentralizing the sequencer will introduce redundancy and failover protection, eliminating single points of failure, thereby bolstering the platform's security and reliability.
• 100% Uptime: Vertex Edge will transform into a system with inherent failover capabilities, ensuring continuous service and maintaining sub-millisecond latency even amidst node failures and a multi-chain infrastructure.
• Censorship Resistance: A decentralized architecture will fortify the Vertex platform against censorship, enhancing its appeal for institutional users by safeguarding against external interference.

As DeFi expands, the imperative for dependable, secure decentralized infrastructure intensifies. By further decentralizing Vertex Edge, we not only affirm our dedication to these principles but also position Vertex as the go-to platform for the future of decentralized trading, where performance and trust-minimization converge. 

Looking Ahead 

Vertex’s roadmap for 2025 is clear and ambitious. We aim to expand across 25+ EVM blockchains, launch the Vertex Liquidity Protocol (VLP), and decentralize the protocol’s foundational infrastructure, thereby cementing Vertex's status at the forefront of DeFi while pioneering the transition to an entirely on-chain financial ecosystem.

While these are just the major highlights for the upcoming year, as always, there are more features, campaigns, and programs on the way throughout 2025 for the Vertex community. 

We're eager to embark on this journey with our community this year, and are looking forward to what the future holds!