Pacifica is a Solana-based perpetual futures decentralized exchange founded in January 2025 by former FTX COO Constance Wang and two co-founders with backgrounds from Binance, Coinbase, NFTperp, Jane Street, and AI pioneers at OpenAI and DeepMind. Launched on mainnet in June 2025, the platform has rapidly scaled to over 30,000 active users and $10.5 billion in cumulative trading volume as of Q4 2025. With $389.8 million in TVL and $459.2 million in open interest, Pacifica has become the largest perpetual DEX on Solana by trading volume, surpassing established competitors like Jupiter and Drift Protocol.
The platform delivers CEX-like trading speed through Solana's infrastructure while maintaining non-custodial, on-chain settlement. Pacifica combines high-performance execution with AI-powered trading tools, offering leverage from 5x to 50x across cross-margin and isolated-margin modes. Despite being self-funded without external venture capital, the platform achieved testnet launch within two months and mainnet deployment within six months, demonstrating exceptional technical execution speed.
What makes Pacifica different from other perpetual DEXs?
Pacifica distinguishes itself through three core innovations: execution performance, AI integration, and team pedigree. Built on Solana's high-throughput blockchain, the platform processes trades with sub-second latency comparable to centralized exchanges. The engine sharding upgrade completed in October 2025 further enhanced stability and scalability, supporting weekly trading volumes exceeding $5 billion.
The platform's AI-powered trading tools operate through a separate wallet architecture, allowing users to deploy sophisticated strategies without exposing their main trading accounts to risk. This security-first approach to automation sets Pacifica apart from competitors relying on traditional bot integrations. The founding team's experience building and operating billion-dollar exchanges provides institutional-grade operational expertise rarely found in DeFi projects.
Pacifica's self-funded model ensures alignment between founders and users, with all value creation accruing directly to the community rather than external investors. This structure has enabled aggressive user incentives, including a points program distributing 10 million points weekly and a VIP tier system recognizing trading volume from other exchanges.
How does Pacifica's perpetual trading work?
Pacifica operates as a non-custodial perpetual futures exchange where traders maintain control of their funds while accessing leveraged positions up to 50x. Users deposit USDC as collateral on Solana, which backs their trading positions without transferring custody to the platform. Smart contracts handle order matching, position management, and automatic liquidations when margin requirements aren't met.
The platform supports both isolated margin (risk limited to individual positions) and cross margin (collateral shared across all positions) modes. Traders can open long or short positions on perpetual contracts tracking assets like BTC, ETH, SOL, and over 20 other markets. Positions remain open indefinitely with periodic funding rate payments exchanged between long and short traders based on market conditions.
Behind the scenes, Pacifica uses an off-chain matching engine for speed combined with on-chain settlement for transparency. Orders execute in milliseconds leveraging Solana's 400ms block times, while all position changes and settlements are verified on-chain. The platform employs dynamic mark pricing from multiple sources to prevent manipulation and implements three-tier liquidation protection (initial margin, backstop, and auto-deleveraging) to manage risk during volatile markets.
What trading features does Pacifica offer?
Pacifica provides comprehensive perpetual futures trading across 20+ markets including major cryptocurrencies and emerging assets. The platform supports multiple order types including limit orders, market orders, stop-loss, and advanced conditional orders for algorithmic trading strategies. Mobile app trading enables position management on iOS and Android devices, while REST and WebSocket APIs allow developers to build custom trading bots and automation tools.
Leverage options range from 5x to 50x with dynamic adjustment based on position size and market volatility. The VIP program offers tiered fee discounts based on 14-day trading volume, with recognition for volume generated on external exchanges. Sub-account functionality allows institutional traders and firms to segment risk across multiple strategies or clients while maintaining unified fee tier benefits under a master account.
The platform recently added fractional USDC withdrawals, liquidation indicators on the trading interface, and persistent chart presets that save user preferences. Advanced features include cross-margin portfolio management, position hedging across multiple accounts, and real-time PnL tracking with Backpack wallet integration. Pacifica's mobile-first design prioritizes accessibility without sacrificing professional-grade functionality.
How does Pacifica compare to Hyperliquid and dYdX?
Pacifica operates on Solana while Hyperliquid runs on a custom Layer-1 blockchain and dYdX uses Cosmos-based infrastructure. Pacifica processes transactions with sub-second finality leveraging Solana's speed, compared to Hyperliquid's 200ms median latency and dYdX's 1-3 second finality. All three platforms offer professional-grade perpetual trading, but differ in liquidity depth, chain architecture, and market maturity.
Hyperliquid leads in total value locked with over $1.3 billion and deep liquidity pools, while Pacifica shows $389.8 million TVL with rapidly growing volume. Pacifica's $1.03 billion in 24-hour trading volume as of November 2025 demonstrates strong user activity despite lower locked capital, though this may result in higher slippage for very large trades compared to Hyperliquid's established liquidity.
For fees, Pacifica charges tiered rates starting at 0.015% maker and 0.040% taker fees, with discounts based on trading volume. The platform temporarily halved all fees in September 2025 to boost adoption. Hyperliquid and dYdX offer competitive fee structures targeting institutional traders. Pacifica excels for Solana-native users seeking speed and mobile accessibility, Hyperliquid suits traders prioritizing liquidity and custom L1 performance, while dYdX appeals to those preferring established track records and institutional infrastructure.
What blockchains and wallets does Pacifica support?
Pacifica exclusively supports the Solana blockchain, leveraging its high throughput and low transaction costs for perpetual futures trading. The platform requires users to connect Solana-compatible wallets including Phantom, Solflare, Backpack, and Ledger hardware wallets. USDC on Solana serves as the primary collateral for all trading positions and margin requirements.
Solana's network fees average $0.0005 per transaction (0.000005 SOL at $100/SOL), making frequent trading cost-effective compared to Ethereum-based alternatives. The blockchain's 400ms block times enable near-instant order confirmation and position updates. Pacifica has no current plans for multi-chain expansion, focusing instead on optimizing performance within the Solana ecosystem.
The Backpack wallet integration provides enhanced PnL tracking with accurate profit/loss calculations displayed directly in the wallet interface. Users must ensure their wallets contain sufficient SOL for network fees and USDC for trading collateral. The platform's non-custodial architecture means assets remain in user wallets until specifically allocated to trading positions.
What are Pacifica's trading fees and total costs?
Pacifica implements a tiered fee structure starting at 0.015% for maker orders (adding liquidity) and 0.040% for taker orders (removing liquidity). Fee levels decrease based on 14-day rolling trading volume, with the VIP program offering additional discounts. For example, a $1,000 trade costs $0.15 in maker fees or $0.40 in taker fees at base tier rates.
Network gas fees on Solana add approximately $0.0005 per transaction, negligible compared to platform fees. Unlike Ethereum-based DEXs where gas can reach $15-50 during peak times, Solana's consistent low fees make Pacifica suitable for high-frequency trading strategies. Trading $10,000 daily costs roughly $4-12 in platform fees depending on maker/taker ratio, plus minimal network costs.
Funding rates represent an additional cost for perpetual positions, with long traders paying shorts (or vice versa) based on market premiums. These rates fluctuate hourly and can range from -0.01% to +0.1% per 8-hour period depending on market conditions. Position liquidations incur additional penalties when margin falls below maintenance requirements. Pacifica's total cost structure remains competitive with major perpetual DEXs, especially for traders generating volume sufficient to access lower fee tiers.
Is Pacifica secure and has it been audited?
Pacifica underwent security audits by BlockSec, specifically for bridge components and core smart contracts. The audit covered reentrancy vulnerabilities, access control issues, arithmetic overflow/underflow conditions, logic errors, and fund custody mechanisms. All critical issues identified during the audit were resolved before mainnet launch, with full audit reports available in the platform's documentation under the "Audits" section.
The platform's non-custodial architecture ensures users maintain control of funds, with assets moving on-chain only when executing trades. AI trading agents operate through separate wallet systems with explicit permission controls and revocable access, preventing single-point failures from compromising main trading accounts. Infrastructure security includes DDoS protection, TLS encryption for all communications, and rate limiting to prevent abuse.
Pacifica has maintained a clean security record since its June 2025 mainnet launch through Q4 2025, with no reported exploits or fund losses. However, as a platform less than six months old as of November 2025, it lacks the extended operational history of competitors like dYdX or Hyperliquid. The self-funded structure means founders have maximum financial stake in platform security. Users should still follow standard DeFi precautions: verify URLs, test small deposits initially, use hardware wallets for large amounts, and only risk capital they can afford to lose.
Who should use Pacifica and when?
Solana Ecosystem Traders: Users already operating on Solana with USDC holdings benefit from seamless integration without bridge fees or cross-chain complexity. Solana-native traders avoid the friction of moving assets to other chains while accessing perpetual futures with familiar wallet infrastructure.
High-Frequency Traders: Individuals executing 20+ trades daily save significantly on fees compared to centralized exchanges. With base fees at 0.015-0.040% and near-zero gas costs, traders moving $10,000+ daily save $50-150 weekly versus CEX alternatives charging 0.05-0.1% per trade. The VIP tier system further reduces costs for consistent volume.
Mobile-First Traders: Pacifica's native mobile apps enable position management, order placement, and risk monitoring from smartphones without desktop requirements. Users needing to monitor leveraged positions throughout the day benefit from push notifications, liquidation alerts, and mobile-optimized interfaces unavailable on many competing DEXs.
Points Farmers and Early Adopters: The platform's points program distributes 10 million points weekly with Thursday snapshots, rewarding early users before broader adoption. With 30,000 active users versus competitors like Hyperliquid or Lighter approaching 1 million users, point-per-user ratios favor early participation. A potential PACIFICA token airdrop could reward active traders, though no official announcement exists as of November 2025.
What risks should users consider?
Smart Contract Risk: Despite BlockSec audits, Pacifica's contracts have only operated on mainnet since June 2025, providing less than six months of battle-testing as of Q4 2025. New platforms carry higher exploit risk than established protocols with years of security history. Complex interactions between perpetual positions, liquidation engines, and AI agent permissions create potential attack vectors not fully stress-tested under all market conditions.
Liquidation Risk: Leverage from 5x to 50x magnifies both gains and losses, with positions automatically closed when margin falls below maintenance requirements. Volatile markets can trigger cascading liquidations, especially during network congestion when users cannot add collateral quickly. Traders using high leverage risk total position loss during sudden price movements, with liquidation penalties adding additional costs.
Platform Maturity Risk: Pacifica's rapid growth from 1,000 to 30,000 users in four months may stress infrastructure not yet proven at scale. The closed beta still limits deposits to $5,000 per user, indicating ongoing capacity management. Engine sharding upgrades in October 2025 improved stability, but the platform lacks the multi-year operational track record of competitors like dYdX (founded 2017) or even Hyperliquid (2023).
Founder Background Concerns: Co-founder Constance Wang's role as FTX COO raises questions given FTX's 2022 collapse and criminal proceedings. While Wang has not been charged with wrongdoing and Pacifica maintains separate infrastructure and self-funded operations, the association creates reputational risk that may affect user trust or regulatory scrutiny. Pacifica's transparent, non-custodial architecture differs fundamentally from FTX's centralized model, but users should evaluate team background independently.
Solana-Specific Risks: Single-chain dependency exposes users to Solana network outages, which historically occurred multiple times in 2022-2023. While Solana stability has improved significantly in 2024-2025, network downtime would prevent trading, margin adjustments, and liquidation responses. Users cannot diversify across chains when concentrating activity on a Solana-only platform.