Drift

• Drift is a decentralised perpetual futures exchange on Solana with an on-chain order book.

• It also offers spot trading, borrowing and prediction markets.

• DRIFT is the governance token.

• Supply allocated across community, ecosystem and contributors.

• Governs protocol parameters, listings and treasury.

Pros:

• Established perpetuals venue on Solana with sustained volume.

• Product range extends beyond perpetuals into spot and lending.

• Cross-collateral margin improves capital efficiency for active traders.

Cons:

• Solana ecosystem concentration.

• Competes against both on-chain and centralised perpetuals venues.

• Governance token without direct fee capture.

• Exposure to Solana derivatives infrastructure.

• Established volume rather than a prospective product.

• Weigh the competitive intensity in perpetuals.

• A full derivatives suite on Solana with cross-collateral margin, so positions across products share one collateral pool.

• Traders must post separate collateral for each product and venue, fragmenting their capital.

• Unified margin lets one pool support positions across perpetuals, spot and borrowing.

• Founded by Cindy Leow and David Lu.

• Backed by Multicoin Capital, Polychain and Jump Crypto.

• No public ICO. Distributed through airdrop and ecosystem allocations in 2024.

• Solana ecosystem dependency.

• Severe competition in perpetuals.

• Limited direct token value capture.

• Regulatory exposure from leveraged derivatives.