State of SynFutures Q1 2025

Key Insights

• SynFutures processed $34.1 billion in perp volume across Base and Blast in Q1’25. While volume declined in line with the broader market contraction, SynFutures maintained its position as the leading perpetual DEX on Base, capturing 62.5% market share of perp volume on the network.
• SynFutures concentrated its development on Base, where it has seen the most consistent usage. SynFutures sunset its Blast deployment on April 15, 2025.
• Synthia, SynFutures’ AI agent, launched its alpha deployment on Base. Synthia enables users to swap and transfer assets via natural language commands on X and marks the first phase of SynFutures’ AI-focused roadmap.
• SynFutures launched a spot aggregator and released the SynFutures V3 SDK. The spot aggregator routes trades across major Base DEXs, while the V3 SDK supports developer integrations for the Oyster AMM and spot aggregator.

Primer

SynFutures V3 is a decentralized derivatives exchange deployed on Base on July 2, 2024. SynFutures V3 was also deployed on Blast but was sunset on April 15, 2025. SynFutures has raised $38 million in funding from institutions such as Pantera, Polychain, Dragonfly, and Standard Crypto. SynFutures V3 utilizes the Oyster AMM, which integrates features of an onchain order book, moving beyond the traditional AMM model to provide a more dynamic and efficient trade execution framework. With single-token liquidity provision, this permissionless model allows listing pairs with any asset as collateral and enables users to trade any quote asset against any collateral asset. Theoretically, this lets users pair any combination of assets against each other. SynFutures’ Perp Launchpad further democratizes derivatives trading by enabling anyone to create perpetual futures markets for any asset. In addition, order management, matching, and executions occur fully onchain, unlike alternative models that depend more heavily on offchain controls. In Q4’24, SynFutures rewarded loyal users by launching the SynFutures governance and utility token, F. SynFutures also airdropped 7.5% of the supply to Oyster Odyssey points program participants, as well as earlier users and community members. In Q1’25, SynFutures launched Synthia, an AI agent for natural language trading, and confirmed future incentive campaigns to reward long-term loyal users and F token stakers later in the year 2025

This report focuses strictly on SynFutures V3 data, as V1 and V2 were deprecated in February 2024.

Website / X (Twitter) / Discord

Key Metrics

Performance Analysis

Network Overview

User Metrics and Volume

SynFutures continued solidifying its place as the top perpetual futures DEX on Base, facilitating over $34.1 billion in perp trading volume in Q1’25. However, SynFutures’ user metrics declined, following the initial distribution of the F token and coinciding with a broader market decline. Daily active addresses (DAAs) fell from 8,573 DAAs in Q4’24 to 4,778 in Q1’25, a 44.1% QoQ decrease. SynFutures’ average daily volume fell from $732.7 million in Q4’24 to $379.0 million in Q1’25, a QoQ decline of 48.7%. Daily volume peaked for the quarter on Jan. 6, 2025, at $730.8 million. On April 10, 2025, SynFutures also announced the sunsetting of SynFutures on Blast to focus on ecosystems with continued product-market fit, deep liquidity potential, and high performance. SynFutures’ Blast deployment sunset on April 15, 2025.

In Q1’25, SynFutures’ average daily unique traders decreased slightly from 4,965 in Q4’24 to 4,682 in Q1’25, a QoQ decrease of 5.7%. The number of unique traders and trading volume declined in mid-February 2025, coinciding with a broader market downturn during Q1’25.

Asset Market Share

The most traded quote assets on SynFutures are BTC and ETH, which accounted for 73.1% of total trades in Q1’25. Q1’25 averaged 54,831 daily trades, an increase of 28.3% QoQ. Throughout the quarter, SynFutures continued to list additional assets as part of the SynFutures growth strategy. Q1’25 listings included AIXBT, WELL, DYP, TALENT, USR, TRUMP, MELANIA, PLAY, and BERA. However, the most traded assets outside of BTC, ETH, USDB, and USDC included MOG, MIGGLES, BUILD, ai16z, and SUI.

Financial Overview

Market Cap

During Q1’25, SynFutures’ market capitalization declined 59.0% QoQ, from $59.6 million to $24.4 million. This decrease was driven by a sustained decline in the price of the F token, which fell 62.2% over the quarter, from $0.0486 to $0.0184. The drop in market value aligned with a broader contraction in platform activity, including lower trading volume, fee generation, and user participation. Notably, new tokens often take time to find price stability as supply and demand dynamics impact price discovery.

Token Supply

By the end of Q1’25, approximately 15.9% of the F token’s 10 billion supply was in circulation according to SynFutures’ vesting schedule, up from 12.9% at the close of Q4. During the quarter, ~304.8 million F tokens were unlocked, accounting for ~3.0% of the total supply. Looking ahead to Q2’25, an additional ~383.4 million F, or ~3.8% of F’s total supply, is scheduled to unlock.

The key components of the Q2’25 unlocks include:

• Protocol Development (7.3% of Q2 unlocks): Approximately 28.0 million F tokens will unlock to fund protocol development, including ongoing research and development, engineering, and implementation of new features and upgrades.
• Treasury (39.8% of Q2 unlocks): Approximately 152.6 million F tokens will unlock to the SynFutures Foundation Treasury. This will support SynFutures' long-term stability and development by funding the deployment of tokens for strategic partnerships and business development, covering operational expenses and new initiatives, and ensuring long-term sustainable development.
• Ecosystem (33.3% of Q2 unlocks): Approximately 127.6 million F tokens will unlock to the ecosystem. These tokens will be used to create incentive programs to onboard new users, collaborate with strong partners, provide grants and funding for third-party developers, and drive community initiatives, hackathons, and other engagement programs.
• Core Contributors (7.6% of Q2 unlocks): Approximately 29.3 million F tokens will unlock to the core contributors. This allocation is intended to reward the SynFutures team for their foundational contributions and to align long-term incentives. These tokens are subject to a six-month lock-up, followed by linear vesting over 3.5 years.
• Investors and Advisors (12.0% of Q1 unlocks): Approximately 45.9 million F tokens will unlock to the investors and advisors. This allocation is reserved for investors and advisors who contribute funds, expertise, and other valuable support to the development of SynFutures. This allocation has a half-year cliff, followed by a linear unlock over three and a half years.

Fees

SynFutures generated $7.0 million in fees in Q1’25, down 48.5% QoQ from $13.6 million in Q4’24. The decline in fees over the quarter correlates with the broader market downturn during the quarter. In June 2024, SynFutures launched the Meme Perp Summer campaign, introducing a fee discount promotion on major pairs such as BTC and ETH. Beginning on July 1, 2024, this promotion reduced taker fees for major pairs from 3 bps to 2 bps while maker fees remained at -1 bps. As of March 31, 2025, this promotional period remains ongoing, and SynFutures has updated its fee structure documentation to reflect this ongoing promotional campaign.

Ecosystem Analysis

SynFutures remained the leading perpetual DEX on Base in Q1’25, continuing to outperform other competitors in terms of volume and user activity. Despite a broader contraction in DeFi trading activity across the quarter, SynFutures retained a dominant position on Base, with no challengers approaching its scale on the network. While platforms such as JoJo, Avantis, and gTrade continued to grow their presence on Base, their trading volumes remained significantly lower than SynFutures. SynFutures’ closest competitor was JoJo, which averaged $109.8 million in daily perpetual futures volume. Avantis averaged $10.8 million in daily volume, and gTrade’s Base deployment averaged $9.6 million. For comparison, SynFutures averaged over $379.0 million in daily volume in Q1’25. While SynFutures’ Q1’25 volume was 48.7% lower than its average daily volume of $732.7 million in Q4’24, it continues to lead Base’s perpetual DEX market in daily perpetual volume.

Sunsetting SynFutures’ Blast Deployment

Shortly after the end of Q1’25, SynFutures announced the sunsetting of its deployment on Blast, citing a strategic decision to consolidate efforts on Base. Although Blast attracted early activity through airdrop incentives, SynFutures determined that user engagement and trading volume were insufficient to justify continued support, given Blast’s shift from L2 to a mobile app. By focusing on Base, where SynFutures consistently leads the perpetual DEX category, the team aims to optimize development resources and strengthen its position within a more active and established ecosystem. In Q1’25, SynFutures peaked at $46.9m in volume on Jan. 20, 2025. By March 1, 2025, SynFutures’ Blast deployment was facilitating less than $3.0 million in daily volume. On April 15, 2025, SynFutures ended its operation on Blast.

Qualitative Analysis

Reward Campaigns

To reward users choosing to trade on SynFutures during Q1’25, SynFutures launched multiple promotional campaigns, offering token rewards and incentives to participants. These included trading campaigns associated with Bifrost Network, Moonwell, BTSE, Talent Protocol, Dypius, BingX, Airene, Play Network, and KiloEx. Other rewards campaigns initiated during the quarter include the SynFutures EPL Fantasy League and a $5,000 F token giveaway from Buritto Wallet. Through these campaigns, SynFutures incentivized trading activity and community building.

2025 Roadmap

On Dec. 19, 2024, SynFutures released its 2025 roadmap. In 2025, SynFutures plans to expand into a platform that offers full-stack onchain financial infrastructure.

• Q1’s goals include the launch of a spot aggregator for optimal liquidity and a Wealth Management Vault for passive yield opportunities.
• Q2’s goals include releasing details on the Season 2 incentive campaign, introducing High Capital Boost (HCB) AMM strategies to improve liquidity provisioning, and integrating Flashblocks to enhance perp trading efficiency on Base. SynFutures will also support the launch of Monday Trade, a Monad-native spot DEX built using its infrastructure, as part of a broader effort to enable third-party onchain finance applications on SynFutures infrastructure.
• Q3’s goals include launching a Spot Launchpad and upgrading to SynFutures’ V3 perpetual futures platform.
• Q4’s goals include integrating an AI trading assistant and establishing a unified liquidity layer across spot, perps, and wealth management.

Protocol Development

In Q1’25, SynFutures introduced several product upgrades and tools to improve accessibility, developer support, and user experience across its platform. The most notable release was Synthia, SynFutures’ AI agent designed to simplify DeFi access through natural language commands. Released on Base in its alpha version, Synthia allows users to initiate swaps and asset transfers directly via X (formerly Twitter) posts. Over time, Synthia is expected to support more advanced functions, including perpetual trading, liquidity management, and cross-chain execution.

Beyond the launch of Synthia, SynFutures introduced several additional platform enhancements. SynFutures released a spot aggregator to enable seamless token swaps across top Base DEXs such as Uniswap, PancakeSwap, Aerodrome, SushiSwap, and AlienBase. This feature allows users to find optimal pricing and route trades without leaving the SynFutures interface, improving liquidity access and reducing slippage. SynFutures also rolled out an impermanent loss calculator for liquidity providers, enabling users to visualize expected losses when removing liquidity at various price points.

Other Q1’25 developments include:

• SynFutures V3 SDK: SynFutures released its V3 SDK, giving developers a standardized interface for integrating the Oyster AMM and spot aggregator into third-party applications.
• Knowledge Hub: SynFutures migrated its written content from Medium to the SynFutures Knowledge Hub, now serving as the canonical source for SynFutures announcements.
• Coinbase Wallet App: SynFutures was added to the Coinbase Wallet apps page, expanding its discoverability and reducing friction for new users accessing the protocol through the Coinbase Wallet.

Expanded Asset Listings: The quarter saw new listings, including AIXBT, WELL, DYP, TALENT, USR, TRUMP, MELANIA, PLAY, and BERA.

Community Development

In Q1’25, SynFutures organized and attended many community-building events, ranging from in-person events to digital game nights, such as the following.

• Southeast Asia Blockchain Week
• ETH Denver: Institutional Day
• ETH Denver: Borderless Summit
• Consensus Hong Kong: Innovative Finance Day
• Consensus Hong Kong
• AI Agents in Real Life Panel Discussion

Closing Summary

SynFutures remained the leading perpetual DEX on Base in Q1 2025, processing over $34.1 billion in volume across Base and Blast despite a broad market downturn. SynFutures also announced the sunsetting of its Blast deployment in April 2025 to consolidate efforts on Base, reinforcing its strategic focus. User activity and revenue declined QoQ, but SynFutures continued expanding its ecosystem through long-tail listings, developer tooling, and product innovation. Key launches included Synthia, an AI-powered trading agent, and a spot aggregator for efficient swaps. With the continued campaign engagement and a robust roadmap ahead, SynFutures is continuing to expand its offering on Base.

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