Tldr; Nekodex, the mobile trading platform powered by Perpetual Protocol, is integrating Across to launch a cross-chain intents DEX. The new offering will also add account abstraction to offer users a decentralized trading experience with best-in-class UX and UI.
Key takeaways:
Perpetual Protocol’s Nekodex is integrating Across to launch a new cross-chain intents DEX.
Intents and chain abstraction are solving cross-chain interop’s biggest challenges. Nekodex is using them to offer a decentralized spot trading experience with superb UI and UX.
Nekodex is one of the first projects to use Across Settlement to settle users’ cross-chain intents, offering a preview of how other DeFi protocols could adopt intents in the future.
Chain abstraction and intents are two of the biggest themes in cross-chain interoperability in 2024 and it’s no secret that Across is deep into both topics. Across blazed the trail for intents when it launched the Across Bridge to give users seamless bridging experiences and this is the reason the protocol is now known as interop’s fastest and cheapest bridge. More recently, the protocol launched Across+, a chain abstraction tool that lets users request a transfer plus action at a destination.
But Across is not the only project to adopt chain abstraction and intents. More and more teams are taking similar design decisions as they share our view on how interop’s future could look. One such project is Perpetual Protocol, the derivatives platform behind the mobile Nekodex app.
While Nekodex has always focused on perps trading, the new app is set to launch a spot DEX with Across’ help. The upgrade will leverage Across to settle users’ cross-chain intents and a smart wallet feature will also level up the UX. With the new integration, Nekodex is building an offering unlike any other in DeFi today. We explain why we’re excited about it below.
How Nekodex will leverage the Across system
Nekodex is a trading app built by Perpetual Protocol. Powered by Perp v3, the first version of the app offered an advanced mobile experience for trading perpetual swaps on Optimism. Now, Nekodex is integrating Across to launch its first spot trading markets.
Nekodex will leverage the Across system to offer users a smooth cross-chain trading experience. The Across stack can be unbundled into modules and Nekodex will use Across Settlement to offer users seamless cross-chain trading powered by intents.
Nekodex will use Across Settlement to offer intents-powered cross-chain trading.
Modularity and intents are key to Across’ architecture. The system can be unbundled into three layers: the intent, relayer, and settlement layer.
Across Settlement taps into the protocol’s settlement layer to allow applications to offer cross-chain actions such as swaps. At the settlement layer, relayers fulfill intents and the system uses optimistic verification to repay them in bundles. The same optimizations that made Across a success are available to any application with Across Settlement as it can settle any intents-driven order flow. For Nekodex, that means users can articulate their intents, a cross-chain swap will be executed, and the order will be settled in the background.
Nekodex is doubling down on intents with Across. The new product will also use ZeroDev’s account abstraction tooling to provide users with smart wallets. The move to combine features from Across and ZeroDev makes for an all-encompassing DeFi trading experience where UX and UI take center stage. With these integrations, Nekodex users will be able to trade tokens across all chains through a slick wallet and the whole experience will be trustless.
Intents and optimistic verification
The core aim for Nekodex is creating a superb experience for the end user, something the Across system enables.
DEX trading through a CEX-like interface: Nekodex places UX front and center and Across will help the product level up.
The key to Across’ offering is its intents-based architecture. In this system, sophisticated third parties step in to fulfill intents on behalf of users, effectively making a short-term loan. This means users enjoy extremely fast, cheap fills.
Nekodex wants to give DeFi users a superb trading experience with intents. Across will make it happen.
Intents have gained popularity this year for the UX benefits they offer users. But it’s worth mentioning the other advantages of this approach. Intents-based interoperability focuses on canonical assets, which do not carry the risks of representative assets. Moreover, as relayers lend out their assets to fill order, users’ funds are not at risk. Relayers take on the risk and that means they can be repaid in the background after the order is filled. UMA’s Optimistic Oracle secures Across, verifying repayments and settling any dispute cases.
A signal for interop’s future
Chain abstraction and intents will shape the interoperable future. We’ve long pushed this thesis at Across but other projects are increasingly signaling that they share the same view. The rise of chain abstraction and intents has strengthened our belief that bridging as we know it is dead. The future of interop looks closer to a world where users can access many applications across many different chains through one protocol. The Across system is built for that future.
Cross-chain bridging as we know it is dead. Intents-powered interoperability is the future.
Perpetual’s Nekodex is the latest DeFi offering to step into this future, integrating Across to power a cross-chain intents DEX. The new Nekodex will not only offer high-speed, low-cost trading — it will also settle users’ intents-driven order flow to offer users a smooth experience within one intuitive wallet interface.
We can view the Nekodex update as a signal of where interop is likely to head in the future. The Across system focuses on modularity to let applications like Nekodex leverage intents to serve users’ needs. While Nekodex is one of the first projects to use this system to offer cross-chain DeFi trading with a Web2-like UX, it’s unlikely to be the last. We look forward to helping other cutting-edge DeFi applications push interop into the future with intents soon.
To learn more about Nekodex, visit Perpetual Protocol’s website and check out the Nekodex mobile app. To learn more about Across, read our V3 announcement on the Across blog and check out the app here.
Words by @dreamsofdefi
