Real-time blockchains and onchain CLOBs: A1 article TL;DR
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TL;DR of A1's real-time chains article: parallel execution drives performance, hybrid offchain-matching designs are giving way to fully onchain systems, and shared liquidity layers like Monaco and DeepBook solve cold-start liquidity.
Key claims
Parallel EVMs from Monad, Sei, MegaETH and RISE are proving EVM can compete
Hybrid (offchain match, onchain settle) vs fully onchain is the key divide
Specialization, not general-purpose chains, is the endgame for trading
Real-time blockchains are a true game-changer amid the CLOB wars.
In our most recent @a1research__ article, we dive deep on the landscape and identify projects leveraging these chains to build DEXes and permissionless CLOB infra on top of those networks.
Let me give you a TL;DR ↓
➤ The performance gap between DeFi and TradFi is closing, enabling the holy grail of onchain market structure: the Central Limit Order Book. This represents a fundamental paradigm shift away from capital-inefficient AMMs toward a model that can compete directly with CEXes and TradFi exchanges.
➤ The key to unlocking next-gen performance is parallel execution, and it's being implemented across the board. AltVMs like Solana's Sealevel and @Aptos' Block-STM led the way, but a new wave of Parallel EVMs from @monad, @SeiNetwork, and L2s like @megaeth and @risechain are now proving the EVM can compete, leveraging its massive developer ecosystem.
➤ A key strategic divide has emerged between hybrid architectures (offchain matching, onchain settlement), used by early movers for quick performance gains, and the clear emerging trend of fully onchain systems. The long-term bet here is that raw L1/L2 performance will eliminate the centralization and transparency trade-offs of offchain components.
➤ The market is accepting that general-purpose chains are not the endgame for trading. The future is specialization, as also evidenced by modular network extensions on @solana like @bulletxyz and purpose-built L1s like @FogoChain, which explicitly trade some decentralization for the "maximum viable performance" needed to attract institutional HFT firms.
➤ The most sophisticated teams are no longer just building DEX frontends; they are building foundational, shared liquidity layers like @monacotrading on Sei or @DeepBookonSui on @SuiNetwork. This "trading-as-a-service" model provides a unified orderbook for any application to plug into, solving the cold-start liquidity problem and fostering a more composable ecosystem.
➤ The race to millisecond finality and 100k+ TPS is fundamentally about attracting institutional flow by creating an onchain environment that mirrors a CEX experience (low latency, no gas on order modifications, and MEV resistance) but with the core DeFi benefits of self-custody and transparency.
➤ The staggering pace of innovation, where pre-mainnet chains are already targeting 10x the performance of their predecessors, signals that intense competition and consolidation are inevitable. The winning ecosystems will be those that capture a critical mass of developers, liquidity, and users through a superior combination of performance, developer experience, and composability.
Want to dive deeper?
Check our report below! ↓
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What came next · since 06 Oct 2025
Since then
Zero has written 11 more pieces on A1 Research since this one.
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