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A1 Research

39 pieces · Mar 2024 to Oct 2026 · 5 flagship

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Perps20 Market structure14 DeFi12 L1/L28 AI5 Privacy5

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Start here · the strongest pieces on A1 Research

Breakdown02 Oct 2025Bullet: Solana's onchain Nasdaq with 1ms latency, TL;DR of A1 articleTL;DR of A1's Bullet article: a Solana network extension with 1ms soft confirmations, Rust CLOB, maker-priority sequencing, 100x perps, integrated lending, and ZK proofs on Solana. Positioned as Solana's answer to Hyperliquid.Map04 Oct 2025CLOB DEX ecosystem map: 50+ CLOB DEXes and 25+ infra enablersAnnounces A1's CLOB DEX ecosystem map, culminating research begun in June when HYPE first broke $40B FDV. Counts over 50 CLOB DEXes plus a separate map of 25+ infra enablers such as settlement layers, oracles, ZK infra and DA layers.Data25 Sep 2026State of Hyperliquid: two years after the airdrop (A1 Research report)HL cleared $5.4T of perps volume, holds 57% of DEX perp OI and routed $1.28B into buybacks, yet takes only 1.7% of DEX spot and 0.1% of prediction market volume. Argues the next leg is decided in Washington via HIP-3 deployers, and still expects S3 after the US opens.

Timeline · every piece, newest first

2026 14

15 Oct 2026Robotics data moat: Microagi at $100M run rate and no internet of actionsArgues robot training data cannot be scraped, so data vendors capture value: Microagi reports a $100M run rate six months in, XDOF is raising at $1.2B and Skild passed $100M ARR. Caveats: self-reported run rate, and demand depends on VC-funded labs.Market takeRoboticsAIDePIN

15 Oct 2026Robotics primer: why robo szn is happening now and crypto's three lanesRobotics capital arrived before understanding: Unitree ~$50B, Figure $39B, Skild $14B. Argues the brain is commoditised, actuators are 40 to 60% of humanoid BOM, the moat is teleop data, and crypto's lanes (provenance, capital formation, coordination) total under $1B.ThesisRoboticsAI

25 Sep 2026State of Hyperliquid: two years after the airdrop (A1 Research report)HL cleared $5.4T of perps volume, holds 57% of DEX perp OI and routed $1.28B into buybacks, yet takes only 1.7% of DEX spot and 0.1% of prediction market volume. Argues the next leg is decided in Washington via HIP-3 deployers, and still expects S3 after the US opens.DataHyperliquidPerpsRegulation

16 Jul 2026io.net IDE tokenomics: #1 revenue DePIN at 5.3x MC/ARRHighlights an A1 Research report arguing io.net's rebuilt tokenomics tie burns to verified onchain revenue and pay suppliers in stable USD, breaking the typical DePIN death spiral. Trades at 5.3x MC/ARR vs peers at 79x to 700x.ThesisDePINAIDeFi

24 Feb 2026Perp DEX Wars: institutional scorecard and the case for ParadexA1 Research report scoring eight perp DEXs on eight dimensions using 328 orderbook snapshots. Argues institutional capital will avoid fully transparent chains; Paradex scores 57/80, second to Hyperliquid, despite 0.99% market share.BreakdownPerpsPrivacyDeFi

24 Feb 2026Perp DEX Wars report: eight platforms, one institutional scorecardAnnounces A1 Research's comparison of eight perp DEXs, finding the volume leaderboard and an infrastructure-quality ranking tell very different stories on capital stickiness, execution cost, confidentiality and liquidation design.BreakdownPerpsDeFi

12 Feb 2026Bullet mainnet: the onchain Nasdaq on SolanaExplains Bullet's network extension: a custom Rust runtime on the Sovereign SDK, Celestia DA, SP1 ZK proofs and Solana settlement, with maker-priority sequencing and dedicated blockspace. Mainnet rollout is gated by deposit caps.BreakdownPerpsSolanaZK

02 Feb 2026Paradex and the visibility tax: privacy as perp DEX infrastructureArgues transparent chains leak size, entries and liquidation levels, keeping institutional capital away. Paradex's three-layer privacy design (encrypted state diffs, RPC masking, off-chain order flow) grew volume 4x in six months.ThesisPerpsPrivacy

29 Jan 2026Bitcoin as regime change insurance, not a debasement hedgeArgues 2025 delivered orderly debasement, which is gold's home turf, so Bitcoin lagged. Its thesis is conditional on chaotic scenarios such as capital controls or sovereign failures that did not occur.ThesisBitcoinMacro

27 Jan 2026Machines & Money: how Web3 flattens the world of moneySummarises an A1 Research issue arguing blockchains are the foundation for open internet money: stablecoin payments, x402 agent commerce, neobanks bridging TradFi and DeFi, and tokenized capital markets.BreakdownStablecoinsRWADeFi

22 Jan 2026Greenland tariffs test: Bitcoin is a high-beta macro asset, not digital goldSummarises an A1 Research study of Bitcoin through the Greenland tariff event: it captured downside without upside while equities recovered and gold held gains. Concludes BTC trades with risk appetite.DataBitcoinMacro

22 Jan 2026Why the US intervention in Venezuela did not move cryptoSummarises an A1 Research piece: the operation left dollar strength, rates, risk appetite and liquidity unchanged, unlike Russia 2022. Post-ETF Bitcoin behaves as a macro asset.DataMacroBitcoin

21 Jan 2026A1 Research 2026 outlook: tokenization, prediction markets, privacy, agentsTL;DR of A1's 2026 outlook: tokenized stocks and private equity scale, stablecoin yield wars, parlays drive prediction markets, onchain credit scoring, production privacy tech, ZK prover competition and DePIN for robotics.ThesisRWAPrivacyPrediction markets

16 Jan 20262025 crypto recap: what worked and what failedShort recap of 2025 teasing A1's report: memecoin mania died, RWAs and stablecoins surged, ETFs and DATs brought institutions, while 10/10 liquidations and TGEs-as-exits hurt.Market takeMarket structureRegulation

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27 Dec 2025Privacy tech toolbox: TEE, MPC, FHE and ZK trade-offsLays out the distinct trust and cost trade-offs of TEE, MPC, FHE and ZK, stressing they are not interchangeable and that real systems combine them.ExplainerPrivacyZK

25 Nov 2025Talus: economic infrastructure for autonomous AI agentsArgues the AI agent bottleneck is economic infrastructure. Talus splits onchain coordination (DAG workflows, permissions) from offchain compute with configurable ZKP or TEE verifiability, and a $US flywheel of buys, staking and fees.ThesisAIDeFi

17 Oct 2025State of the CLOB Wars (A1 x GSR): key findings of the 50-page reportTL;DR of the A1 Research and GSR report: CLOBs hold over 71% of DEX volume, CEX-level performance is achieved, modular appchains compete with monolithic L1s, and application-controlled execution plus privacy and risk management are the next frontier.BreakdownPerpsMarket structureDeFi

16 Oct 2025A1 Research CLOB campaign: reading list of 11 articles and reportIndex of A1 Research's CLOB campaign: 11 articles and a two-part report covering AMMs vs CLOBs, CLOB appchains, real-time chains, Hyperliquid, Paradex, Bullet, Monaco, privacy and institutional DeFi.OtherPerpsMarket structureDeFi

15 Oct 2025A1 Research x GSR CLOB report: 50+ pages, scope and contentsAnnounces the closing report of A1's CLOB campaign with GSR, covering AMM to CLOB evolution, the infra revolution, appchain designs, the DEX landscape and challenges like privacy, MEV and risk management.OtherPerpsMarket structure

10 Oct 2025Hyperliquid's lead in the CLOB wars: market share, OI and usersHyperliquid holds over 30% perp DEX volume share and 57% of open interest, with 720k users and growing HyperEVM and HIP-3. Cites its VC-free distribution and airdrop anticipation as adoption drivers.DataHyperliquidPerps

07 Oct 2025Monaco deep dive: Wall Street-grade trading layer on SeiA1 deep dive on Monaco: off-chain Rust matching with 5-25 microsecond latency, settlement on Sei under 400ms, gasless order management, a unified liquidity pool and PitPass revenue sharing instead of PFOF.BreakdownPerpsL1/L2Market structure

06 Oct 2025Real-time blockchains and onchain CLOBs: A1 article TL;DRTL;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.BreakdownL1/L2PerpsMarket structure

04 Oct 2025A1 Research CLOB campaign week one recap and article linksRecap of the first week of A1's CLOB campaign: AMMs to CLOBs, State of the CLOB Wars, Bullet, Paradex, landscape maps, CLOB appchains, real-time chains and Monaco, with a Monaco report and expert space announced.OtherPerpsMarket structure

04 Oct 2025CLOB DEX ecosystem map: 50+ CLOB DEXes and 25+ infra enablersAnnounces A1's CLOB DEX ecosystem map, culminating research begun in June when HYPE first broke $40B FDV. Counts over 50 CLOB DEXes plus a separate map of 25+ infra enablers such as settlement layers, oracles, ZK infra and DA layers.MapPerpsMarket structureDeFi

02 Oct 2025Bullet: Solana's onchain Nasdaq with 1ms latency, TL;DR of A1 articleTL;DR of A1's Bullet article: a Solana network extension with 1ms soft confirmations, Rust CLOB, maker-priority sequencing, 100x perps, integrated lending, and ZK proofs on Solana. Positioned as Solana's answer to Hyperliquid.BreakdownPerpsSolanaZK

30 Sep 2025Monaco: Wall Street-grade CLOB infra on Sei, TL;DRMonaco is a permissionless backend with 5-25 microsecond off-chain matching and sub-400ms settlement on Sei. It has no native frontend, offers shared liquidity from day one, and reinvents PFOF with PitPass.BreakdownPerpsL1/L2Market structure

30 Sep 2025CLOB wars data: CLOBs hold 92% of perp volume, HL 57.9% shareTL;DR of A1's data-driven CLOB landscape: CLOBs dominate perps but lag in spot, Hyperliquid leads with falling fee revenue, competitors use zero-fee and PFOF models, and the market likely consolidates to 3-5 platforms.DataPerpsMarket structureDeFi

29 Sep 2025From AMMs to CLOBs: why CLOBs matter for onchain TradFi capitalTL;DR of A1's CLOB campaign intro: AMMs solved slow chains but suffer slippage and capital inefficiency, cannot serve the larger perp market, while CLOBs give price discovery and order types institutions need and are now feasible onchain.ExplainerDeFiMarket structurePerps

28 Sep 2025Paradex thesis: first-principles redesign of CLOB DEX market structureWhy Paradex could be one of multiple CLOB winners: flow segmentation with RPI, PFOF zero-fee model, STARK-proven hybrid architecture, unified portfolio margin, perpetual options, vaults, XUSD and privacy by design.BreakdownPerpsZKMarket structure

31 Aug 2025Sunscreen: FHE secure processing framework for AI and Web3Highlights Sunscreen's Secure Processing Framework, which lets teams run LLM inference or smart contract logic on encrypted data via FHE without code rewrites. Its Parasol compiler is claimed to beat Zama by over 2x on some programs.BreakdownPrivacyAI

01 Aug 2025Ethena deep dive: why USDe retains capital (A1 Research report)TL;DR of the A1 Research Ethena report: about 70% share of yield-bearing synthetic dollars, 76% capital retention (above 85% under stress) and nearly all yield passed to USDe holders. Argues Ethereum-only concentrated liquidity beats multi-chain spread.BreakdownStablecoinsDeFi

17 Jul 2025ETH rally market structure: funding-dependent liquidity and rented depthSummarizes an A1 x Caladan report: institutional delta-neutral desks short ETH perps against spot to harvest funding, so apparent depth depends on positive funding. Funding caps near 10.5% APR create a saturation point, and a funding flip could trigger a liquidity vacuum and cascading liquidations.BreakdownPerpsEthereumMarket structure

12 Jul 2025ETFs and ETH structural demand: supply math behind the 2.15x absorptionSummarizes an A1 analysis: ETH issues 2,640 per day with 0.55% inflation and net issuance of 66,561 ETH over 30 days, while ETF inflows of 143,000 ETH absorbed 2.15x. Price impact needs seller exhaustion and depends on holder behavior and L2 burn dilution.DataEthereumMarket structure

04 Jun 2025Hyperliquid valuation framework: path to $100B+ on the Everything ExchangeIntroduces the A1 Research and Redacted report valuing Hyperliquid on its Everything Exchange narrative. Cites 66% perp DEX share, over $1.5T cumulative volume and millions in daily revenue as the base for a $100B+ valuation within a year.ThesisHyperliquidPerps

24 May 2025Sonic five months in: $1B TVL and highest net inflows YTDHighlights Sonic's mainnet launch as one of the most successful of the cycle, crossing $1B TVL with the highest net inflows YTD. Covers 320ms finality, a theoretical 370k TPS, credit scoring, gas monetization and incentive programs.BreakdownL1/L2DeFi

23 May 2025Fuel Ignition deep dive: first real-time L2 on EthereumPromotes the A1 Research and Redacted deep dive on Fuel Ignition, citing real-time L2 status, parallel execution with thousands of TPS, a hybrid ZK fraud proof system and a decentralized sequencer setup.BreakdownL1/L2Ethereum

2024 3

10 Oct 2024Scroll SCR launch: $1.54B pre-market FDV below $1.8B funding roundExplains why the SCR launch is received poorly: a pre-market FDV of $1.54B below the $1.8B funding round, an airdrop seen as unfair and weak recent L2 launches. Previews a joint A1 Research and Redacted report.Market takeL1/L2ZK

19 Mar 2024LayerZero follow-up: DVN admin can still bypass validationFollow-up on A1 Research's review of LayerZero's reply: the docs contract was swapped days earlier, the new contract came from the same EOA, and an admin can still bypass validation or DOS the connection.Market takeL1/L2Tooling

18 Mar 2024LayerZero DVN critique: Axelar DVN admin controlled by an EOASummarizes an A1 Research finding that LayerZero's Axelar DVN has an admin controlled by an EOA able to censor traffic or transmit fraudulent transactions, plus scaling and gas costs of the pairwise DVN design. Notes LayerZero raised at over $3B.Market takeL1/L2Tooling

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Hyperliquid113 Paradex26 Monaco18 Bullet33 Lighter21 Succinct38 Ethena7 Sei34

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