July 2, 2025
The following post contains a recap of news, projects, and important updates from the Spartan Council and Core Contributors from last week.
👉TLDR
- Synthetix is coming home: launching a perp DEX on Ethereum Mainnet.
- No bridges, no extensions, no wallet switching, just seamless UX with Infinex Connect.
- SNX staking is back, better, and live for Infinex patrons.
- Phase 0 of “The Relaunch” is underway: sUSD/sUSDe vaults.
- Orderbook > AMM: high-performance off-chain matching, L1 custody & settlement.
- sUSD and SNX reclaim their roles at the heart of Synthetix.
- Mainnet Perp Summer is here☀️
Spartan Council and SIP updates
Since part of the team has been traveling to Cannes or Brooklyn, let’s take this opportunity to look back on the past few weeks and discuss what’s to come. As you’ve probably been hearing, Synthetix is returning to Ethereum Mainnet to launch a high-performance perps DEX. And it’s been a long time coming!
Back in 2019, Synthetix made the early leap to L2s (like Optimism) to solve scaling. That move unlocked speed and efficiency, but it came at the cost of fragmentation: liquidity, capital, and attention — all scattered across dozens of L2s. In the meantime, Ethereum Mainnet remained the center of gravity for real value, institutional flows, and long-term trust.
And now, Ethereum is scaling, block space is opening up, and even Vitalik is championing a return to Mainnet. The infrastructure is here and Synthetix is ready to deliver the first serious perps exchange built for it.
But the protocol had to learn some hard lessons to win on Mainnet. For too long, DeFi products chased ideological purity at the expense of usability. Synthetix built for the principled few, but left behind the many who simply wanted to trade quickly, securely, and with a UI that wasn’t too complicated.
That stops now. With Infinex, Synthetix has proven that it’s possible to offer non-custodial, on-chain products that feel as smooth as the centralized alternatives. No gas pain, no chain switching, no pop-up jungle. Just click, trade, done. And this is already live for Infinex patrons!
And this next chapter? It’s built around one key insight: orderbooks beat AMMs for perps. After years of experimenting with AMM-based perps, it became clear that the best liquidity and trader experiences still come from orderbooks. So Synthetix has rebuilt its architecture from the ground up: trades are matched off-chain with institutional-grade performance, while custody and settlement remain on Ethereum L1 — no bridges, no trust assumptions.
Funds stay on Mainnet, orders fly off-chain, and withdrawals are always on-chain and permissionless. As Ethereum scales, Synthetix will migrate even more back on-chain. It’s the best of both worlds and a major step forward for DeFi UX.
Of course, none of this would be possible without SNX and sUSD, and the protocol has made major changes to both. SNX staking has been completely overhauled, so there aren’t any more confusing debt mechanics or hedging strategies. Just stake and earn, and protocol fees flow directly to stakers. It’s simple, clean, and live right now for Infinex patrons via the Connect alpha release (seriously, staking SNX with Infinex Connect takes just a few clicks).
Meanwhile, sUSD (DeFi’s third-longest-living stablecoin) is regaining center stage. While V3 temporarily sidelined its utility, Synthetix is bringing it back with a vengeance. The new Treasury Market dynamically mints, burns, and deploys sUSD to keep the peg tight and to keep liquidity flowing. It’s the deposit asset of choice for market makers, and it earns yield through fees and liquidations on the perp exchange.
All of this leads into the biggest Synthetix launch ever, and what’s being officially deemed “The Relaunch.”
The protocol is kicking things off with early deposit vaults for sUSD and sUSDe, 500 exclusive early access codes, and a new incentive structure based around points. Points will be earned by depositing early, trading well, referring friends, and they’ll unlock rewards like SNX, stablecoins, and more. Here is a reminder of the Base deprecation timeline:
This is the moment that Synthetix has been building toward. It’s time to reclaim the user experience, the liquidity layer, and the protocol’s role in DeFi’s evolution. Mainnet Perp Summer is officially on!
SNXweave YouTube Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@snxweave
Follow us on Twitter! @snx_weave
