The design philosophy, technical architecture and settlement asset design behind Mullet. Written for developers, researchers and institutional users — if you want to understand how TradFi contracts are implemented, why we chose Solana and what the liquidation logic looks like, start here.
The global TradFi (traditional finance) derivatives market is a core arena connecting traditional finance and crypto finance. Monthly trading volume has surpassed $30 trillion, covering crypto, equities, FX, precious metals, and other asset classes. It is a critical tool for professional traders and retail investors to allocate capital and hedge risk.
Since 2022, multiple centralized-institution failures have shattered trust in CEXs. FTX and 3AC are the clearest cases—exposing systemic flaws that are industry-wide, not one-offs.
Mullet’s trading design follows early dYdX: a dual-layer architecture of off-chain processing, on-chain trade results. The core idea is on-chain trusted settlement + off-chain ultra-fast execution: high-frequency market data and matching run in off-chain high-performance systems; results are written to Solana in real time for transparency and immutability. This differs from fully centralized CEXs and fully decentralized DEXs—an optimal fit for TradFi contract trading.
The trading engine underpins latency, throughput, and UX. For high-frequency TradFi contracts, Mullet built a high-performance engine in C++, combined with Solana Sealevel parallel execution, delivering microsecond order handling, high throughput, and fair sequencing. Off-chain matching keeps orders out of the public mempool—structurally avoiding MEV.
Quotes bridge on-chain settlement and real-world markets. Accuracy, freshness, and reliability determine contract safety and fairness—distorted or manipulated quotes corrupt liquidations and P&L and can create systemic risk.
Liquidation and inventory fees are central to leveraged contracts—protecting assets and fairness. Mullet combines cross/isolated dual margin + progressive partial liquidation with a multi-factor inventory-fee rate model, aligning holding-cost structure with international market practice.
Custody underpins asset safety: solving DEX key-management complexity while avoiding CEX co-mingling and misappropriation.
Security is Mullet’s lifeline. Philosophy: threat-first, defense-in-depth—covering on-chain programs, custody, trading systems, and infrastructure via systematic threat modeling, ongoing audits, and fast vulnerability response.
In the near term, Mullet has no plan to issue a governance token. If issuance is later considered, Mullet may reference practices such as Hyperliquid and explore a dividend-style governance token akin to equity economics—holders sharing platform development dividends rather than relying on secondary-market speculation. Any concrete plan would be published separately after thorough community discussion.
Mullet follows progressive decentralization: keep the platform stable first, then gradually open community governance. Near term — Core team governance. Product iteration, parameter changes, and risk response. Material user-impacting changes (margin rates, fee rules) are announced in advance with feedback via forums and Discord.
Mullet products are high-risk financial derivatives. Users should understand the risks below before trading and assess their own risk tolerance. This disclosure is not exhaustive.
Long/short rate R is computed from policy rates, market reference rates, platform inventory, and related factors; longs and shorts use independent rates.