Synthetix Relaunches Native Exchange Following Kwenta Acquisition

Synthetix has relaunched Synthetix Exchange following its acquisition of Kwenta last month.

On Dec. 17, Synthetix announced it had relaunched Synthetix Exchange. The rebooted platform boasts an updated user interface and support for multi-collateral perpetuals (MCPs) on the Base Layer 2 network.

“Synthetix Exchange will become one of our new flagship products alongside Synthetix Leverage Tokens, providing a world-class trading experience with low fees and deep liquidity,” Synthetix said.

The Synthetix Exchange relaunch is coming as the project moves through its Reboot roadmap. Synthetix also launched a new website and is readying to launch leveraged tokens next year after acquiring the TLX leveraged token protocol last week.

“After two successful acquisitions, Synthetix now has two new trading products for users, a bold departure from the previous strategy of providing back-end liquidity and infrastructure to derivatives platforms,” Synthetix said.

Kwenta acquisition

Synthetix shifted to a strategy of providing liquidity for third-party ecosystem projects in 2020, leading to the creation of Kwenta when Synthetix divested Synthetix Exchange.

In October, Synthetix proposed acquiring Kwenta by purchasing the entire KWENTA supply with newly minted SNX at a ratio of one KWENTA to 17 SNX. Synthetix described its decision to spin out the exchange as a “strategic error,” noting that despite Kwenta driving more than $60 billion worth of trades in four years, the project struggled to establish a sustainable business model.

“Synthetix lost control of the point where customers most interact with their perp engine, and the commercial model has historically not proven to be sustainable for front-ends,” Synthetix said.

The proposal passed both project’s governance processes, paving the way for the finalization of the acquisition on Nov. 7.

Multi-collateral perps on Base

Synthetix first launched MCPs on Arbitrum in October, following the deployment of Synthetix v3 on the network in June.

MCPs allow users to use multiple digital assets as collateral to back leveraged perps positions. The Synthetix v3 liquidity layer went live on Base in April, initially supporting just USDC as collateral. The launch of MCPs also integrates support for cbBTC, WETH, cbETH, and wstETH as collateral.

On Dec. 10, Synthetix launched a four-week incentives program for liquidity providers on Base. The program offers weekly rewards in SNX and USDC, a 50% increase in v3 trading fee distributions to 60%, and bolstered stataUSDC yields. The program seeks to bolster Synthetix liquidity on Base amid the launch of MCPs.

Synthetix will also offer incentives to bootstrap the adoption of leveraged tokens next year.