CZ proposes dark pool DEXs to curb manipulation

Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao proposed creating a dark pool perpetual swap decentralized exchange (DEX) to prevent market manipulation.

In a June 1 X post, Zhao said that he has “always been puzzled with the fact that everyone can see your orders in real-time on a DEX.”

“The problem is worse on a perp DEX where there are liquidations,” he said.

Zhao added, “If you’re looking to purchase $1 billion worth of a coin, you generally wouldn’t want others to notice your order until it’s completed.” This is to prevent front-running and maximum extractable value (MEV) bot attacks, which can result in increased slippage, worse prices and higher costs.

His comments follow the liquidation of nearly $100 million in Bitcoin long positions on Hyperliquid reportedly held by a trader known as James Wynn. The event, which occurred after Bitcoin fell below $105,000, sparked claims on X that some users had coordinated to “hunt” Wynn’s liquidation.

One X user claimed that Tron co-founder Justin Sun showed interest in participating, but the claim remains unconfirmed. He also went so far as to invite Eric Trump, the son of the United States’ President Donald Trump, to the group.

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What are dark pools?

Zhao said that “large traders in TradFi use dark pools, often 10 times bigger” than traditional, transparent pools. Dark pools are private trading venues where large orders are hidden from public view until after they are executed.

This prevents front-running, slippage and MEV attacks by concealing order size, price and intent. Still, implementing decentralized dark pools would require complex systems such as zero-knowledge proofs (ZK-proofs) or delayed settlement mechanisms.

Maria Carola, CEO of instant exchange StealthEX, told Cointelegraph that “the fundamental challenge in building a dark pool-style perp DEX is achieving both privacy and verifiability.” She noted that ZK-proofs and encrypted order matching are promising avenues for development. She added:

“I think one concrete approach is leveraging zk-SNARKs or zk-STARKs to validate trade execution and settlement without revealing trade details.“

The obstacles are not just technical in nature. Carola highlighted that “launching an onchain dark pool, especially for perpetuals, enters a complex regulatory landscape.”

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Trade privacy is critical to derivatives

Zhao argued that privacy is particularly important in derivatives markets. He said public visibility of liquidation levels exposes large traders to coordinated attacks that could force premature liquidation:

“If others can see your liquidation point, they could try to push the market to liquidate you. Even if you got a billion dollars, others can gang up on you.“

The Binance co-founder admitted that there are counter-arguments to such designs, with the added transparency potentially allowing market makers to absorb large orders. He said that this is “possibly true.”

“I won’t get into an argument on which is right or wrong. Different traders may prefer different types of markets,“ he said.

StealthEX’s Carola added that “opacity is a double-edged sword,” noting that it reduces front-running, but “also obscures manipulation attempts, especially in a leveraged environment.” “To address this, a ‘dark’ perp DEX must implement adaptive risk engines and behavioral anomaly detection, ideally with cryptographic accountability baked in,“ she said.

Zhao concluded by encouraging developers to launch an onchain dark pool decentralized exchange with perpetual swaps. He said this could be achieved “either by not showing the orderbook, or even better, not showing deposits into smart contracts at all, or until much later.”

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