Paradigm

Paradigm operates an institutional liquidity network for crypto derivatives, offering access to more than 120 products across assets, instruments and strategies. Users can trade options, perpetuals and futures on major cryptocurrencies as single instruments or as multi-leg spreads and combinations, choosing the counterparty and the settlement venue. The platform describes itself as the largest institutional liquidity network in crypto, connecting market makers, OTC desks, hedge funds, family offices and other professional traders.

The product set includes Unified Markets (on-demand auctions via RFQs plus complex order books for any instrument or strategy), Delta-1 Spreads (streaming order books for trading spreads between Delta-1 instruments such as spot, perpetuals and futures), DeFi Auctions for bidding on DeFi option vault flow settled on-chain, and Paradigm Prime, under which participating firms act as Prime Dealers. Supporting resources include an API, published network statistics, help documentation and a bug bounty program.

Paradigm states that it is not an exchange, does not make markets, does not trade for its own account and is not a party to any trade. Contract terms are set by the CeFi exchanges and settlement venues it supports rather than by Paradigm itself.

Business model

Paradigm provides a trading and execution network rather than an exchange or clearing venue: users negotiate and execute with each other, and clearing, settlement and custody occur at partnered CeFi exchanges or on-chain via DeFi protocols. Paradigm is not a counterparty to trades and does not conduct proprietary trading or market making.

Traction

Company-reported figures include more than 1,000 network counterparties, over 50 market makers and more than 20 Prime Dealers, with cumulative lifetime volume and 30-day average daily volume published on the site's stats pages.