Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko is experimenting with the concept of a decentralized perpetual futures exchange (perp DEX) built natively on Solana — with a surprising twist: he’s using Anthropic’s AI model Claude to help design it.
A new GitHub repository named “Percolator” appeared recently, showing early-stage code for what could become a Solana-based derivatives DEX — similar in function to Hyperliquid, but designed entirely within the Solana ecosystem.
AI-Driven Prototype, Not a Launch (Yet)
Yakovenko clarified that the project isn’t an official product release but rather a generative AI experiment.
“I wanted to see if Claude could generate and test a prototype with surfpool,” Yakovenko explained.
Alongside this, he floated an intriguing concept — a “liquidity algorithm tournament” — where various autonomous strategies could compete in managing liquidity more efficiently and minimizing risk.
“Now I understand how @AndreCronjeTech must have felt,” Yakovenko wrote on X (Twitter). “I’m just playing with Claude to see how well it can generate Pinocchio and test it with surfpool. Please steal this idea — I’d love to see a similar prop-AMM competition, but for perpetual derivatives.”
How It Might Work
According to Yakovenko, the envisioned perp DEX would function as a single on-chain program using a unified memory slab to handle all trading operations. It would include its own liquidity pool, risk-management module, and matching engine.
A separate router component could rebalance positions across multiple such instances, creating a dynamic and competitive market architecture.
DeFi Context: Derivatives at Record Highs
The idea likely emerged amid a surge in on-chain derivatives trading. In September 2025, total perp DEX volume hit a record $1.14 trillion, up 49.5% month-over-month, according to DeFiLlama. Leading platforms included Aster, Hyperliquid, and Lighter.
However, in October, the market faced a steep correction. Following a major crypto crash on October 11, more than $19 billion in positions were liquidated, and open interest across perp DEXs dropped from $26 billion to under $14 billion. Despite this, weekly DEX trading volumes still exceeded $177 billion.
