What is Serum (SRM)?

Deep Dive

1. Purpose & Value Proposition

Serum addresses DeFi’s inefficiencies—high fees and slow transactions—by leveraging Solana’s high-throughput blockchain. Unlike automated market maker (AMM) DEXes, Serum uses a central limit order book (like traditional exchanges), enabling features like limit orders and cross-margining. This design aims to attract institutional and retail traders seeking familiar trading tools without sacrificing decentralization.

2. Technology & Architecture

Built on Solana, Serum benefits from sub-second transaction finality and negligible fees. Its fully on-chain order book and matching engine allow real-time trading, a rarity in DeFi. Ecosystem projects (e.g., wallets, lending protocols) can plug into Serum’s liquidity pool, creating a shared network effect.

3. Tokenomics & Governance

The SRM token has three core functions:
- Fee discounts: Traders pay lower fees when using SRM.
- Revenue redistribution: 100% of protocol fees buy back and burn SRM, reward stakers, or fund ecosystem grants.
- Governance: Holders vote on upgrades, fee structures, and treasury allocations.

Conclusion

Serum is a hybrid DEX merging centralized exchange efficiency with blockchain’s trustless nature. Its success hinges on Solana’s scalability and ecosystem adoption. As DeFi evolves, will Serum’s order-book model become the standard—or remain a niche solution for advanced traders?