In this episode, we chat with Anand Gomes, founder of Paradigm and Paradex, two different crypto derivatives products. We begin with Anand’s journey as a derivatives trader, which led him to build Paradigm, an institutional block trading platform for crypto options. After the FTX crash, Anand was inspired to create a new decentralized exchange – Paradex.

We dive into the derivatives market exploring user categories, the popularity of perpetuals, market volatility, liquidations, and the role of convexity. We discuss Anand’s transition to building a decentralized exchange, and their decision-making process for launching on StarkEx. We also explore different bootstrapping mechanisms like user points, institutional liquidity, and long-tail markets.