Orderly Network Wants to Become the Amazon Web Services of Web3

It’s not uncommon to hear crypto companies express a desire to become the X of web3. The Google or the Twitter or the Skyscanner. A counterpart, if not in size, than in offering a corresponding range of services on blockchain rails. So Orderly Network’s goal of becoming the Amazon Web Services (AWS) of web3 is not unusual. But it’s certainly ambitious given the scope of sectors AWS has a finger in – and in many cases a few other digits too.

So what exactly does Orderly Network have to offer, and does it warrant the moniker of being web3’s AWS? Let’s dive in and take a closer look.

Understanding Orderly at a High Level

Orderly Network provides decentralized trading infrastructure designed to support various decentralized exchanges (DEXs) which it does via an orderbook-based trading system. Orderly offers robust liquidity for spot and perpetual futures markets, targeting both retail and professional traders. Unlike most web3 trading protocols, however, Orderly isn’t focused on end users, but rather on protocols seeking to harness its technology.

Orderly operates as a backend service for decentralized platforms, meaning it doesn’t have its own user interface but powers partner platforms with its liquidity and trading tools. Its architecture is built on the NEAR blockchain but is expanding to support other blockchains, allowing seamless cross-chain trading. Orderly offers core features such as gasless transactions, customizable fees, and deep liquidity, with support from professional market makers.

Just as AWS allows companies to utilize Amazon’s infrastructure to host applications, store data, and analyze information, Orderly does the same for accessing onchain liquidity. It provides the infrastructure, the tools, and the framework for onchain trading to flourish, leaving it to protocols to apply the finishing touches: the front-end, the community building, and all the other elements that come with developing a successful DEX.

Impressive as all this sounds, Orderly is not the only web3 project providing this kind of service. It’s only once you zoom in and identify the USPs and proprietary solutions Orderly offers that its value proposition truly shines.

What Orderly Does Different

There’s a few areas in particular where Orderly’s service stands out from the competition and in some cases stands alone because there is no direct competitor. One of these is when it comes to perps trading, one of the fastest growing onchain sectors in terms of volume and TVL. Setting up a perps DEX isn’t easy since it requires deep liquidity to support traders opening leveraged positions, often with serious size.

Orderly’s perps-specific liquidity service allows EVM projects to launch perpetual futures exchanges with a ready supply of deep liquidity available on tap. It provides shared orderbook liquidity, enabling perps DEXs to access liquidity procured from multiple sources: all the DEX has to do is build the front-end.

One of Orderly’s primary goals is to deliver CEX-level performance onchain, allowing web3 builders to create trading experiences that aren’t impaired by the limitations imposed by blockchain architecture. The speed with which Orderly can match and route orders through its liquidity network – it boasts of under 200ms latency for HFT – is one of the primary reasons behind its success.

From NEAR to Far

Orderly may have started out on NEAR, but it’s set its sights on conquering the farthest flung corners of the ever-expanding web3 galaxy – think L2s, L3s, appchains, and non-EVM networks. The next upgrade to Orderly Network will set this objective in motion by enabling seamless trading across different chains in the same orderbook. You could place an order to buy USDC on Solana, for example, and it could be filled with liquidity from Arbitrum.

The Orderly team certainly can’t be accused of lacking ambition, but in fairness they’ve got the milestone achievements that attest to their prospects of becoming the dominant force in onchain liquidity provision. At least 17 DEXs have been launched using Orderly infrastructure while more than $65B in onchain has been routed through its decentralized liquidity layer by some 400,000 web3 users. With 28% of all LayerZero messaging and 35% of Celestia volume coming courtesy of Orderly, it’s already making waves.

The caliber of its team, led by financial asset management veteran Ran Yi and seasoned entrepreneur Terence Ng, has certainly helped bolster its rising reputation, and was instrumental in convincing the likes of Pantera Capital and Sequoia China to write checks for its $20M seed round. 

The Bull Case for Orderly

DeFi, as we are often reminded, is formed of composable modules that slot together like Lego blocks. Orderly slots neatly into this model as a plug and play solution that enables protocols to launch without needing to concern themselves with the most vital ingredient of all after attracting users – liquidity. In the past, DEXs and perps exchanges going live have been required to engage in all sorts of convoluted initiatives to secure sufficient liquidity, from employing the services of professional market makers to offering generous token incentives to attract “liquidity mercenaries” who will supply their liquidity only for as long as the rewards are sweet.

The beauty of being able to access onchain liquidity on virtually any network on demand is that it frees protocols to focus on their core strengths and enables them to scale to match demand. Should a particular network or protocol become suddenly popular, Orderly’s decentralized layer can step up and keep the liquidity flowing.

We’re going to see a lot of perps exchanges and spot DEXs come onstream in the coming year as new crypto L2s deploy their mainnets and new ones spring up catering to specific verticals such as Bitcoin DeFi. If Orderly can fulfill their liquidity needs more efficiently than the competition, both in terms of speed, cost, and orderbook depth, it will have warranted its status as the AWS of web3.