Why We Built Novaperp: Anonymous Balance as Default

Trade perps the way it should be: fast, fair, and fully yours.

Most perp DEXs today are built on a simple assumption: every user has a public address, and every deposit, trade, and withdrawal is visible and linkable. If you want privacy, you're told to "mix first," then go to the DEX, then mix again on the way out. That means extra steps, extra apps, and a fragmented experience. We built Novaperp because we believe the default should be the opposite: one flow where privacy is built in from the start—deposit, trade, convert, withdraw—without tying that flow to a single identity.

The problem with "add privacy later"

When privacy is an add-on, users pay a tax: more steps, more latency, more complexity. You deposit to one place, move funds through a mixer or another chain, then finally trade. On the way out, you do it again. Each hop can leak timing or linkability. The mental model is "public chain plus extra privacy layers," not "one private flow." We wanted a perp DEX where the mental model is just: one place to deposit, one balance to trade, one withdrawal. No "first mix, then DEX." No extra steps. Privacy on the way in, inside the protocol, and on the way out—in a single flow.

That's only possible if the chain itself treats anonymous balance as the default unit of account, not a public address with a mixer attached. So we built our own L1: Novaperp Chain. On our chain, the native state is keyed by commitment (or session), not by public key. When you deposit, you credit an anonymous balance. When you trade or convert, you move that balance. When you withdraw, you drain it to a destination. The chain never needs to tie deposit, trade, and withdrawal to one identity. Same primitive for the whole lifecycle.

Anonymous balance as default

"Anonymous balance as default" means two things. First, for the user: one deposit target (e.g. address or QR), one balance, one withdrawal. The experience is the same whether you're thinking about privacy or not—you just use the product. Second, for the system: the chain's core state is not "address → balance" but "commitment → balance." Deposits are verified with proofs (e.g. ZK) that a lock happened on a source chain; trades and withdrawals are verified with proofs that you control the commitment. No stored identity, no linkability between steps. We're not "adding Tornado on top" of a transparent chain; the native unit of account is anonymous balance from the start. The bridge, the matching engine, and the withdrawal path all speak that language. One primitive, one flow.

That design also extends beyond trading. Staking and governance use the same commitment primitive: you can stake and vote with your anonymous balance, and pay gas from it so one session covers deposit, trade, stake, vote, and fees. You can prove things like “I hold at least X NVPP” without revealing who you are. The chain doesn’t expose who delegated to whom—only aggregate stake per validator—so participation stays private end to end. Other protocols can use anonymous balance for lending, vaults, or governance, without us bolting on a second system.

One chain, one block, one source of truth

Privacy isn't the only thing we wanted to fix. Many perp venues run matching on one system and settlement on another—a sequencer, then an L2 or mainnet. That adds trust, latency, and complexity. We wanted one chain, one block, one source of truth. On Novaperp Chain, consensus is NovaBFT (our own BFT-style consensus). The matching engine (NovaCore) and the EVM (NovaEVM) run in the same block. There's no separate sequencer; no "order in block N, settle in block N+1." The oracle price, the order book snapshot, and the state updates for both the CLOB and for contracts are all in that single block. Simpler trust model, no sequencer delay, and clear semantics: same block means same price, same book, same state.

Execution is native (Rust) for the hot path—matching, liquidations, triggers, fees. The CLOB has price–time priority; unfilled size goes to a reserve at a backstop price (oracle ± spread plus a bounded size term). Order types include market, limit, stop-market, stop-limit, take-profit, stop-loss, and trailing stop. The EVM runs in the same block for composability: contracts can submit orders, cancel, and read book, positions, and balances via precompiles. Gas is paid in the chain token (NVPP), not ETH. So you get native speed and one source of truth, with contracts able to interact with the same state in the same block.

CLOB + reserve in one block

Traders need two things: a limit order book for price discovery and tight spreads, and a backstop when the book is thin. We run both in the same block. Each block, we run one matching pass per market. For each order, we match first against the CLOB (price–time priority). Whatever doesn't fill there is filled from the reserve at the backstop price. The backstop is formulaic: oracle ± spread + optional size term, so there's no hidden spread. We cap slippage per order (e.g. 1% default); if the backstop would exceed that, the order is partially filled. Execution quality—executed price and slippage—is visible in the API so users can verify how they were filled.

Liquidations use the same engine. When margin falls below maintenance margin, a keeper can submit a liquidation; the closing order goes through the same CLOB-then-reserve path. So one execution model for both normal orders and liquidations, one block, one oracle price. At launch we list 30 USD-quoted perp markets (major assets plus a focused set of names), with tiered leverage and funding. Maker and taker fees are low (e.g. 1 bp maker, 3 bps taker); we don't hide cost in spread.

Why it matters

We're building Novaperp because we think perp trading should be fast, fair, and fully yours. Fast: native execution, same-block oracle and matching, no sequencer delay. Fair: transparent execution, visible slippage, no hidden spread. Yours: privacy by default, no KYC, no linkability between deposit, trade, and withdraw. One flow, one chain, one source of truth. When testnet and mainnet go live (when ready and audited), we'll open the doors to everyone. Until then, we're heads down building.

This post is for informational use only. It does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. No promise is made as to timing of testnet or mainnet, or any token listing or value.