ROAD TOWN, British Virgin Islands, May 18, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AFX, a sovereign Layer 1 purpose-built for decentralized derivatives trading, has officially commenced the operation of its L1 Mainnet, signaling a definitive end to the era of trade execution compromised by general-purpose blockchain congestion. Engineered for the world’ s most demanding participants, AFX introduces the Sovereign Trading Layer—a dedicated financial environment where the non-custodial transparency of a Perp DEX meets the uncompromising speed and depth traditionally reserved for institutional-grade centralized entities.
At launch, the protocol supports a high-liquidity suite of perpetual markets across both digital and traditional macro assets, featuring BTC, ETH, Gold (XAU), and Crude Oil (CL), with up to 40x leverage to ensure peak capital efficiency from the first block.
The architectural foundation of AFX represents a radical departure from legacy decentralized platforms that remain tethered to the high latency and structural bottlenecks of shared networks. By operating on a custom-built execution layer powered by DAG-based consensus and an ABCI modular architecture, AFX transforms the perpetual trading experience, achieving a specialized environment where execution is decoupled from consensus. This synergy provides a dedicated mempool optimized exclusively for high-frequency order flow and protocol-level MEV resistance, allowing for a 100ms median latency and a capacity exceeding 100,000 transactions per second.
Crucially, the AFX Mainnet introduces a Zero Gas execution model, removing the friction of network fees and allowing data-driven discipline, rather than gas costs, to dictate market success.
The Mainnet launch simultaneously debuts the Pro-Trader Suite, an institutional-caliber engine designed for the “0.1%” of traders who prioritize precision. This suite features a Hyper-Efficiency Margin Engine that mandates a mere 1.25% maintenance margin—delivering four times the capital efficiency of industry incumbents—while providing native support for the real-time re-utilization of unrealized profits. Furthermore, as the first decentralized derivatives exchange to offer native FIX protocol support, AFX provides Tier-1 quantitative firms a seamless, plug-and-play gateway to decentralized liquidity, bridging the gap between sophisticated algorithmic trading and on-chain sovereignty without the need for extensive code refactoring.
Beyond technical dominance, AFX is redefining the social contract of decentralized finance through a community-first economic model. In a deliberate move to preserve total sovereignty, the protocol was launched without venture capital, private rounds, or predatory unlock schedules, ensuring that the network’ s evolution is driven purely by its active participants. This commitment is solidified by a 100% Revenue Pass-through model, where the entirety of the network’ s generated value is directed back to the ecosystem’ s contributors and traders.
The AFX Mainnet is now live, offering a sanctuary for those who demand the transparency of a Perp DEX with the sovereign precision of a dedicated L1. Traders are invited to experience the next stage of on-chain evolution at https://app.afx.xyz/trade.
About AFX
AFX is a high-performance sovereign L1 purpose-built for decentralized derivatives. By synthesizing the rapid execution of a centralized exchange with the immutable sovereignty of the blockchain, AFX delivers a professional-grade Perp DEX environment characterized by sub-100ms finality, institutional liquidity, and unmatched capital efficiency.
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