Solana DEX ships network extension testnet as competition grows

Zeta Markets has shipped testnet for Bullet, a low-latency “network extension,” the team told Lightspeed exclusively

article-image

Zeta Markets and Adobe stock modified by Blockworks

share


This is a segment from the Lightspeed newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.


Solana-based perpetual futures exchange Zeta Markets has shipped testnet for Bullet, a low-latency “network extension,” the team told Lightspeed exclusively. The platform’s mainnet launch is planned for early Q2 of this year.

The move comes as Solana perps developers face competition from Hyperliquid, a new perps DEX operating as a layer-1. The chain is currently secured by four validator nodes all co-located in Tokyo, which has raised some centralization concerns. However, Hyperliquid has still vaulted past other perps DEXs. It processed roughly 6x as much perps volume as every Solana perps DEX combined last week, according to DeFiLlama. 

“Solana has simply lacked a reliable and performant perps DEX,” Zeta Markets co-founder Anmol Singh said in an email. “[Hyperliquid] has shown where the bar is, Bullet pushes this bar further.”

Bullet plans to pull this off with a network extension, which is kind of a Solana version of an Ethereum layer-2. Like a layer-2, Bullet will process transactions with a sequencer before batching and settling the transactions to Solana. Bullet’s zero-knowledge virtual machine lets transactions be verified with fraud proofs.

So, is it really fair not to call this thing a layer-2? Perhaps not. In the past, Bullet co-founder Tristan Frizza told me network extensions were mostly a Solana marketing term. I would think Zeta morphing into a form that looks a whole lot like an ETH L2 will ruffle some feathers in Solana land. 

Still, Hyperliquid’s launch made it seem apparent that users care about performance and UX above all else. Bullet claims it can achieve 2ms latency, which would be much faster than Hyperliquid’s median of 200ms. Of course, take such claims with a grain of salt for now, given that Bullet is still in testnet and has yet to operate in a real-world environment. 

Bullet will roll out lending and spot trading and hopes to become a foundation for DeFi apps. This diversification looks like a growing trend among perps DEXs, which may be realizing that a single perps product does not a thriving business make. 

The Solana perps DEX Drift also rolled out lending, and the rest of the sector has alternate business lines as well. Jupiter is popular for its swap aggregator, and Raydium gets a lot of volume from pump.fun graduations (for now).


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

Pipe Network is a decentralized content delivery network (dCDN) that replaces the sparse, capital intensive data center footprint of traditional CDNs with a permissionless mesh of independent node operators. By orchestrating under-utilized resources that already exist at the edge, rather than purchasing or leasing thousands of servers, Pipe slashes capital intensity while letting supply expand autonomously in the places where bandwidth is scarcest and most expensive.

article-image

ETH’s “breakout marks a significant structural shift and clears the path towards…$4,000,” Kraken’s OTC desk noted

article-image

Fiscal dominance isn’t about interest rates and it isn’t about Trump, either

article-image

Firestarter Storage brings decentralized storage and delivery to Solana

article-image

After lengthy closing arguments on Wednesday, the case is now in the hands of 12 jurors

article-image

Analysts cite weak trading volume and regulatory progress as factors

article-image

Builders weigh in on Ethereum’s first decade and the decisions that will define its next one