This is the most unique perps exchange design I've seen in a while. Particularly because of the
$PAPER mechanism.
Here's how it works:
>
@papertrade_xyz is a synthetic perps protocol on HyperEVM without fees, funding, or slippage.
> If you lose a trade, your full margin goes to the LP. If you win, you get paid but the protocol takes a fee on your gain - the fee is smaller for big moves, bigger for tiny moves. That haircut is the protocol's only revenue.
> The LP starts at $0. It fills purely from trader losses. If the LP can't pay a winner immediately, the payout enters an onchain FIFO debt queue and gets paid as the LP refills.
> Losing traders receive PAPER tokens. The lower the LP balance, the more PAPER you mint per dollar lost.
> PAPER can be staked to earn USDC dividends - a continuous cut of LP revenue. Once the LP exceeds $5M, all surplus gains go entirely to stakers.
> When the LP is low, emissions are high, so this is theoretically the time to accumulate PAPER cheap (also the riskiest period - if volume dries up, the LP doesn't earn any revenue and the whole flywheel breaks).
> When the LP is high ($5M), dividends are high, so this is theoretically best time to be staking.
> With sufficient volume, both states create buying/holding pressure on the token.
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Holding/staking
$PAPER is essentially betting that traders will lose against the house, which is arguably one of the most reliable bets you can make (and a good hedge if you're a degen perps trader).