vertex protocol
Vertex Protocol was a decentralized exchange that combined an off-chain matching engine with on-chain settlement for spot, perpetuals and a money market, mostly on Arbitrum. It no longer operates: on 8 July 2025 its team joined the Kraken-backed Ink Foundation, the exchange was wound down by mid-July, and the VRTX token was retired in exchange for a future INK airdrop.
Our read
There is nothing to trade on Vertex any more; this profile exists so former users can see what happened to their funds and tokens. The technology lives on in Nado, a perps and spot DEX on Ink. The lesson for anyone holding a DEX token: a team can decide to shut the venue and sunset the token, and VRTX holders learned it at 98% below launch.
Key facts
- VRTX token
- Sunset; treasury and unvested VRTX burned; holders at the 8 July snapshot get 1% of INK supply
- Jul 2025 · The Block ↗
- TVL at announcement
- About $55M, down from a $102M peak; VRTX down 98% since its November 2023 debut
- Jul 2025 · The Block ↗
- Shutdown sequence
- 8–10 Jul full functionality; 10–14 Jul reduce-only; 14–16 Jul forced settlement; then trading, deposits and withdrawals disabled
- Jul 2025 · TradingView / CoinMarketCal ↗
What happened to Vertex Protocol
On 8 July 2025 Vertex announced that its team was joining the Ink Foundation, the body behind Kraken's Ethereum layer-2, Ink. The foundation took the engineering team and the trading stack: the order book, the perps engine and the money-market code. Vertex's own exchanges on Arbitrum and its other EVM chains were closed, and the protocol's next version would be built for Ink only (PR Newswire).
| Dates (2025) | Phase | What users could do |
|---|---|---|
| 8–10 July | 1 | Everything: close positions, repay borrows, withdraw |
| 10–14 July | 2 | Reduce-only, oracle prices frozen |
| 14–16 July | 3 | Remaining positions force-settled |
| From 16 July | 4 | Trading, deposits and withdrawals disabled; balances sent to connected wallets |
The VRTX token was the loser. Staking, rewards and buybacks stopped, treasury and unvested tokens were burned, and holders at the 8 July snapshot were promised 1% of INK's supply at launch, reported as 0.018 INK per VRTX. VRTX fell about 40% on the news, on top of a 98% decline from its 2023 debut. As of September 2026 INK had not launched, so that airdrop is still a promise.
Some rivals courted the stranded users: Paradex offered traders who had deposited on Vertex a 50% taker-fee discount for two weeks from 14 July 2025.
Vertex exchange in 2026: Nado on Ink
The successor is Nado, a central-limit-order-book DEX on Ink combining perps, spot and unified margin, which went live in November 2025. Nado describes itself as inheriting Vertex's technology and team, so it keeps the Vertex idea of one margin account across spot and perps. It rewards users in INK points rather than a Nado token.
The old vertexprotocol.com domains, including the app, docs and blog, no longer resolve to working pages, which is why the website link on this profile points to Nado. A search for Vertex exchange will also turn up unrelated businesses with the same name.
Is Vertex Protocol safe? Funds after the shutdown
There is no live Vertex venue to be safe or unsafe. Vertex said in its final phase that all user funds were settled and distributed to connected wallets, so a former user should find balances back in the wallet that was linked to the account. Any site asking you to "claim" or "migrate" Vertex funds is a phishing page.
While it ran, Vertex's design put trade matching in an off-chain sequencer operated by the team, with settlement and custody on-chain and a fallback to an on-chain AMM if the sequencer failed. We found no exploit on record in its roughly two and a half years of operation.
Incident log
1 entry · repaid, confirmed: 0 of 1 where user funds were at stake
Other
Exchange closed and remaining positions force-settled
After the team joined the Ink Foundation, Vertex ran a four-phase wind-down: open positions still left after the 10–14 July reduce-only window were force-settled at frozen oracle prices, and withdrawals were then disabled. VRTX was retired against a promised INK airdrop.
Repaid — company's word onlyVertex said all user balances were settled and sent to connected wallets; we found no independent reconciliation. VRTX holders' INK allocation has not been delivered because INK has not launched.
Compare Vertex Protocol with
HyperliquidPerpetuals DEX · 2022Hyperliquid is a perpetuals exchange running on its own layer-1 chain, with a fully on-chain order book. It took no venture money and airdropped 31% of HYPE.
dYdXPerpetuals DEX · 2017dYdX is a perpetuals DEX on its own Cosmos chain, running since 2017. In June 2026 its team launched Arcus on Robinhood Chain; v4 stays up for existing users.
GMXPerpetuals DEX · 2021GMX is a perpetuals and spot DEX on Arbitrum, Avalanche and MegaETH that fills trades from liquidity pools at oracle prices. Its V1 was drained of $42M in 2025.
Gains NetworkPerpetuals DEXGains Network builds Gains (formerly gTrade), a synthetic leverage DEX: 500x crypto, 1000x forex, plus stocks and commodities, backed by per-collateral vaults.
Frequently asked questions
Is Vertex Protocol still running?+
No. Trading closed in July 2025 after the team joined the Ink Foundation. Its successor on Ink is Nado.
What happened to the VRTX token?+
It was sunset. Holders at the 8 July 2025 snapshot are entitled to a share of 1% of INK's supply when INK launches; treasury and unvested VRTX were burned.
How do I get my money out of Vertex?+
Vertex said balances were settled and sent to the wallets linked to accounts in July 2025. Check that wallet; there is no claim site.
Is Vertex Protocol related to Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX stock)?+
No. The Nasdaq ticker VRTX belongs to the drug maker; the crypto token shared the ticker by coincidence.
What changed
- Profile published.
Compiled by
Blockchain Security Researcher · September 27, 2026
We have no commercial relationship with Vertex Protocol and earn nothing from any link on this page. Every fact above carries the date it was true and a link to where it comes from; if one is out of date, the contact page reaches the editor who keeps this file.