Why I think optimistic governance and AI agents will be the future of decentralized prop firms
It is already obvious that real-world stocks, indices, and commodity futures are coming onchain, and that perpetual futures are making them a 24/7 activity. Platforms like
@HyperliquidX,
@PhoenixTrade,
@perpltrade,
@Lighter_xyz and
@Aster_DEX are already redefining what onchain perps should look like.
The question is how everyday DeFi users can tap into this opportunity. There are two groups. Traders need capital. Retail and sophisticated investors want yield.
Traders need the flexibility to execute within the risk parameters they are given. Investors need the assurance that they can stop a trader from wrecking the treasury.
In real-world prop firms, traders get accounts that the firm controls and manages. Giving a trader a wallet with funds is different: it is like handing the money over, which is risky.
Optimistic governance solves this. Think of a treasury with multiple owners and a few managers who execute transactions regularly, without interference. Those transactions are challenged only if they break the rules or are disputed.
That model looks like a workable structure for prop firms. The trader trades continuously, opening and closing positions from the treasury. If an investor thinks a trade is bad, they can dispute it. If a trade breaks the risk rules, such as the daily trade amount, the daily position size, or the allowed leverage, an AI agent automatically disputes it and notifies all investors, who can then take action, such as voting it down.
The contract itself is an account interacting with the perp DEX, so every position opened or closed is visible to everyone.
There is one caveat. This cannot be built on public platforms, because it would expose confidential information about both the traders and the investors.
At
@replicolabs, we are building this infrastructure on top of
@proteandaos, our messenger governance layer. It lets traders raise capital for perpetual trading and lets investors earn from trading talent by backing a strategy with capital.
With Protean:
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Private messenger groups provide confidentiality.
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Our governance system gives traders freedom and protects the treasury.
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Our agents provide automatic safeguards such as stop-losses, take-profits, and the risk checks above.
We are not just building a tool. We are building the whole package.
Faster...