Vest Markets

What if you could trade Apple, Tesla, and Nvidia stock perpetuals around the clock, right alongside Bitcoin and Ethereum, all from a single decentralized exchange with no KYC? That is exactly what Vest Markets delivers in 2026, and after weeks of hands-on testing, we can say it is one of the most ambitious platforms in the perp DEX space. Backed by Jane Street and powered by zero-knowledge proof technology, Vest is bridging the gap between traditional equities and crypto in a way few others have managed. Here is our full assessment.

What is Vest Markets?

Vest Markets is a hybrid decentralized exchange specializing in perpetual futures for both cryptocurrencies and U.S. equities. Launched in 2025, the platform enables traders to speculate on the price of stocks like AAPL, TSLA, GOOGL, NVDA, and many others as synthetic perpetual contracts settled in USDC - all without owning the underlying shares and without any identity verification.

The project raised $5 million in a seed round from an impressive roster of institutional backers: Jane Street, Selini Capital, Amber Group, QCP Capital, and Big Brain Holdings. Jane Street in particular stands out - they are one of the largest quantitative trading firms in the world, handling billions in daily volume across global markets. Their involvement signals a level of confidence in Vest's technical approach that is hard to ignore.

Vest operates on both Ethereum and Base, giving traders flexibility in choosing their preferred chain. The platform supports approximately 80 trading pairs across crypto and equity perpetuals, with maximum exposure up to 50x. By mid-2025, the team launched its flagship "24/7 Markets" initiative, designed to bring NYSE-level market depth to on-chain trading with zero-knowledge proof transparency.

The core technical innovation is zkRisk, a proprietary zero-knowledge protocol that handles risk pricing across all markets. Rather than relying on traditional order book matching or AMM curves, zkRisk creates a single unified liquidity pool and uses ZK proofs to mathematically verify that prices are fair and free from manipulation. This neutralizes risks like front-running and ensures that every trader - retail or institutional - receives the same execution quality. It is a fundamentally different approach to trade execution than what most perp DEXes offer.

As of early 2026, Vest Markets carries approximately $60 million in TVL and processes around $150 million in daily trading volume. The platform supports roughly 200 tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs as perpetuals, making it one of the broadest equity perps offerings in DeFi. The VEST governance token has been announced with a total supply of 1 billion tokens, with use cases spanning governance, trading rewards, fee discounts, and zkRisk participation, though the token had not yet launched at the time of our review.

Features and Functionality

Trading Interface

The Vest Markets trading interface earned an 8.8 user experience rating in our assessment, and we think that score is warranted. The first thing you notice is how much it resembles a professional centralized exchange rather than a typical DeFi app. The layout is clean: TradingView charts dominate the center, the order entry panel sits on the right, and your positions and order history are displayed below.

Charting tools are comprehensive. You get the full TradingView toolkit - dozens of technical indicators, multiple timeframes from 1-minute to monthly, drawing tools, and the ability to save chart layouts. During our testing, price feeds updated smoothly with minimal lag, which is critical when trading high-exposure positions.

The order entry supports market orders, limit orders, and conditional orders with take-profit and stop-loss parameters. We appreciated that you can set your exit conditions directly in the order panel before submitting, rather than having to modify positions after they are open. The interface clearly displays estimated entry price, liquidation price, and the margin requirement before you confirm.

Switching between crypto and equity perpetuals is fluid. The market selector organizes assets by category (crypto, stocks, ETFs), and searching for specific tickers like AAPL-USD-PERP or BTC-USD-PERP is instant. The transition between asset classes is handled without any friction, which makes sense given that all trades settle through the same unified liquidity pool.

Supported Markets

This is where Vest truly differentiates itself. The platform offers around 80 trading pairs in its core data, but the actual market count has expanded to roughly 200 tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs through perpetual contracts. The crypto selection covers major assets like BTC, ETH, SOL, and a range of altcoins. But the equity perpetuals are the headline feature.

You can trade synthetic perpetuals on Apple (AAPL-USD-PERP), Tesla (TSLA-USD-PERP), Google (GOOGL-USD-PERP), Nvidia (NVDA-USD-PERP), Microsoft (MSFT-USD-PERP), Amazon (AMZN-USD-PERP), and many more. These contracts track the real-time price of the underlying stock but settle entirely in USDC on-chain. You do not own any actual stock - these are leveraged derivatives for price exposure.

The 24/7 nature of these equity perpetuals is a genuine advantage. Traditional stock markets operate during set hours, with weekends and holidays off. Vest allows you to trade TSLA at 3 AM on a Sunday if you want. This is particularly valuable during after-hours earnings announcements or major news events when traditional markets are closed but you want to take a position.

Maximum exposure on Vest is 50x, with major crypto pairs like BTC and ETH supporting the full 50x. Equity perpetuals and smaller crypto assets may have lower caps depending on the asset's volatility and available liquidity. Compared to the 100x or 500x offered by some crypto-focused competitors, 50x may feel modest, but it is a reasonable ceiling that balances opportunity with risk management, especially for equity derivatives.

Liquidity and Order Book Depth

With $60 million in TVL and $150 million in daily volume, Vest sits in the mid-tier of perp DEXes by liquidity. It is well below giants like Hyperliquid or GMX but significantly above many newer entrants. The zkRisk system is designed to make the most of available liquidity by routing all trades through a single unified pool rather than fragmenting it across individual markets.

In our testing, we found that execution quality on major crypto pairs (BTC, ETH) and high-volume equity perpetuals (TSLA, NVDA, AAPL) was good. Fills were close to the displayed price, and we did not experience unexpected slippage on positions up to several thousand dollars. For very large positions (six figures and above), liquidity constraints become more relevant, and you may see some execution degradation.

The equity perpetuals market is still maturing across all platforms. As of early 2026, equity perps accounted for roughly 7 to 10 percent of total perp DEX volume industry-wide, up from below 1 percent at the start of the year. Vest is one of the leading platforms in this growing segment, but overall liquidity in equity perps is still a fraction of what you would find for BTC or ETH perpetuals on dedicated crypto platforms.

Spreads on major equity pairs were reasonable during our testing - typically within a few basis points of the real-time stock price during market hours. After hours, spreads can widen slightly as there is less reference pricing from traditional markets. This is an inherent challenge for 24/7 equity trading that all platforms in this space face.

Advanced Features

The zkRisk protocol is the marquee advanced feature. It uses zero-knowledge proofs to verify that pricing is mathematically fair across all trades. In practical terms, this means the platform can prove that no single entity - including the platform operators themselves - has manipulated prices or front-run orders. This level of provable fairness is unusual in the DEX world and addresses one of the biggest trust concerns traders have with decentralized venues.

The unified liquidity pool design means that liquidity is shared across all markets rather than being isolated per pair. This is more capital-efficient than isolated pool models because idle liquidity in one market can support trades in another. For traders, this translates to better execution across the board, especially for less popular markets.

Staking is available on Vest, allowing users to participate in the protocol's economic model. The VEST token is designed to provide governance rights, trading rewards, fee discounts, and participation in the zkRisk system. While the token has not yet fully launched, the staking infrastructure is in place for future distribution.

Vest does not currently offer farming or lending features, keeping its focus squarely on perpetual trading. This specialization is a deliberate choice - rather than spreading development resources across multiple DeFi verticals, the team concentrates on making the trading experience as strong as possible.

Fees and Pricing

Fee Structure

Vest Markets charges a 0.05% swap fee, a 0.02% LP fee, and a 0.03% protocol fee. The total effective trading cost is approximately 0.10% per trade when you combine all components. This puts Vest in the middle of the pack - cheaper than GMX's combined fees but slightly more expensive than Hyperliquid's taker rate.

Gas costs vary depending on which chain you use. On Ethereum, expect to pay $0.50 to $2.00 per transaction, which can add up for active traders. On Base, costs are significantly lower. The VEST token is designed to offer fee discounts once fully launched, which could reduce the effective cost for regular traders who hold and stake the token.

For liquidity providers, the 0.02% LP fee flows directly to those providing capital to the unified pool. The 0.03% protocol fee funds development and operations. This split is comparable to industry norms, though the unified pool design means LP returns are smoothed across all markets rather than concentrated in individual pairs.

How Vest Markets Fees Compare

Vest's fees are reasonable but not the cheapest available. Hyperliquid clearly wins on raw trading costs with its maker rebates and zero gas. However, Hyperliquid does not offer equity perpetuals, so the comparison is not entirely apples-to-apples. If equity perps are important to your strategy, Vest's fees are competitive within that specific niche. GMX charges substantially more in combined fees, so Vest has a clear cost advantage there.

Real-World Cost Examples

A $10,000 long position on BTC-USD-PERP at 10x (notional value $100,000) on Vest would cost approximately $100 in total fees (0.10% of notional). Add gas of roughly $1 on Ethereum or a few cents on Base. Total cost: about $101 on Ethereum or $100.05 on Base.

The same $10,000 position on TSLA-USD-PERP at 10x would carry identical fee percentages: $100 in trading fees plus gas. This is noteworthy because many traditional brokers would charge little to nothing in commissions for stock trading, but those brokers require KYC, restrict leverage, and close after market hours. The 0.10% fee is the premium you pay for 24/7 permissionless access to equity derivatives.

For comparison, that same $100,000 notional BTC trade on Hyperliquid would cost $50 (0.05% taker) with zero gas, and on GMX would cost approximately $250-$350 in combined fees plus $1-$2 in gas. Vest falls comfortably between these two benchmarks.

A high-frequency trader executing 20 trades per day at $50,000 notional each would pay roughly $1,000 per day in Vest fees. Over a month of 20 trading days, that comes to $20,000. The upcoming VEST token fee discounts could meaningfully reduce this number for active participants.

Security and Safety

Smart Contract Audits

Vest Markets has completed two security audits from reputable firms. The first was conducted by Zellic in March 2025, covering the core protocol and the zkRisk system. Zellic specializes in zero-knowledge proof systems and has audited numerous ZK-based protocols, making them a particularly relevant choice for auditing Vest's core innovation.

The second audit was performed by OtterSec in July 2025, focused on smart contracts. OtterSec has built a strong reputation in the Solana ecosystem and has expanded to cover multi-chain protocols. Their audit of Vest's contract layer adds a second independent verification of the codebase.

Both audits are relatively recent (2025), which is a positive sign - they cover the current version of the protocol rather than outdated code. The scope of the Zellic audit is particularly important because it includes zkRisk, the cryptographic engine that underpins the entire fair pricing mechanism. Any vulnerability in the ZK system could theoretically allow price manipulation, so having a specialist firm verify this component is essential.

Security Track Record

As a platform that launched in 2025, Vest has a limited but clean security track record. There have been no publicly reported exploits, hacks, or security incidents as of early 2026. The protocol has processed over $5 billion in cumulative trading volume without incident, which is an encouraging data point even if the operating period is still short.

The open-source nature of the codebase allows community review, and the GitHub repository shows active development with regular commits. The combination of institutional backing (particularly from trading firms that conduct their own internal due diligence) and professional audits provides a reasonable baseline of security confidence.

User Protection Features

Vest offers several security features beyond the core audits. The protocol uses a multisig wallet structure for administrative functions, meaning no single key holder can make unilateral changes to the smart contracts. This protects against insider threats and single points of failure.

A 48-hour timelock delay is enforced on all governance actions. Any proposed changes to the protocol are publicly visible for 48 hours before they take effect, giving users time to review changes and withdraw funds if they disagree with a proposed modification. This is a best-practice governance mechanism used by mature DeFi protocols.

The bug bounty program offers up to $300,000 for critical vulnerability reports. This creates a financial incentive for security researchers to proactively discover and responsibly disclose bugs rather than exploiting them. While $300,000 is below the $1 million offered by protocols like GMX, it is a meaningful bounty that signals the team takes security seriously.

The zkRisk system itself provides inherent user protection by mathematically proving fair execution. Because pricing is verified through ZK proofs, traders can have confidence that they are receiving the same execution quality regardless of their position size or trading sophistication. This is a structural advantage over platforms where execution quality may vary by participant.

Getting Started with Vest Markets

Connecting Your Wallet

Visit vest.exchange and click the connect button. Vest supports wallets compatible with both Ethereum and Base. MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet-wallet), and WalletConnect-compatible wallets all work. You will be prompted to select which network you want to use - Ethereum or Base.

There is no account creation, no email, and no KYC. The permissionless nature means you can go from zero to trading in under a minute. This is one of the key value propositions of decentralized equity perpetuals - accessing stock price exposure without the multi-day onboarding process of traditional brokerages.

We recommend connecting on Base if you want to minimize gas costs. The trading experience is identical across both networks, but Base transactions cost a fraction of what Ethereum mainnet charges.

Making Your First Deposit

Vest primarily uses USDC as collateral for trading. You will need USDC on your chosen network (Ethereum or Base). If you have ETH, you can swap it for USDC through any DEX like Uniswap on the respective chain.

If you are coming from a centralized exchange, you can withdraw USDC directly to Ethereum or Base. Coinbase supports direct Base withdrawals, which is the cheapest and fastest route. From other exchanges, you may need to withdraw to Ethereum and then bridge to Base using a service like Across or Stargate.

Depositing into Vest is done directly from your wallet when you place your first trade - there is no separate deposit step. Your wallet balance is your trading capital, and the platform will request approval to spend USDC when you execute a trade.

Placing Your First Trade

Select your market from the top navigation. For a crypto trade, choose something like BTC-USD-PERP. For an equity trade, look for a ticker like AAPL-USD-PERP or TSLA-USD-PERP. The chart loads with current pricing and the order panel appears on the right.

Select long or short, enter your margin amount, and choose your multiplier (up to 50x depending on the asset). The interface displays your projected liquidation price and the total notional value. Set take-profit and stop-loss levels, then click submit and confirm the wallet transaction.

Our first trade on Vest took about 90 seconds from wallet connection to position open. Execution was clean - the fill price matched the displayed price within a fraction of a percent. Closing a position follows the same flow: click close, confirm the transaction, and your USDC balance updates within seconds.

User Experience

Desktop Platform

The desktop platform is the best way to use Vest Markets. The layout is professional and uncluttered. Charts are responsive, and switching between crypto and equity markets is instant. We appreciate that the interface does not try to do too much - it is focused on trading and does that well.

Performance during our testing was consistently good. Page loads were fast, chart updates were smooth, and order submissions processed without delays. During periods of high volatility, we did not notice any degradation in the interface responsiveness, which is a positive sign about the backend infrastructure.

The ability to view all positions (both crypto and equity) in a single portfolio view is convenient. You can monitor your BTC long and your TSLA short from the same dashboard without switching between different interfaces or accounts.

Mobile Experience

Vest does not have a standalone mobile app, but the web interface adapts well to mobile browsers. The responsive design rearranges the layout for smaller screens, putting the chart on top and the order entry below. It is usable for basic trading and position monitoring.

For detailed technical analysis or rapid-fire trading, desktop is still the superior experience. The chart tools are harder to use on a phone, and the order entry panel requires some scrolling. But for checking positions, setting alerts, or executing a quick trade on the go, the mobile web experience is passable.

Customer Support

Support channels include Discord and the documentation portal at docs.vest.exchange. The Discord community is active and we received answers to our questions within a few hours during business days. The documentation covers all major platform functions, including detailed explanations of how zkRisk works, fee calculations, and risk management.

For a DeFi protocol, the support infrastructure is above average. The docs are well-organized and searchable, which is important for a platform that introduces novel concepts like equity perpetuals and ZK-powered pricing. New users who read through the docs before trading will be much better prepared.

Vest Markets vs Competitors

Here is how Vest stacks up against other leading perpetuals platforms in 2026:

Vest vs Hyperliquid: Hyperliquid is the undisputed volume leader in perp DEXes, with over $5 billion in daily volume and the deepest liquidity. For pure crypto perpetuals trading, Hyperliquid offers lower fees, more pairs, and better execution. But Hyperliquid does not offer equity perpetuals at all. If trading stocks on-chain matters to you, Vest fills that gap. The zkRisk fair pricing model also provides a provability guarantee that Hyperliquid's traditional matching engine does not.

Vest vs GMX: GMX is the elder statesman of decentralized perps with a four-year track record and $600 million TVL. It offers higher maximum exposure (100x vs 50x) and a proven fee-sharing model through GLP/GM pools. But GMX focuses exclusively on crypto - no stocks, no equities. Vest also charges lower combined fees (0.10% vs 0.25-0.35%). For traders who want both crypto and equity exposure from one platform, Vest is the clear winner. For maximum crypto liquidity and security track record, GMX has the edge.

Vest vs Drift: Drift on Solana offers some equity market exposure but with a more limited selection and lower maximum multiplier (20x). Vest's 200+ equity perpetuals dwarfs Drift's offering. Vest also benefits from the zkRisk fair pricing system. However, Drift has the advantage of Solana's extremely low transaction costs and fast finality. For equity-focused perp trading specifically, Vest is the more complete solution.

Who Should Use Vest Markets?

Vest Markets is built for traders who want unified access to both crypto and equity perpetuals from a single decentralized platform. If you have been looking for a way to trade TSLA, AAPL, or NVDA with leverage, 24 hours a day, without opening a brokerage account or providing KYC documentation, Vest is one of the best options available in 2026.

The platform is also well-suited for traders who value provable fairness. The zkRisk system is not just marketing - it provides mathematical verification that pricing is free from manipulation. If you have been burned by front-running or suspicious execution on other platforms, this level of transparency may be worth the slightly higher fees compared to the absolute cheapest venues.

Institutional or semi-professional traders will appreciate the backing from Jane Street and other major trading firms. This is not a random anonymous project - the investors come from the highest echelons of traditional finance and crypto market making.

Vest is not ideal for traders who need the absolute deepest crypto liquidity. Hyperliquid and GMX offer substantially more depth for BTC and ETH perpetuals. It is also not the best choice for traders who want ultra-high multipliers - 50x is the cap, while GMX offers 100x and Avantis offers 500x. And because equity perps may face future regulatory scrutiny, there is an inherent uncertainty around the long-term availability of stock trading on any decentralized platform.

Traders in the United States should be especially careful. While Vest does not require KYC, the regulatory status of tokenized equity perpetuals for U.S. residents remains unclear. We strongly recommend consulting legal counsel before trading equity derivatives on any decentralized platform if you are based in the U.S.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Vest Markets?

Vest Markets is a decentralized perpetual futures exchange operating on Ethereum and Base that offers 24/7 trading of both cryptocurrency and U.S. equity perpetuals with up to 50x exposure. It uses a proprietary zero-knowledge protocol called zkRisk for provably fair pricing.

How do equity perpetuals work on Vest?

Equity perpetuals on Vest are synthetic derivatives that track the real-time price of U.S. stocks like AAPL, TSLA, and NVDA. They are settled in USDC - you do not own the actual stock. The format is {TICKER}-USD-PERP, and they can be traded 24/7 regardless of traditional market hours.

What is zkRisk?

zkRisk is Vest's proprietary zero-knowledge protocol for fair pricing. It creates a single unified liquidity pool and uses ZK proofs to mathematically verify that all prices are fair and free from manipulation. This neutralizes front-running risk and ensures all traders receive equal execution quality.

Is Vest Markets safe?

Vest has been audited by Zellic (March 2025) and OtterSec (July 2025). The platform uses multisig wallets, a 48-hour timelock on governance changes, and offers a $300,000 bug bounty. The codebase is open source. There have been no reported security incidents as of early 2026.

Do I need KYC to trade stocks on Vest?

No. Vest allows trading of stock perpetuals without KYC verification. You connect a crypto wallet and can immediately trade tokenized equity perpetuals. These are synthetic derivatives settled in USDC, not actual stock ownership. This permissionless access is a key differentiator from traditional brokerages.

What are the fees on Vest Markets?

Vest charges a combined total of approximately 0.10% per trade, broken down as a 0.05% swap fee, 0.02% LP fee, and 0.03% protocol fee. Gas costs vary by chain - $0.50 to $2.00 on Ethereum, much less on Base. The upcoming VEST token will provide fee discounts for holders.

Who are the investors behind Vest?

Vest raised $5 million from Jane Street, Selini Capital, Amber Group, QCP Capital, and Big Brain Holdings. Jane Street is one of the world's largest quantitative trading firms, and their involvement signals significant confidence in the platform's technical architecture.

When will the VEST token launch?

The VEST token has been announced with a total supply of 1 billion tokens and use cases including governance, trading rewards, fee discounts, and zkRisk participation. A specific launch date has not been confirmed as of early 2026. The staking infrastructure is already in place on the platform.

Final Verdict

Vest Markets earns an 8.6 overall rating in our assessment, and it is one of the most interesting platforms we have reviewed this year. The combination of 200+ equity perpetuals, 24/7 trading, ZK-powered fair pricing, and backing from Jane Street makes it a compelling proposition in a crowded market.

The strengths are clear: no other decentralized platform matches Vest's breadth of equity perpetuals. The zkRisk system provides a level of execution transparency that is genuinely unique. The security setup with dual audits, multisig, timelock, and bug bounty is thorough. And the user experience is polished.

The weaknesses are real too. Liquidity is still building and lags behind crypto-only leaders. The VEST token has not yet launched, leaving the full economic model unproven. And regulatory uncertainty around equity perpetuals is a genuine risk that could affect the platform's ability to continue offering stock trading.

We recommend Vest Markets for traders who specifically want decentralized access to equity perpetuals alongside crypto trading. It fills a niche that very few platforms serve well. For pure crypto perpetuals with maximum depth and lowest fees, Hyperliquid remains the top choice. But if 24/7 stock trading from a crypto wallet is what you are after, Vest is the strongest option we have tested.