1. Executive Summary
Bluefin is a decentralized orderbook-based exchange on the Sui blockchain, designed to serve both professional and first-time traders. It aims to redefine decentralized finance (DeFi) by offering a secure, transparent, and user-friendly trading experience. Bluefin provides a suite of products, including a high-performance derivatives exchange (Pro), a spot trading exchange (Spot), an aggregator for price efficiency, and infrastructure for a decentralized financial network.
Its hybrid architecture combines on-chain and off-chain components, ensuring both decentralization and efficiency. Bluefin introduces innovative features like Pre-Launch Perps, Bluefin Spot CLMM, and BluefinX, enhancing its role in the DeFi ecosystem. As of June 2025, Bluefin has a Total Value Locked (TVL) of $201M and has facilitated over $54B in trading volume since its launch in 2023, with over 50,000 unique depositors.
2. About the Project
2.1. Vision
Bluefin envisions a future where decentralized finance is accessible, secure, and efficient for all users, from professionals to newcomers. It aims to accelerate DeFi adoption by providing a sustainable, powerful, and user-friendly exchange platform.
2.2. Problem
Traditional on-chain trading platforms often face challenges such as high latency, lack of transparency, and suboptimal user experiences. Centralized exchanges, while efficient, lack the security and decentralization that many users seek in DeFi.
2.3. Solution
Bluefin addresses these issues by offering a decentralized exchange with a hybrid architecture that combines on-chain security with off-chain efficiency. It provides a seamless trading experience with low latency, high security, and transparency, maintained through governance mechanisms and integration with Sui's on-chain orderbook. This approach ensures both performance and decentralization, catering to a wide range of traders.
3. Market Analysis
According to DefiLlama, the DeFi market has experienced significant growth, with a TVL of approximately $116.2B as of June 2025. This represents a substantial increase from previous years, driven by the increasing adoption of blockchain-based financial services and innovations in DeFi protocols. The market's expansion is fueled by the elimination of intermediaries, real-time settlement capabilities, and the growing popularity of decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and derivatives platforms.
According to a report by Mordor Intelligence, the DeFi market size is estimated at $51.73B in 2025 and projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.98% to reach $87.09B by 2030, indicating rapid growth and a dynamic market environment. The growth will be driven by technological advancements, increasing user adoption, and the expansion of DeFi services across multiple blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana, and Sui.
Bluefin operates within the DeFi market as a decentralized exchange and derivatives platform on the Sui blockchain. The Sui ecosystem has a TVL of approximately $1.91B, with Bluefin contributing $201.5M, making it one of the leading protocols on Sui. Bluefin's focus on security, transparency, and user experience, combined with its innovative features like Pre-Launch Perps and BluefinX, positions it to capture a significant share of the growing DeFi market, particularly in the DEX and derivatives segments.
3.1. Competition
# | DEX Name | Description | Key Differentiators |
1 | Ecosystem-focused DEX on Sui, offering token swapping, liquidity contribution, yield farming, and IDO campaigns. | Broad ecosystem focus, supports IDOs and yield farming. | |
2 | Next-generation Central Limit Order Book (CLOB) on Sui, leveraging parallel execution and low fees. | High-performance CLOB, supports flash loans and governance. | |
3 | Pioneer DEX and concentrated liquidity protocol on Sui and Aptos, offering CLMM, swap, range/limit orders. | CLMM model, but recently impacted by a hack, reducing TVL. | |
4 | Non-custodial DEX on Sui with a CLMM model, offering perpetual contracts and zero-slippage swaps. | Focus on zero-slippage swaps and perpetuals. | |
5 | One-stop DeFi protocol on Sui, offering AMM swaps, limit orders, strategy vaults, and leveraged perpetuals. | Targets institutional users with comprehensive DeFi services. |
4. Features
Pro: A high-performance derivatives exchange with both regulated and permissionless versions, supporting advanced trading strategies.
Spot: A globally accessible spot trading exchange with easy on-ramps and cross-chain liquidity, serving as a retail gateway for ecosystem assets and meme coins.
Aggregator: Ensures maximum price efficiency with sub-second transaction discovery and execution, optimizing trading outcomes.
Infrastructure: Powers a decentralized financial network that is both powerful and intuitive, supporting other DeFi protocols.
Hybrid Architecture: Combines a decentralized on-chain trading engine with an off-chain performant orderbook, minimizing trust and enhancing efficiency.
Order Types: Supports Market, Limit, and Stop orders, catering to various trading preferences.
Price Feeds: Utilizes Oracle and Index prices powered by the Pyth network for accurate pricing and risk management.
Risk Management: Includes liquidations, insurance funds, and auto-deleveraging to protect solvency and ensure fairness in leveraged trading.
Additional Features:
Pre-Launch Perps: Enables price discovery and exposure for tokens ahead of their Token Generation Events (TGE).
Bluefin Spot CLMM: Optimizes capital efficiency and deepens liquidity through a Concentrated Liquidity Market Maker model.
BluefinX: A permissionless Request for Quote (RFQ) system creating off-chain auctions before on-chain execution.
Lending/Borrowing: In collaboration with AlphaFi, offering non-custodial lending and borrowing services for assets like SUI, USDC, ETH, and USDT.
5. Token
$BLUE is the native utility token of the Bluefin ecosystem with a total supply of 1B.
5.1. Token Distribution
Ecosystem Growth: 52% (520M tokens), supporting user incentives, protocol development, and treasury reserves.
Strategic Participants: 28% (280M tokens), allocated to investors and advisors with a three-year vesting period and a one-year lockup after the TGE.
Core Contributors: 20% (200M tokens), reserved for the team with a three-year vesting period and a one-year lockup post-TGE.
5.1. Utility
The BLUE token is used for on-chain governance, giving holders a direct say in key decisions such as protocol upgrades, fee structures, and asset listings. It may also be used for community rewards and other incentives to support ecosystem growth.
6. Traction
Bluefin has established itself as a leading decentralized exchange on the Sui blockchain. The TVL is $205.1M as of June 2025, and trading volume has been over $54B since launch, demonstrating significant market activity. It also has a user base of more than 50,000 unique depositors, indicating strong adoption and trust in the platform.
Bluefin is currently the third-largest protocol on Sui by TVL, following the decline of Cetus due to a hack that reduced its TVL to approximately $33M, and now it is back at $98M.
7. Team
Bluefin's team comprises professionals with diverse experiences from leading companies such as Meta, Amazon, and Goldman Sachs, bringing expertise in technology and finance to the project. Rabeel Jawaid, Ahmad Jawaid, Yameen Malik, and Zabi Mohebzada are the four co-founders of the project, with Ahmad as the CTO. The team's composition and the project's backing by prominent investors provide credibility to deliver a robust DeFi platform.
8. Investors
The Bluefin team has raised $29.2M across multiple funding rounds. The first was a $6.4M seed in May 2021, from Polychain Capital, DeFiance Capital, and ParaFi Capital. The second was a $22.8M in September 2021 from CMS Holdings and Hypersphere Ventures, along with some previous investors.
9. Conclusion
Bluefin is a standout decentralized exchange on the Sui blockchain, blending on-chain security with off-chain efficiency to address DeFi challenges like latency and usability. Its unique features, including BluefinX for optimized quote execution, Pre-Launch Perps for early token exposure, and the Spot CLMM for enhanced liquidity, cater to both novice and professional traders. Backed by top investors like Polychain and SIG, and powered by the BLUE token's governance model, Bluefin is poised to drive innovation and lead the future of decentralized trading.
