dYdX Pay

dYdX Pay is the on-chain settlement and payment functionality of dYdX, a decentralized perpetuals and derivatives exchange founded in 2017. dYdX is one of the most established decentralized derivatives platforms, enabling traders to trade perpetual contracts on crypto assets with leverage, fully on-chain, with no KYC and no custodial intermediary.

The “Pay” aspect refers to dYdX’s on-chain settlement mechanism — trades, funding payments and PnL are all settled on-chain directly between traders’ wallets, without a centralized clearinghouse holding funds. dYdX v4 operates as a fully decentralized, app-chain-based exchange on its own Cosmos SDK chain, with validators running the orderbook and matching engine.

As of August 2026, dYdX continues to operate as a leading decentralized derivatives exchange. It is important to note that dYdX is a derivatives trading platform, not a merchant payment gateway — its inclusion in a payment gateway directory reflects its on-chain settlement infrastructure rather than merchant checkout functionality.

Best for: Web3-native traders who need decentralized, non-custodial perpetuals trading with on-chain settlement. Not suitable for merchant payment processing.

dYdX charges ultra-low trading fees of approximately 0.02% on trades, making it one of the lowest-fee derivatives venues. The only additional cost is underlying network gas on the dYdX chain.

Cost model

• Trading fee — approximately 0.02% on trades, among the lowest in crypto derivatives.
• Network gas — low, as dYdX v4 runs on its own app-chain optimized for throughput and low cost.
• Funding rates — periodic payments between long and short traders to keep perpetual prices aligned with spot.

Settlement

• Instant on-chain settlement — trades, funding and PnL settle on the dYdX chain.
• Non-custodial — funds remain in user-controlled accounts.

Decentralized perpetuals trading

• Perpetual contracts — trade crypto perpetuals with leverage.
• On-chain orderbook and matching — dYdX v4 runs a fully decentralized orderbook on its own app-chain.
• Non-custodial — no centralized clearinghouse holds user funds.
• No KYC — fully decentralized, no identity verification required.

On-chain settlement

• Trades, funding payments and PnL all settle on-chain.
• Direct settlement between traders’ wallets without an intermediary.

dYdX chain

• dYdX v4 operates on its own Cosmos SDK app-chain for throughput and low cost.
• Validators run the orderbook and matching engine in a decentralized network.