Builder Codes: Build Your Own Product on Katana Perps
Building a perp DEX is difficult and the infrastructure is only half of it. The harder half is getting liquidity. You need market makers willing to quote your book, and you need them before you have volume, which is a moat that kills most projects before they start.
Builder codes remove that entire layer. You build the product. Katana Perps runs the exchange underneath it. You earn on the flow you bring.
Ship the Product, Not the Exchange
You don't run an orderbook. You don't bootstrap liquidity. You don't manage matching or settlement. You're not standing up an exchange, you're plugging into one that already works. Katana Perps handles the infrastructure. You own the user experience.
If you can build a frontend, you can ship a perps product on Katana liquidity.
The hardest, most capital-intensive parts of running a derivatives venue become a service you route into, not a system you have to build and defend.
Your Product, Your Fees
A builder code is your identifier on Katana Perps. You ship your own frontend or app, route order flow through Katana underneath, and the volume you bring is tagged to your code so you earn on it.
The power of DeFi is composability. Because the liquidity is shared, every app built on builder codes deepens the same books instead of fragmenting them. A new product is not a new silo competing for its own market makers. It is more flow into the same venue, which means tighter spreads and better fills for everyone routing through it, including you. The exchange stops being a moat that one team defends and becomes infrastructure that many teams build on.
Fees Are Configurable
Your builder fee is a separate layer on top of Katana Perps' standard maker and taker fees. The base fees still go to the venue that provides execution and liquidity. The fee you add is what you earn, charged in addition to those base rates on every trade routed through your code.
You set your own maker and taker rates within the allowed range, track your earnings, and claim them from the builder rewards page. Your revenue scales with the volume you drive, not with how much liquidity you had to rent.
Why Build on Katana Perps Specifically
Builder codes are only as good as the venue behind them. Three things make Katana Perps the one worth building on.
Real infrastructure, seasoned team. Katana Perps is built by the team behind IDEX, the hybrid spot orderbook DEX that was among the largest DEXs in 2018. Our engineers have worked together for 6+ years, shipping matching engines, latency-sensitive infrastructure, and margin systems through multiple market cycles. This is a battle-tested exchange core, not a weekend fork.
Market Maker already integrated. Top market makers, including Auros, are connected to the books. Market makers of that caliber do not plug into amateur infrastructure, so their presence is a liquidity and credibility signal that every builder benefits from on day one. You launch on top of professional flow from the start.
A chain that funds its own growth. Katana Perps sits on Katana, a chain built to own its revenue. Assets bridged into Katana are deployed through VaultBridge into vetted lending strategies, and the interest paid by borrowers becomes protocol revenue. That revenue funds deeper liquidity, incentives, and competitions through activity rather than through emissions on a countdown. Builders route into a venue whose growth is structurally funded, not rented until a budget runs out.
Teams Are Already Building On It
Builder codes are live and in use. Three early examples show how different the products can be on top of the same liquidity:
Planemo Trading is bringing algorithmic trading and delta neutral strategies.
Clash of Perps is turning perps into a gaming experience.
Bloom is routing all perps flow to Katana for their market intelligence and social network application.
Three different products. Same underlying infrastructure. That is the point of builder codes: the venue grows every time someone builds on it, and each new app deepens the books for the rest.
Getting Set Up
Connect your wallet on the web client
Contact the Katana team (details in docs link below)
Receive your builder code
Ship
If you've wanted to build a trading product but didn't want to stand up an exchange, this is the path. Real infrastructure, your application, your fees.
Full technical details, endpoints, and integration steps are in the docs here
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Disclaimer: This post is not investment, legal or tax advice and users are encouraged to consult personal investment, legal and tax advisors. Fee splits, limits, and program terms are subject to change and to the Katana Foundation terms and conditions (here https://app.katana.network/legal/terms-and-conditions). Participation in crypto and emerging blockchain technology involves risk.
Katana Perps is not available to persons located in or residents of the United States. Access to Katana Perps may be restricted in other jurisdictions. It is your responsibility to ensure that your use of Katana Perps complies with applicable laws in your jurisdiction.
