Highly-Anticipated DEX Hercules Launches on Ethereum L2 Metis

A new and much-anticipated decentralized exchange (DEX) called Hercules is now live on the Metis network. The DEX offers deeply customizable liquidity infrastructure and real yield, as well as tools to help builders launch, foster partnerships, and bootstrap third-party project-owned liquidity.

This comes after Metis committed $1 million to the Hercules protocol to solidify its liquidity layer. According to Matt Gunn, Business Development Lead at Metis, the first Ethereum Layer 2 rollup to decentralize its sequencer, “Hercules is a fundamental part of the Metis ecosystem,” which will work as an “incredibly powerful tool” for both individual users and protocol builders. This funding came from the Metis Ecosystem Development Fund, which has a stash of $500 mln to help transform not only its own network but also the broad blockchain industry.

Talking about Metis’ support, Hercules founder Wilson Duarte said at the time, “This isn’t just about innovation; it’s about community, collaboration, and setting new expectations for DeFi.”

A Sustainable DEX 

Taking inspiration from Camelot, a successful DEX protocol, Hercules is designed to be a flexible and community-first decentralized crypto trading platform. It is developed with multiple tools to support the next generation of users and builders looking for sustainable liquidity to navigate the modern DeFi space.

While Camelot was based on the Ethereum L2 Arbitrum, its friendly fork, Hercules, launched on Metis. Metis recently made history by launching a decentralized Sequencer, unlike its counterparts that rely on a centralized Sequencer. This reliance carries the risk of a single point of failure, censorship, high fees, and MEV issues.

The DEX on Metis is created as a sustainable platform that, instead of having sole ownership of protocol rewards, distributes them among its ecosystem members, including builders, liquidity providers (LPs), token holders, and contributors for making long-term commitments to the progress of Metis and its champion DEX.

The DEX has a dual-token design, TORCH, and its escrowed version xTORCH, which will be the core of Hercules’ functionality and sustainability as a decentralized exchange. The xTORCH token will give holders access to features like revenue sharing, increased rewards, launchpad access, and more. These token dynamics ensure that the DEX is flexible enough to align incentives between the community, builders, protocols, and the Metis ecosystem.

Big Things Ahead

Hercules is poised to become both a liquidity layer and an ecosystem hub for Metis. Metis offers a scalable, user-friendly network secured by Ethereum, which is also planning to launch the first-ever Ethereum Hybrid Rollup in the near future.

Right at its launch, Hercules features advanced concentrated liquidity automated market maker (AMM), deep customization, active liquidity management (ALM) strategies for LPs, and dynamic fees for changing market conditions across a variety of token types. Besides an array of sophisticated features, the DEX is released with integrations by sophisticated aggregators such as Synapse, OpenOcean, and LI.FI. 

Shortly after this launch, Hercules will open its Launchpad to the most promising and innovative new projects on Metis L2. Projects building on Hercules will benefit from customized incentivization mechanics to help them grow sustainably. By joining its Olympic Circle, they will form the foundation for a long-term relationship, while users can be incentivized with Nitro pools.

So, in the coming days, with Hercules live on Metis, their combined resources, technological advancement, project collaborations, and community support will help them redefine the way Layer 2 networks are helping Ethereum grow and contribute to the adoption and growth of the broad crypto ecosystem.