有这样一个流传已久的笑话，所有的金融创新其实可以归结为两点：找出提高杠杆的方法，以及将风险进行捆绑/拆分，从而让投资者更有效地定价资产。
其中，第一个重大的金融创新要追溯到十五世纪的债务与股权分离。它将风险进行拆分，创造了两种风险持有者：债务（低风险，低回报）和股权（高风险，高回报）。
金融市场在过去20年的发展速度提升了1000倍，但总体的金融结构基本没有发生变化，大多数资本流动的方式不外乎：债务、股权、优先股、期货和期权。
证券化的出现提高了大规模资本配置的整体效率，但经过证券化的绝大多数标的资产并没有实质性的改变。在金融结构上也是如此：提供这些复杂产品的大银行基本上都是利用上述流行工具来对冲潜在风险。
在新型金融结构方面，信用违约互换（CDS）和债务担保证券（CDO）在过去20年飞速发展。它们都能够拆分风险，让投资者根据担保和潜在资本成本更有效地为资产定价。
而在加密行业，DeFi生态系统正以惊人的速度试验新的金融结构。例如基于流动池做市商的大量工具呈现寒武纪式的爆发，包括期权（如Hegic、Potion）和现货交易（如Uniswap、Balancer、Curve）。
但实际上近十年来最重要的金融创新为BitMEX于2016年推出的“永久掉期合约”，又称“永续合约”。市场当前的许多金融结构都专注于合成资产的交易，但我们认为永续合约是正确架构的第一梯队。这一点在经验上也很明显。现阶段，加密货币的合约交易量是现货的3-10倍，而其他合成资产的交易量又只占现货的一部分。其实市场已经非常清晰：相对于合成资产交易，永续合约是最理想的金融结构。同时我们预计永久掉期合约将成为未来十年非常流行的一种资产类别。
因此，早在2020年八月份，我们就领投对专注于永续合约的新型自动化做市商（AMM）协议Perpetual Protocol（又称Perp.fi）完成了一轮180万美元的投资！
其中，来自Alameda Research、Three Arrows Capital、CMS Holdings、Zee Prime Capital以及Binance Labs的伙伴，著名的加密货币天使投资人Alex Pack、Andrew Kang、Tony Sheng、Calvin Liu、George Lambeth以及Regan Bozman也参与了此次投资。
此后，团队的各项工作推进都非常良好。一个月前Perp.fi已经正式上线，在过去一周的交易量为3.04亿美元，使得它成为截止撰文时以太坊的第六大去中心化交易所。今天他们刚发布了一篇博客，对主网上线一个月以来取得的成果做了一个全面回顾。为了探究Perp.fi飞速增长的原因，我们有必要仔细分析一下它的架构和团队。
关于永续合约（Perpetual Protocol）
Perp.fi是一项突破性的金融设施，它融合了CeFi和DeFi的优势：永续合约交易员期望的CeFi式杠杆，以及DeFi系统AMM提供的流动性和简便性。
传统的AMM存在着一些弊端，其中最突出的是做市商单方面临的无常损失和资本效率低下。 Perp.fi通过消除挂单方，从根本上解决了这两个问题。Perp.fi中只存在吃单方！
那么它的工作原理是什么？Perp.fi团队的这篇博客有详细的解释，下文为简单概括。
Perp.fi由虚拟化自动做市商（简称vAMM）驱动。在与vAMM进行交易之前，交易者需要将抵押品存入一个金库（vault），该步骤与其他衍生品交易所一样（最初只支持USDC，后续可能引入其他抵押品）。存入抵押品后，他们就可以像在中心化交易所那样交易永续合约，只有一个关键区别：在中心化交易所中，交易者的对手方是中心化限价订单簿（CLOB）的挂单方，而Perp.fi交易者的交易对手为vAMM本身。Perp.fi的vAMM采用与Uniswap相同的xy = k曲线。
由于vAMM是虚拟化的，因此k值也是虚拟的——这意味着它可以根据交易量、未平仓利率、融资利率和其他市场数据，通过算法进行调整。随着k值的增加，交易者的滑点更低。
Perp.fi为交易者提供了其他永续合约平台具有的所有功能，它通过一个融资利率来平衡多头和空头。V1版本采用Chainlink作为价格预言机，提供参考基础指数。该融资利率公式与FTX交易所的相同。Perp.fi还有一个保险基金，用来确保做单成功的交易者能够获得收益。
Perp.fi通过一种代币PERP驱动。PERP代币具有以下几个功能。首先，PERP持有者对整个协议进行治理，管理着包括交易费、资产上线、保险基金管理等参数。其次，在保险资金耗尽的极端情况下，PERP持有者将充当最终的后盾。如果发生这种情况，该协议会铸造新的PERP代币并进行拍卖，拍卖所得支付给获胜的交易者。
Perp.fi的创始人冯彦文（Yenwen Feng）和李绍刚（Shao-Kang Lee）是连续创业家，他们在过去15年里创办了7家公司。在iPhone出现之前，他们是移动应用开发的先驱，开发过早期的实时社交和移动体验，最近在加密领域也深耕了好几年。由于沉迷金融工程和衍生品的设计原理，他们在研究DeFi的复杂性之后，意识到开发基于vAMM曲线永续合约的可能性。
在过去的几个月，我一直与Perp.fi团队紧密合作，发现他们非常谦虚，工作也很努力。他们组建了一支优秀的团队，吸引了众多投资者和顾问。一路上，他们在每个节点都很务实、深思熟虑，执行也非常流畅。
Perpetual协议最优越之处或许在于它可以交易具备公共价格的任何资产，即它可以交易加密货币、商品和/或任何类别资产的永续合约。得益于无需许可和抵抗审查的特性，Perp.fi将惠普保全球几十亿人口，对大众进入金融市场进行平民化，让他们享受其提供的流动性。我们为能够参与其中感到无比兴奋。
披露：Multicoin已制定、维持和执行合理设计的书面政策和程序，以识别和有效管理与其投资活动有关的利益冲突。Multicoin Capital对本报告所列资产在公开发布后的三天内（“无交易期”）遵守“无交易政策”。Multicoin Capital为Perpetua协议的投资方并持有PERP代币。
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