Solana Labs Co-Founder Anatoly Yakovenko has unintentionally ignited fresh speculation about Solana’s future after uploading experimental code that resembled a decentralized perpetual futures exchange.
The upload, shared on GitHub under the name “Percolator,” drew immediate attention from crypto users who believed Solana might be preparing to challenge dominant perpetual DEXs like Hyperliquid and Aster. However, Yakovenko clarified later that the code was part of an AI test project and not an official Solana Labs initiative.
Developers Urged to Innovate on Solana
Yakovenko explained that he was testing ideas using the AI tool Claude and accidentally made the repository public. Despite the misunderstanding, he encouraged developers to explore and build similar concepts.
His remarks reflected his broader support for innovation within Solana’s ecosystem. The proposed design featured a single-memory perpetual DEX system with its own liquidity and matching engine, along with a router capable of rebalancing positions across multiple accounts.
Perpetual futures have become one of the most active sectors in decentralized finance. These contracts allow traders to speculate on asset movements without holding the underlying token.
Platforms like Hyperliquid and Aster have captured significant trading volume, with Aster offering extreme leverage levels of up to 1,001x on Bitcoin. Such figures highlight the growing appetite for high-risk, high-reward trading strategies across DeFi markets.
Growing Interest in Solana-Based Perps
Solana currently hosts a few perpetual DEXs, yet none have achieved the scale or liquidity of top competitors. Hence, the appearance of Yakovenko’s experimental code briefly fueled hopes that Solana could soon rival other major networks in derivatives trading. The discussion underscored a key opportunity for developers to design efficient on-chain trading engines capable of handling perpetual contracts at scale.
Community figures such as Helius Labs’ Mert Mumtaz praised Yakovenko’s hands-on approach, suggesting that active experimentation by network founders keeps ecosystems dynamic and forward-looking.
Moreover, Yakovenko’s openness to sharing ideas may encourage new projects to leverage Solana’s speed and low transaction costs to create next-generation trading applications.
Solana Price Holds Key Support
Source: X
At press time, Solana traded near $186.40, down nearly 3% over the past 24 hours. Analyst platform CryptoPulse noted that SOL is retesting its long-standing ascending trendline near $185, which has repeatedly served as strong support.
If buyers defend this level, the token could rebound toward $220, a zone that previously capped rallies. A decisive breakout above that ceiling may open the path toward $260. However, losing support below $180 could trigger a deeper slide toward $165 or $150.
