Singapore, July 24, 2026 — RISEx, a fully on-chain perpetuals exchange built on the high-throughput RISE Chain, has launched Ignite: Season 1, its core loyalty and ecosystem points program, according to a Chainwire announcement.

The public rewards program follows an invite-only beta phase that generated more than $3 billion in cumulative trading volume. RISEx said the launch is part of a broader ecosystem rollout as the protocol works toward long-term community ownership and a future token distribution. Points-based incentive programs have become a standard go-to-market strategy for DeFi protocols, with venues such as Hyperliquid, Aevo, and others using similar mechanisms to bootstrap liquidity and reward early users ahead of token generation events.

RISEx is backed by Galaxy Ventures and Vitalik Buterin. The exchange operates on RISE Chain, an EVM-compatible Layer 2 network developed for high-performance decentralized finance.

The company said launch week concluded with the distribution of Season 0 retroactive points, which recognized users who traded on a merit-based, invite-only venue with no guarantee of receiving rewards.

RISEx said 100% of RISE points are allocated to RISEx users, including traders, liquidity providers and builder code integrators. The company described RISE as an exchange chain and RISEx as its product, saying the network’s incentive weight is routed through the trading venue rather than distributed across a broader ecosystem.

The launch follows the live deployment of RISEx’s core exchange infrastructure, including cross-asset netted margining and native Real-World Asset trading. RISEx said the opening of its rewards system marks the platform’s transition into a broader growth phase. The on-chain perpetuals exchange sector remains highly competitive, with established venues including dYdX, GMX, and Hyperliquid among those that have scaled significant volume, making liquidity depth, execution quality, and incentive design differentiating factors.

Ecosystem traction

Before opening public rewards, RISEx said its closed beta developed liquidity and user engagement over three months. The platform reported more than $3 billion in cumulative trading volume processed since genesis, more than $26 million in open interest, more than $15 million in total value locked and more than 15,000 registered users acquired through a merit-based referral network.

RISEx cited DUNE as the source for the reported metrics.

Product first, incentives second

“Much to the frustration of our growth team, I was adamant that we would not launch an incentives program until our core exchange engine reached absolute stability,” said Sam Battenally, CEO and co-founder of RISE Labs. “Too often, points programs are deployed prematurely to mask unfinished infrastructure or buy empty, temporary volume. We spent the last few months doing the hard engineering work instead by stabilizing core features like reduce-only GTC and bootstrapping deep, quality liquidity. If you are fueling the engine, it has to perform. Now that our core architecture is fully live, optimized, and performing at a world-class level, we are ready to scale.”

Ignite Season 1 structure and timeline

RISEx said Ignite is structured around its product roadmap and the RISE mission. As the exchange ships new features and reaches milestones, the season is intended to move with it. AutoYield, Permissionless Portfolio Margin and equity listings are included in the company’s stated plan to bring full-scale composable finance on-chain.

The company said this structure is a deliberate design choice, with rewards intended to track product progress rather than a fixed marketing calendar that could overspend early or dilute rewards later for early contributors and active traders.

Week 1 of Ignite began on Monday, July 20, 2026, at 00:00 UTC. RISEx said it will distribute 200,000 points per week, settled every Tuesday, with the first weekly distribution scheduled for July 28, 2026, at 14:00 UTC. Ignite is expected to end no later than Q2 2027.

RISEx said the allocation remains unchanged: 100% of RISE points are allocated to RISEx users, including traders, liquidity providers and builder code integrators.

Ignite mechanics

RISEx said Ignite is designed to reward long-term ecosystem participation rather than Sybil farming or artificial wash trading. The program evaluates user contributions across multiple health metrics instead of relying only on trading volume.

Qualifying activity includes higher-order activity, total costs such as fees, slippage and negative markouts, trading volume, and open interest and hold time. Referrers earn an additional 10% of their referee’s points.

The company said the exact methodology and weightings are not published in order to protect the program from being gamed. RISEx also said qualifying participants may access an affiliate program with additional incentives such as fee rebates, point boosts and other benefits.

Architecture and roadmap

RISEx said it delivers centralized-exchange execution speeds with full self-custody by using RISE Chain, an EVM-compatible Layer 2 network that it says provides 5 Ggas/s throughput and 1-millisecond latency.

Because the exchange and the underlying blockchain share the same state, RISEx said users can access a fully on-chain order book where collateral and interconnected DeFi positions exist in a single, atomic execution environment.

With the core perpetual exchange engine stabilized, RISEx said its mid-term product roadmap is shifting toward native EVM spot trading, AutoYield and Permissionless Portfolio Margin.

Traders can clear the gate, check retroactive allocations and begin earning Season 1 points through rise.trade.

About RISEx

RISEx is a fully on-chain perpetuals exchange built on RISE Chain. The exchange says it provides centralized-exchange execution speeds with full self-custody and features an on-chain order book that shares state and liquidity with the RISE DeFi ecosystem in a single transaction. RISEx offers institutional-grade crypto perpetuals with flexible collateral and plans to expand into equities, forex and commodities.

About RISE Chain

RISE Chain is a next-generation Ethereum Layer 2 built for high-performance DeFi. The network says it delivers 5 Ggas/s throughput and Web2-like latency through its proprietary Shreds architecture. Developed by RISE Labs, the network is backed by Galaxy Ventures, Vitalik Buterin, Finality Capital Partners, EtherFi, OrangeDAO, DACM, P2 Ventures, Stani Kulechov and other digital asset investors.

Media contact: Grigory Prelovskiy, [email protected].