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 press release issued in Singapore on July 24, 2026.

The exchange, backed by Galaxy Ventures and Vitalik Buterin, said the public rewards program follows an invite-only beta phase that generated more than $3 billion in cumulative trading volume. RISEx described the launch as the next major step in its broader ecosystem rollout as the protocol works toward long-term community ownership and future token distribution.

Points programs have become a common way for DeFi protocols to track user activity before broader ownership or governance plans are finalized, though point balances are generally program-specific and do not by themselves guarantee any particular token outcome unless the protocol states otherwise.

The launch week concluded with the distribution of Season 0 retroactive points to 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 split across a broader ecosystem.

The public opening of RISEx’s rewards system follows the live deployment of its core exchange infrastructure, including cross-asset netted-margining and native Real-World Asset (RWA) trading. The platform said the move marks its formal transition into global scale and growth mode.

Ecosystem Traction by the Numbers

Before opening public rewards, RISEx said its closed beta developed organic, institutional-grade liquidity and user engagement over three months. The exchange reported:

• More than $3 billion in cumulative trading volume processed since genesis.
• More than $26 million in Open Interest (OI).
• More than $15 million in Total Value Locked (TVL).
• More than 15,000 registered users accumulated entirely through a merit-based referral network.

Open interest measures the value of outstanding derivatives positions, while TVL is commonly used in DeFi to describe assets deposited in or committed to a protocol. The data was attributed to DUNE.

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 designed to run according to the product roadmap as the exchange ships features and reaches milestones. AutoYield, Permissionless Portfolio Margin and equity listings are part of the platform’s stated plan to bring full-scale composable finance on-chain.

The company said the design is intended to make rewards track product progress rather than a marketing calendar that could force the program to overspend early or dilute rewards later, affecting 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 reiterated that 100% of RISE points are allocated to RISEx users, including traders, LPs and builder code integrators.

Inside the Ignite Mechanics

RISEx said Ignite is engineered to reward genuine, long-term ecosystem participation rather than Sybil farming and artificial wash trading. The program evaluates user contribution across multiple health metrics instead of volume alone.

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

The exchange said the exact methodology and weightings are not published in order to protect the program from being gamed. For users who qualify, the affiliate program offers additional incentives, including fee rebates, point boosts and other rewards.

Institutional-Grade Architecture

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 orderbook in which collateral and interconnected DeFi positions operate within a single atomic execution environment.

That architecture places RISEx in the category of on-chain derivatives venues attempting to combine the transparency and custody model of DeFi with execution characteristics more commonly associated with centralized exchanges.

With the core perpetual exchange engine stabilized, the platform’s mid-term product roadmap is moving toward the launch of native EVM Spot trading, AutoYield and Permissionless Portfolio Margin.

The company said traders can clear the gate, check retroactive allocations and begin earning Season 1 points by visiting rise.trade.

About RISEx

RISEx is a fully on-chain perpetuals exchange built on RISE Chain. It says it delivers centralized-exchange execution speeds with full self-custody and features an on-chain orderbook that shares state and liquidity with the entire 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, delivering 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.