The DeFi Supercenter

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This episode of Council of Dime TV is hosted by Arjun and Dan, later joined by Fiddy (Co-founder/CEO of Paradigm and Paradex), Trevor/Flip (Delphi Digital), and Topher (Arca Investments). The discussion centers on the philosophy behind Badger Boxes, the Paradex World Tour, the adoption of RPI by centralized exchanges like Binance, and the DeFi Super Center Thesis for the future of on-chain commerce.

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Key Takeaways:

- RPI is Now Industry Standard: Binance's adoption of Retail Price Improvement (RPI) validates Paradex's core thesis that fees should be proportional to flow toxicity, not volume. This model benefits retail takers (who pay zero fees) and market makers (who pay a toll to access guaranteed non-toxic flow, enabling tighter spreads).

- DeFi Super Center Vision: Paradex is built to be a "Liquidity Hyperscaler"—the on-chain version of Wall Street or New York City—by aggregating all core financial primitives (spot, options, perps, borrow/lend, asset management) into a single, seamless, unified margin account.

- Technological Edge: The foundation on the ZK stack provides a critical advantage, allowing the platform to scale and handle the complexity of fully composable financial primitives that competitors on standard consensus-based stacks cannot efficiently replicate at scale.

- Culture and Retention Over Hype: Paradex's commitment to delayed TGE and rewarding the core community (enshrined in the Money Badgers ecosystem) is a strategy for long-term user retention, moving beyond the short-term transactional nature of typical airdrop farming. The team credits its ability to endure market downturns as a testament to its character and long-term viability.

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Timestamps:

00:00 Welcome to council of dime
0:46 What is the defi supercenter
55:37 The Badger Box Philosophy: Identity Over Utility
1:01:08 Community Status, "City" Thesis, and Guest Introductions
1:06:45 Paradex World Tour & Paradigm's Institutional Role
1:16:44 Dime TV Launch, Content Strategy, and Future Events
1:33:41 The Industry Shift: Binance Adopts RPI (Retail Price Improvement)
1:43:44 The DeFi Super Center Thesis & Perpex Competition
1:53:35 Founder Backgrounds and The Genesis of Paradigm & Paradex
2:03:31 Deep Dive: Toxicity, RPI Mechanics, and The Cost of Execution
2:32:27 The Horizontal Business Model & ZK Stack Advantage
2:44:46 Hyperliquid Comparison and The Future Financial Citadel
2:59:58 Founding Discipline, Community Trauma, and Retention

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