Solana Founder: Just…Take My Code 🤷‍♀️

Right. So, Anatoly Yakovenko, one of the people behind Solana which, let’s be honest, sometimes feels like it’s held together with duct tape and good intentions, has basically told everyone to nick his idea for a new decentralized exchange. Yes, nick. Like it’s a particularly good biscuit. Apparently, it’s a perpetual futures DEX called “Percolator”. Honestly, the name sounds like something my grandmother would drink.☕

He announced this on X (formerly Twitter, obvs – the platform where sensible people go to have their opinions shouted at them) on October 20th, mentioning he’d been building this thing with the help of Claude, which, you know, is an AI. So basically, a robot helped him invent something and now he wants everyone to have it. It’s very generous. Or incredibly naive. Jury’s still out. 🤔

Percolator: Steal This Prototype! (Seriously, He Said That)

Apparently, he accidentally uploaded the code to GitHub. Which is a bit like leaving your diary open on the train, isn’t it? Anyway, this has caused quite the stir, mainly because people are now arguing about whether it’s okay to just…take stuff. It’s the digital equivalent of finding a really good parking space and someone else just driving straight into it.😤

Percolator, in case you were wondering, is a fancy on-chain perpetual futures DEX, built on Solana, naturally. It deals with all the complicated stuff like tracking positions and margin. And apparently, it’s designed to be super-fast and not let one market crash bringing down everything else. Which sounds… sensible. It uses something called a “slab” structure. Honestly, the technical explanations gave me a headache. I mainly skimmed it. 😴

He wants people to copy him. Apparently, it’s an ‘experiment in open innovation’. Which is a very polite way of saying “I’m curious to see if anyone else can make this work”. It’s like baking a cake and then telling strangers to try and recreate it, but with actual money on the line. The code isn’t quite finished – the ‘liquidation modules’ are still being built. So don’t expect too much, too soon.

The Internet Reacts (Predictably)

The DeFi crowd, as you might expect, had opinions. Andre Cronje of Yearn Finance (a man who knows a thing or two about DeFi chaos) joked he’d ‘aped in’ and would blame Yakovenko if it all went wrong. 🤦‍♀️ A developer called @rinegade_sol said he’d ‘cook it’, which, I assume, means he’s building his own version. Others were offering technical feedback. It’s all very… collaborative. Or possibly a recipe for disaster.

ill cook it oki, i actually was about to start working on own onchain perps implementation, but would prefer to learn more from your ideas and experiment on it over time!
here almost finished new terminal from scratch for any perp/dex/amm on solana:

– rinegade (svm/acc) (@rinegade_sol) October 20, 2025

Some people think this is very Solana – all open-source and hackathon vibes. Others are worried about what happens if someone makes a lot of money from his idea. Who gets credit? Who gets the profit? It’s all very… complicated. 😫 And let’s be real, someone will try to monetize it. It’s the internet.

Solana, of course, is hoping this will help it compete with the big boys in the DeFi world, like GMX and Hyperliquid. Perpetual futures are a big market (over $210 billion last year!), and Solana wants a piece of the action.

Is This Genius or Madness?

So, is Yakovenko a visionary genius or just someone who’s had a bit too much coffee? The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. He’s definitely stirred things up. People are talking about open-source ethics and innovation again, which is… good, I guess.

Supporters say it’s great for the Solana ecosystem. Critics say it’s just inviting chaos. It’s a bit like asking for a free trial of financial ruin. Either way, it’s definitely interesting.

Whether Percolator will be a massive success or end up as a cautionary tale remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: Solana’s GitHub repositories are the place to be right now. Because, you know, free code. 🤷‍♀️

2025-10-21 05:37

Percolator: Steal This Prototype! (Seriously, He Said That)

The Internet Reacts (Predictably)

Is This Genius or Madness?

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