Cascade, a decentralized trading startup backed by Polychain and Variant, is preparing to launch a platform it calls a “neo-brokerage,” aiming to offer perpetuals trading around the clock across nearly any asset class. The company recently closed a $15 million seed round with support from major investors including Coinbase Ventures and Archetype.
The project has been in development for more than two years and arrives at a moment when decentralized perpetual exchanges are seeing record demand. Platforms such as Hyperliquid, Aster, and Lighter recorded roughly $1.2 trillion in monthly trading volume in both October and November, highlighting a fast-growing appetite for onchain derivatives.
At the same time, the broader market is shifting toward multi-asset trading. Onchain venues like Ostium now offer synthetic perps tied to commodities such as gold and pork bellies, while centralized exchanges including Kraken have opened access to real commodities through CME connections. Traditional brokerages are moving in a similar direction. Robinhood, for instance, has been expanding into an “omni-asset” model that blends stocks, crypto, FX, and more.
Cascade’s team hopes to take this idea further by building a single account where users can trade crypto, gain exposure to tokenized pre-IPO equities like SpaceX or Stripe, borrow against their holdings, and move money in and out of the system in fiat. Co-founder Kevin said the goal is to provide the ease and speed of a centralized exchange while maintaining the benefits of a decentralized protocol.
To make that possible, Cascade has integrated Stripe’s Bridge service, which allows users to link bank accounts and fund their balances directly.
“You can give people a CEX-level experience,” Kevin said, describing a sign-up flow that supports Gmail or Privy logins and fast fiat deposits.
The team has spent months refining the integration to keep it smooth for newcomers.
Cascade opened its vaults this week to start collecting pre-launch deposits and issuing early invitations. The mainnet release is planned for the first quarter of 2026. At launch, users can expect around 10 perpetual markets, with more added over time based on demand. Pricing will rely on authenticated oracle feeds from Stork, and the platform will use auto-deleveraging to handle liquidations.
The protocol is designed to support 24/7 trading for all asset classes. Orders will be matched off-chain through a non-custodial engine to enable sub-second execution, while settlements happen onchain. Contracts will function like traditional perpetuals, meaning they provide exposure without requiring direct ownership of the underlying asset.
Looking ahead, Cascade is exploring ways to merge trading and everyday finance. Kevin hinted that the team plans to issue payment cards in the future, allowing users to spend directly from their trading balance.
“You’re not segregating the web3 and web2 experience,” he said. “You can tie everything together.”
With its funding secured and onboarding underway, Cascade is betting that a unified, always-on trading platform will appeal to users looking for more flexible ways to access global markets.
