CRX 101
What is CRX?
CRX is a matched-principal swap dealer in FX non-deliverable forwards (NDFs), cash-settled in USDC. Onboard once to trade custom contracts.
CRX holds collateral and settles positions through non-custodial smart contracts, replacing the bilateral credit relationships the NDF market traditionally runs on. Those relationships are fragmented, capital-intensive, and slow to establish. Because collateral is enforced programmatically on-chain, CRX can face counterparties the prevailing model excludes.
What do I actually trade?
One instrument: the non-deliverable forward (NDF). An NDF locks a rate on a currency pair today and cash-settles the difference against a published fixing later. No local currency ever changes hands. The payout is the gap between the locked rate and the fixing, paid in USDC.
There is one instrument, priced per pair. Every other product on the venue is built on it.
Who trades here?
Two kinds of firms, and each one trades with CRX, never with each other:
- Taker: the firm that wants the rate fixed. Sends a request, locks CRX's quote, settles the difference. This is the hedge.
- Maker: a liquidity partner that quotes rates to CRX on the offsetting leg and earns the spread. This is the desk.
A taker never faces a maker. CRX stands in the middle as matched principal: one NDF with the taker, an offsetting NDF with the maker. The two legs offset, so CRX carries no net market position, only the spread between them.
You request a price from CRX, CRX returns a firm signed quote, and you accept. The trade is bound by two signatures (Terms (~3 min)): nothing pooled, nothing matched against strangers. The full request-and-answer loop is the RFQ engine (~3 min).
How does it settle?
In USDC. The fixing comes from an on-chain oracle; the contract computes the difference between the locked rate and that fixing and pays the winning side. Both firms post collateral (~4 min) up front, never credit, so the payout is always covered. See settlement (~3 min) for the exact payout math.
Cash-settled, USDC, fully collateralized. No physical delivery.
Who runs it?
CRX is your counterparty and the operator of the desk: it publishes the contracts, runs the relayer that carries quotes, onboards firms, and takes the other side of every trade as the dealer.
CRX is a company that operates the venue and deals as principal.
Where do I go next?
Five sections, each for a different reader:
| Section | For the reader who wants to… |
|---|---|
| Get Started | Understand the venue and ship a first call. You are here. Next: Quick Start (~5 min). |
| Learn | Understand the model: the NDF (~2 min), margin (~4 min), the credit model (~8 min), the oracle (~3 min). |
| Build | Integrate via API: trade as a taker (~5 min), quote as a maker (~2 min), or offer deliverable forwards (~4 min). |
| Run a desk | Operate a desk: run it, price it, risk-manage it. |
| Developers | Reference the API (~4 min), SDKs, and on-chain explorer. |