Cross-chain bridges have been susceptible to cyberattacks since their inception, and it is projected that the DeFi market will suffer $351.75 billion in hacks by 2031. This is concerning for both long-term and short-term viability, as we are trying to build a trillion-dollar infrastructure, and yet we are set to lose a substantial amount of it to online incursions. To emphasize the importance of investing in the security infrastructure of DeFi protocols and seeing what is broken and can be fixed, today Adewale Opeyemi sat down with Ray Song, the CEO of aPriori. Ray has operated in both traditional HFT and DeFi trading infrastructure. So, let's get straight to it. Hi Mr. Ray, could you please tell us more about yourself and your professional journey in DeFi and HFT? Hi Mr. Ray, could you please tell us more about yourself and your professional journey in DeFi and HFT? Ray: My entry into high-frequency trading was pure serendipity. In college, I showed up to a puzzle competition for free pizza, unexpectedly won first place, got invited to interviews, and found myself with a quant trading internship at SIG. That opportunity set me on a path into high frequency trading. After college, I joined Flow Traders in New York to trade emerging markets ETFs and derivatives. Ray: By then, DeFi Summer had already happened, and I found myself increasingly drawn to the energy and innovation happening on-chain. Eventually, I joined Jump Trading’s crypto division, where I had the opportunity to contribute to, and learn from, some of the most ambitious projects in DeFi. Those experiences laid the groundwork for building aPriori, an innovative trading infrastructure platform with a deep focus on order flow and execution quality in DeFi. The next question concerns liquidity fragmentation. The DeFi economy promised secure, efficient marketplaces, but right now, there is a liquidity challenge scattered across a countless number of decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and dozens of chains. On the other hand, traditional exchange platforms have all of the liquidity in one place. Is this a case of a fundamental design flaw? Can DeFi actually compete with centralized alternatives like Binance? Are 10 AMMs better than one? The next question concerns liquidity fragmentation. The DeFi economy promised secure, efficient marketplaces, but right now, there is a liquidity challenge scattered across a countless number of decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and dozens of chains. On the other hand, traditional exchange platforms have all of the liquidity in one place. Is this a case of a fundamental design flaw? Can DeFi actually compete with centralized alternatives like Binance? Are 10 AMMs better than one? Ray:  Sometimes, this is more of a feature than a bug. Too often, people focus on liquidity and trading volume but overlook one of the most important functions of an exchange: price discovery. Ray: Liquidity fragmentation across different AMMs is simply a byproduct of permissionless asset issuance. Over time, AMMs are becoming increasingly efficient and that’s something aPriori aims to help accelerate with our products. DeFi will probably never surpass centralized exchanges on user experience, but it offers something CEXs can’t: global, permissionless access to liquidity. We’re already seeing it every day: long-tail assets getting priced first on AMMs well before they appear on major exchanges. That’s a structural advantage CEXs fundamentally can’t match. Moving on, there is the rising scenario of sandwich and backrunning-focused MEV attacks that have grown more sophisticated with time. To counter these emerging threats, are there any cryptographic or protocol-level solutions that can neutralize these threats while maintaining the speedy transaction capability that HFT provides us? Moving on, there is the rising scenario of sandwich and backrunning-focused MEV attacks that have grown more sophisticated with time. To counter these emerging threats, are there any cryptographic or protocol-level solutions that can neutralize these threats while maintaining the speedy transaction capability that HFT provides us? Ray: First, not all MEV should be treated as malicious. A lot of it is what you’d call a necessary evil because it incentivizes the processing of critical actions like liquidations. Ray: There are essentially two ways to build a blockchain that is high performance enough for high frequency trading. One is to rely on a centralized sequencer or a relatively small validator set. The harder way is what chains like Monad and Solana are doing: making deep innovations in consensus and execution. For these chains, the key is building a robust MEV auction infrastructure that keeps the marketplace organized, minimizes spam, and better aligns validators. These are all challenges aPriori is actively working on. There is also ongoing research into TEEs, but it is still too early to say whether they are the right answer. Let's be candid here for a second. Traditional HFTs run on microseconds while blockchains are restricted by block times. Even the fastest decentralized networks are still slower than centralized alternatives. Is this a bold lie that we are telling ourselves that DeFi HFT can match the speed and effectiveness? Is the decentralized market going to be bogged down by this fundamental problem that we cannot solve? Let's be candid here for a second. Traditional HFTs run on microseconds while blockchains are restricted by block times. Even the fastest decentralized networks are still slower than centralized alternatives. Is this a bold lie that we are telling ourselves that DeFi HFT can match the speed and effectiveness? Is the decentralized market going to be bogged down by this fundamental problem that we cannot solve? Ray: It is true that blockchains will likely always be slower than centralized alternatives, but people often underestimate how close we are to catching up with CeFi. Most top CEXs have a hard rate limit of around 250,000 messages per minute for even their highest trading tier, usually reserved for market makers doing tens of billions in monthly volume. At 10,000 TPS, a blockchain can actually support more than double that rate limit. Ray: There are also plenty of low hanging opportunities in product design that were previously bottlenecked by blockchain performance. One trend we are watching closely is the rise of private liquidity pools or private AMMs. They have several structural advantages over traditional CLOBs for spot trading, including potentially more efficient quote updates. That is an area aPriori works hard to help enable. Regulators effectively neutered the profitability of traditional high-frequency trading (HFT) with a flood of oversight and restrictions. Now, it looks like they're turning their attention to DeFi HFT, bringing the same playbook with them. Now that you have worked with both public and private entities, do you think this is just a sandcastle people are building that will be destroyed by the regulatory juggernaut in the near future? Regulators effectively neutered the profitability of traditional high-frequency trading (HFT) with a flood of oversight and restrictions. Now, it looks like they're turning their attention to DeFi HFT, bringing the same playbook with them. Now that you have worked with both public and private entities, do you think this is just a sandcastle people are building that will be destroyed by the regulatory juggernaut in the near future? Ray:  No. Over the past six months we have actually seen a wave of progressive, pro-innovation regulation. One example that is particularly relevant to aPriori is the increased clarity from the SEC around liquid staking tokens, which is important given that we offer liquid staking products like aprMON. Regulation itself does not kill crypto or DeFi. What hinders growth is the lack of clarity. The good news is that we are seeing major players, including firms like Jump, re-enter the space as the regulatory landscape becomes clearer. Another big question is regarding the unpredictable nature of gas fees in layer-1 and layer-2 networks. They are already affecting the minute margins of HFT. Traditional HFT, on the other hand, doesn’t rely on decentralized networks, and transaction execution is virtually free. Can this fundamental difference affect DeFi for the long term? Another big question is regarding the unpredictable nature of gas fees in layer-1 and layer-2 networks. They are already affecting the minute margins of HFT. Traditional HFT, on the other hand, doesn’t rely on decentralized networks, and transaction execution is virtually free. Can this fundamental difference affect DeFi for the long term? Ray:  We are going to see significant improvements in blockchain performance over the next few years. I think the consensus has shifted to recognize that mainnet performance for any L1 is critical if we want to onboard more trading volume. That is why experiments and initiatives like Monad and Firedancer on Solana are so highly anticipated. In the meantime, the aPriori team is excited about this evolution because it means we can apply our HFT expertise more fully to the space as performance catches up. You currently run aPriori. Can you tell us more about it and how it fits into the current DeFi ecosystem? Ray: aPriori is a high-performance trading infrastructure platform that focuses on optimizing order flow in DeFi. We build two core products: an AI-powered DEX aggregator called Swapr and an MEV-powered liquid staking platform. Swapr uses real-time order flow segmentation to improve execution quality for traders, while our liquid staking product brings HFT-grade infrastructure to validator operations. Together, they form a flywheel: staking attracts capital, capital attracts more order flow, and better execution drives more trading activity. In the broader DeFi ecosystem, we see ourselves as a bridge between the efficiency of traditional trading infrastructure and the openness of decentralized markets. Our goal is to make on-chain markets faster, more efficient, and better aligned for both traders and liquidity providers. What is your plan to scale your product at a global level? Do you foresee significant regulatory challenges along the way? What is your plan to scale your product at a global level? Do you foresee significant regulatory challenges along the way? Ray:  Our plan to scale globally is tied directly to building on high performance chains like Monad, where we can bring HFT-grade infrastructure on-chain without compromising execution quality. The first step is dominating the Monad ecosystem, then potentially expanding Swapr’s order flow segmentation and routing capabilities to other chains where we can add clear value. Ray: From a regulatory perspective, there are only two ways to scale a crypto product globally. You either acquire all the necessary licenses across jurisdictions or you build censorship resistant, decentralized technology. We choose the latter. Our products, particularly liquid staking, benefit from the increasing clarity we have seen in recent months, and we operate with the expectation that regulations will keep evolving. Can you share your experience as the CEO of aPriori? Can you share your experience as the CEO of aPriori? Ray:  It has been both the most challenging and most rewarding role I have ever taken on. As CEO, my job is to set the vision, hire the best possible team, and make sure they have everything they need to execute. I feel fortunate that we have been able to bring together people from top trading firms like Jump Trading and Citadel Securities, as well as engineers from leading exchanges, both centralized and decentralized, such as Coinbase, Robinhood, and dYdX. Ray: We are also lucky to be backed by some of the best players in the industry, including Pantera, Yzi Labs, and Consensys. Day to day, I split my time between product strategy, business development, and making sure our execution stays ahead of schedule. My background in both HFT and DeFi gives me a unique perspective, but the real credit goes to the team. In this space, speed of execution matters just as much as the quality of execution, and our advantage comes from doing both well. So, we are now at the end of the interview. Thank you for sitting down with us and answering these questions. Any parting comments? So, we are now at the end of the interview. Thank you for sitting down with us and answering these questions. Any parting comments? Ray: I had a great time. One piece of the puzzle that we did not touch on in all this talk about finance and technology is the human side of working in crypto. We have come a long way, and we are fortunate to have the support of a passionate community. The fact that we can talk directly to our users and supporters is what makes crypto such an exciting place to build. We also have a lot of exciting announcements coming up, so feel free to follow our Twitter (x.com/apr_labs) and stay tuned.

Between Two Computer Monitors: This story includes an interview between the writer and guest/interviewee. 

DeFi HFT Expert Ray Song Says This Is How We Fix the Fragmentation Crisis

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