Can dYdX Bounce Back? Telegram Trading and Product Overhaul Offer New Hope Amid 84% Revenue Collapse

The Troubled Giant: Why dYdX’s Earnings Crumbled

dYdX is facing a reality check that many DeFi platforms can’t ignore. The decentralized exchange saw its Q2 2025 earnings plummet to just $3.2 million—a stunning 84% drop from $20.1 million in the same quarter last year. Even more alarming: the platform’s total value locked (TVL) has hemorrhaged from $1.1 billion back in 2021 to a mere $312 million by mid-2025. These aren’t just numbers; they signal a platform struggling to keep pace in an increasingly crowded DeFi landscape.

The company already took the knife to its workforce in the past year, cutting 35% of staff. Now, with new competition heating up and market conditions shifting, dYdX is rolling out an ambitious roadmap to fight back.

The Comeback Play: Telegram Integration and Feature Upgrades

Here’s where the strategy gets interesting. dYdX is betting big on accessibility and convenience—starting with a Telegram-based trading feature launching in September. Users will be able to execute perpetual swaps directly within Telegram, tapping into one of the world’s largest messaging platforms. This move comes after dYdX acquired Pocket Protector, a social trading app, and brought on Eddie Zhang (the app’s co-founder) as president.

The reasoning is sound: if traders won’t come to your platform, bring the platform to where they already are.

Beyond Telegram, dYdX is overhauling its core product. The updated roadmap includes:

• Partner fee share program: Liquidity providers and volume contributors can earn up to 50% of protocol fees—a serious incentive to attract and retain partners
• Advanced order types: New options like Scale orders and weighted average perpetual pricing (TWAP) give traders finer control over execution
• Faster execution: Latency improvements across the board, critical in a market where milliseconds matter
• Simplified onboarding: Social logins will replace seed phrase requirements, removing friction for newcomers

Mobile-First, Social-First: The Real Strategic Shift

What’s really happening here is a fundamental repositioning. dYdX is no longer trying to be just another decentralized exchange—it’s trying to become a social trading hub embedded in everyday tools.

The Telegram integration isn’t a gimmick; it’s recognition that the next wave of crypto users won’t open a separate app to trade. They want seamless, integrated experiences. The social trading angle (courtesy of Pocket Protector) reinforces this: trading alongside a community, sharing insights, following strategies—all within familiar ecosystems.

Will It Work?

That’s the $312 million question. The roadmap is ambitious, the strategy makes sense, and the execution (so far) looks thoughtful. But dYdX needs these features to convert interest into actual usage and fees. The DeFi wars are won by speed, user experience, and network effects. If dYdX can nail all three through Telegram integration and its product upgrades, it might just reverse the earnings slide. If not, the platform risks becoming another cautionary tale of innovation too late.