In 2025, dYdX Operations subDAO (“DOS”) focused on strengthening and professionalizing the community-owned technical and operational front-end layer supporting the dYdX ecosystem. Internally, this effort was captured under our motto “LEVEL UP”, reflecting a continuous improvement mindset across infrastructure, processes, and contributor operations.
Albeit the crypto market has had a rocky year in 2025, and in particular towards the end of the year, DOS remained focused on incremental execution and operational discipline. The year was characterized by reliability improvements, clearer internal processes, and a deliberate emphasis on sustainable, long-term infrastructure stewardship for the dYdX community.
Mandate 3.0: 2025 Progress and Highlights:
In addition to operating the community-owned infrastructure:
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Indexer;
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dydx.trade;
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iOS & Android mobile applications; and
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Technical Validator Communication.
DOS has committed, true to the “LEVEL UP” motto, to continuously improve the service to the dYdX Community in terms of quality and efficiency. We are happy to report that we have made significant progress in 2025 on both, and we have ambitious plans for 2026.
Throughout 2025, DOS continued to mature its internal approach to software quality and operational reliability, with an emphasis on reducing user-facing risk and improving deployment practices where possible. Key developments during the year included:
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Expansion of quality assurance practices for front-end releases across platforms;
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Increased use of staged and gradual software rollouts;
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Introduction of an automated deployment pipeline for certain patch versions; and
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Broader use of synthetic testing to identify potential issues prior to user impact.
These measures were intended to strengthen release discipline and internal confidence, while maintaining an appropriate balance between caution and development velocity.
Selected Operational Wins
During the year, DOS influenced a number of positive operational outcomes associated with increased transparency and observability, including:
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Reducing RPC node latency by creating a public dashboard [link] to motivate ecosystem service providers by comparison;
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Sub 5m deployment time for software patches;
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Automated tests for main user flows for FEs and APIs that run periodically;
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Providing transparency and insights into the validator performance and operations for the benefit of the broader dYdX Community [link]; and
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Providing deployment and rollout support for various new components added to the dYdX stack: MarketMap Updater, OEGS, and geoblocking mechanics.
These improvements are a direct consequence of the broader emphasis on monitoring, feedback loops, and operational learning, rather than guarantees of performance or outcomes.**
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A special highlight late in 2025, and in particular for DOS, was the deployment and the current ongoing operation of a dedicated web front-end for the dYdX ecosystem partner BONK at bonk.trade. The cooperation between BONK and the dYdX ecosystem is an overall great initiative, and from a DOS perspective, we were able to apply our internal systems and provide the designated front-end in a fast and efficient manner.
Team and Operating Model
DOS is operating with a deliberately lean core team (reduced to six individuals), structured to provide coverage across key technical and operational domains relevant to its mandate:
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Four engineers with specialties in different areas that complement each other and hence enable DOS to cover a wide range of responsibilities with depth in important areas for DOS ( DevOps, infrastructure, and Cosmos BFT);
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A legal counsel, supporting regulatory, contractual, and risk-management matters, contributing to a reduced reliance on external counsel and heavily reducing our legal expenses at the same time; and
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A General Manager, covering all internal operations, finance, and coordination with ecosystem partners and service providers.
This tightly knit team is able to execute effectively towards a common goal, with attention to detail, while still being able to see the big picture. The constant drive to improve not only what we work on but also how we work ensures that DOS does not become complacent.
Compared to the original subDAO Mandate 3.0, DOS course-corrected during 2025 by reducing targeted headcount following internal optimization, while still maintaining the ability to deliver on its operational objectives.
Finances
In 2025, DOS operated materially below its budgeted monthly expenses, with an average monthly spend of approximately 460k USDC per month, which is 25% lower than the forecast (approximately 600k USDC per month). The largest single cost component, accounting for more than 50% of total spend, related to indexer operations, followed by contributor compensation and remaining information technology infrastructure.
This cost profile reflects both the operational importance and relative complexity of indexer-related services, as well as a broader focus on maintaining budget discipline and alignment between expenditure and operational requirements.
A full breakdown of the 2025 finances will be available soon.
Looking ahead to 2026
"LEVEL UP” is still DOS’ motto, and during 2026, we want to continuously improve our operations, services, and contributions to the dYdX ecosystem.
User Experience and Reliability
Improving end-user experience remains a central consideration in DOS’s operational work. Looking ahead, ongoing efforts are expected to continue focusing on:
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Further expanding pre- and post-release quality assurance practices;
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Enhancing monitoring and alerting capabilities to support earlier identification of system issues; and
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Improving observability across systems that may impact platform functionality.
These efforts are aimed at incremental risk reduction and improved operational responsiveness.
Cost Efficiency and Sustainability
Cost efficiency will be a key focus in 2026, and DOS is fully aware of the broader market sentiment. Hence, DOS is placing increased emphasis on reducing spend and right-sizing services that were subscribed to in earlier, different market conditions.
In the shorter term, this focus means that DOS has taken on indexer operations internally as of January 1st. 2026, following the experience gathered by DOS engineers over time. Bringing indexer-related operations closer to the core engineering team is expected to improve operational proximity to the underlying technology and, reduce indexer-related monthly expenditure, which represents a significant cost component (see above).