In this Amberdata Derivatives episode, hosted by Greg Magadini features Chris Chung, CEO & Co-Founder of Titan, discusses building a low-latency, data-driven equity analysis platform before transitioning to crypto, where he now leads Titan—a Solana-based Meta DEX aggregator that routes trades across DEXs for optimal pricing with no swap fees. He emphasizes Titan’s technical edge, institutional-grade performance, and plans to expand user access while supporting the growing Solana ecosystem.
Welcome to the AD Derivatives podcast led by Greg Magadini, Director of Derivatives at Amberdata, featuring Chris Chung, Co-Founder of Titan DEX. Titan provides users with the best swap price by searching through Solana’s on-chain liquidity through trusted sources. It then deploys revolutionary routing algorithms based on cutting-edge mathematics to determine the best price a user can get when trading any token.
Chris Chung’s professional journey began in traditional finance, focusing on U.S. and Canadian equities. His work centered on low-latency, systematic valuation models. Specifically, he developed automated daily fundamental valuation systems, processing up to 5,000 valuation models per stock across a 20-year period. These models integrated datasets from Bloomberg, S&P, and other sources, producing near-instant valuation updates using discounted cash flows (DCF), dividend discount models (DDM), and factor-based models.
This approach allowed his team to dynamically evaluate equities at scale—adjusting for macroeconomic conditions and market regimes. For instance, the models could instantly reflect revised earnings reports or macro shocks, allowing fund managers to adapt allocations accordingly. This was especially helpful in managing portfolios across U.S. and European equities.
Chris’s foray into crypto was inspired by the open-access nature of market data. Unlike traditional finance, where tick-level data is expensive and heavily gated, crypto offered real-time, high-frequency data freely available via APIs and WebSocket connections. Initially, his exploration was centered around centralized exchange (CEX) data, using REST APIs and WebSocket streams.
With the emergence of DeFi Summer, Chris shifted focus toward on-chain data, which offered even more transparency and innovation. Ethereum was his initial domain, exploring platforms like Uniswap and Sushiswap. His shift to Solana came later, prompted by a collaboration with a former colleague who had joined a Solana project in 2021.
Chris challenges the notion that cryptocurrencies lack intrinsic value. He compares crypto assets to foreign exchange (FX) or commodities like gold, noting that value is often socially constructed. The key insight is that "value is what we subject it to be," with volatility and investor sentiment driving narrative-based price discovery. This framing helped him reconcile the abstract nature of crypto with his data-driven background.
Titan is a decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator native to Solana. Unlike traditional DEXs, Titan aggregates liquidity across all on-chain markets and finds the most efficient routing for swaps—optimizing for price, slippage, and gas efficiency.
What sets Titan apart is its identity as a Meta DEX Aggregator. Not only does it use its own proprietary routing algorithm (which wins 80% of price comparisons), but it also aggregates competing aggregators such as Jupiter, DFlow, and Express Relay. The platform is fee-less, meaning users get the best execution without incurring platform-level fees. This is possible due to potential monetization through advanced order types (e.g., limit orders, DCA orders) and future opportunities like payment for order flow (PFOF).
Integrating a new DEX into Titan’s system takes roughly four days, involving unit testing, quote evaluation, and speed validation. Titan evaluates the tightness of spreads, latency, and whether quotes are updated fast enough to ensure fairness. The system supports multiple liquidity models, including:
Passive AMMs (e.g., Uniswap V2/V3-style pools)
Central Limit Order Books (CLOBs) (though these are declining due to gas inefficiencies)
Proprietary AMMs (Prop AMMs) – custom-coded liquidity providers on Solana offering low spreads
RFQ (Request-for-Quote) style markets
This hybrid approach reflects a more professionalized market structure on Solana, where on-chain market makers increasingly behave like HFTs and liquidity providers in TradFi.
Titan does not charge swap fees, which aligns with the ethos of DeFi: removing financial friction. Instead, the long-term revenue strategy revolves around:
Advanced order types with optional fees
Future potential for order flow monetization
Network effects by attracting liquidity and building user stickiness
Their goal is to create a high-EV, user-first product that can scale up before monetization becomes necessary.
Titan is currently in private beta, accessible via sign-ups on titandex.io. Despite the closed nature of the beta, user metrics are robust:
Over $100 million in volume processed
10% of users trading daily
$8–10 million in average daily volume
Only a few thousand beta testers, indicating strong engagement and product-market fit
Chris attributes Titan’s success—and broader institutional interest in Solana—to its technical superiority over Ethereum. Solana offers:
Lower gas fees
Millisecond-level finality
Scalability suited for high-frequency trading
He views Ethereum’s 12-second finality and Layer 2 fragmentation as inhibitors of modern financial innovation, whereas Solana is increasingly aligned with institutional requirements. The launch of CME Solana futures and Solana ETF speculation further signal TradFi validation of the ecosystem.
Currently, Titan is focused exclusively on spot trading. While platforms like Drift or Zeta (rebranded as Bullet) offer perpetuals, Titan has no immediate plans to support derivatives directly. However, it is open to powering spot legs of derivative platforms.
In terms of roadmap, Titan plans to:
Expand integrations across Solana
Launch public beta access
Release limit and DCA order functionality
Continue refining their routing engine for best execution
Chris acknowledges the growing importance of yield-bearing tokens. From an aggregator perspective, such tokens are treated like any other asset, but yield potential will likely become a core feature of how users allocate capital in DeFi. The future, he suggests, involves turning static tokens like USDC into dynamic yield instruments similar to TradFi savings products.