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Exchange record

Serum

Solana-based non-custodial decentralized exchange and shared central-limit-order-book protocol launched in August 2020. Serum became unsafe to rely on after the November 2022 FTX security incident because FTX retained the program upgrade authority. Solana ecosystem developers deployed the community-controlled OpenBook fork, and Project Serum stated on 2022-11-29 that the original Serum mainnet program had become defunct.

DEXDeadHack
Also known as: Project Serum, Serum DEX, Serum Protocol, ProjectSerum, dex.projectserum.com

Registry sequence

Key facts

Launch date
2020-08-30
Death date
2022-11-29
Years
2020–2022
Origin
Solana ecosystem
Confidence
high
Last verified
2026-06-14

URL handling

Preferred action
Use archived URL first for historical viewing.
URL status
Dead domain
Original URL
https://dex.projectserum.com/
Archived URL

Summary

Solana-based non-custodial decentralized exchange and shared central-limit-order-book protocol launched in August 2020. Serum became unsafe to rely on after the November 2022 FTX security incident because FTX retained the program upgrade authority. Solana ecosystem developers deployed the community-controlled OpenBook fork, and Project Serum stated on 2022-11-29 that the original Serum mainnet program had become defunct.

Timeline

Serum DEX went live on Solana
2020-08-30launchedmedium

Serum launched as a non-custodial decentralized exchange and on-chain central-limit-order-book protocol on Solana. Project Serum later described the protocol as having gone live in August 2020, while contemporaneous launch reporting dated the live deployment to 2020-08-30.

FTX security incident made Serum program control unsafe
2022-11-12exploitcritical

After unauthorized activity affected FTX, Solana ecosystem developers concluded that Serum's FTX-controlled upgrade authority could no longer be trusted. Developers copied Serum v3 into a newly deployed, multisig-controlled program that became OpenBook, while major integrations moved away from the original Serum program.

Project Serum declared the original mainnet program defunct
2022-11-29shutdown_effectivecritical

Project Serum stated that the collapse of Alameda and FTX had rendered the original Serum mainnet program defunct. It pointed users and protocols toward the community-led OpenBook fork, noting that Serum liquidity and volume had fallen to near zero and that the old program carried security risk.

Evidence

Project Serum2021-10-19official_bloghigh reliabilitylaunch_datearchive
The Block2020-08-30news_articlehigh reliabilitylaunch_datearchive
Solana Foundation2022-12-12official_statementhigh reliabilityeventarchive
OpenBookofficial_statementhigh reliabilityeventarchive
Cointelegraph2022-11-29news_articlehigh reliabilitydeath_reasonarchive
Project Serum2022-11-29official_socialhigh reliabilitydeath_datearchive
ForkLog2022-11-29news_articlemedium reliabilitydeath_datearchive
The Block2022-11-29news_articlehigh reliabilitystatusarchive

Notes and record state

Record note
HEI uses death_reason hack because the terminal abandonment of the original program followed the FTX security incident and loss of trust in FTX-controlled upgrade authority. This does not assert a direct loss from the Serum order book; the decisive issue was that program control could no longer be treated as secure. OpenBook is recorded as the community fork and functional replacement, but successor_id remains null until OpenBook has its own canonical HEI entity.
Revision state
Records may be incomplete, approximate, contested, or revised as better evidence becomes available.
This record may be incomplete or revised. Dead-side entries prefer archived URLs over original domains. Dates, causes, and classifications may change when stronger evidence becomes available. Contact / corrections

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