Joseph DeLong, the former CTO of SushiSwap, announced he will launch a decentralized exchange called Deepstate on Robinhood Chain next week. The order book-style DEX started as a side project alongside his stablecoin card startup Colossus, but apparently refused to stay small.

“I have a decentralized exchange side project that outgrew nights and weekends,” DeLong said, confirming plans to deploy on Robinhood’s Arbitrum-based Layer-2 network.

Why Robinhood Chain, and why now

Robinhood Chain launched on July 1, 2026, and recorded $3.1 billion in DEX volume within its first week. Over 65,000 active users showed up, $13 million in tokenized stock trading occurred on-chain, and $300 million in stablecoins are currently flowing through the network. The chain also logged more than 17 million transactions shortly after launch.

An order book model matches buyers and sellers directly at specific prices rather than routing through automated liquidity pools. Most DEXs on Ethereum and its Layer-2s use the automated market maker (AMM) model popularized by Uniswap, where liquidity providers deposit tokens into pools and algorithms set prices. Order book exchanges work more like traditional stock exchanges, matching specific buy and sell orders at exact prices, and tend to offer tighter spreads and more precise execution, but require a critical mass of active traders to avoid thin, gappy order books.

DeLong’s winding road from SushiSwap to Deepstate

DeLong resigned as CTO of SushiSwap in December 2021. After leaving, he founded Colossus in 2025. The startup’s pitch is to replace traditional credit card payment networks like Visa and Mastercard with stablecoin-based infrastructure, using existing payment rails combined with cryptographic signatures to enable instant settlements. The company raised $500,000 in a pre-seed round, achieving a $10 million valuation.

No specific details about Deepstate’s mechanics, supported tokens, fee structure, or liquidity arrangements have been publicly disclosed as of July 24, 2026.

What this means for traders and the DEX landscape

An order book venue on Robinhood Chain would give more sophisticated traders a reason to migrate activity on-chain, and could complement the chain’s $13 million in tokenized stock trading, since order books are generally better suited for assets that trade in tight ranges with high frequency.

Investors should watch for three things in the coming weeks: what trading pairs and assets Deepstate supports at launch, how liquidity materializes on an order book without established market makers committed to the platform, and whether Robinhood Chain’s early adoption pace continues or plateaus.