What Helvex is.

On an old trading floor, if you had a large amount to trade, you walked over to a booth or called a dealer you trusted. You named the pair and the amount, and they came back with a price they would stand behind. If you took it, you had a ticket. You didn’t need to announce the inquiry to the rest of the room.

Much of onchain trading feels far removed from that conversation. Traders interact with liquidity pools or public order books, and transactions submitted through a public mempool can reveal their intentions before execution.

Helvex brings that discretion to Canton Network. It is a permissioned, trader-first RFQ desk. You set the pair, the size, and the minimum amount you’ll receive. Approved solvers bid to meet or beat that minimum. A qualifying bid is not a guaranteed fill. The first accepted fill settles both assets together, or the RFQ expires or you cancel it and the locked amount returns.

Your terms, then the bids

The trade starts with what you are willing to accept, not with a price the room invents for you.

1. Request. Pick a pair, a size, and the minimum you’ll receive. Helvex locks the sell amount. The RFQ goes to approved solvers, not to a public book. It stays open until a fill, a cancel, or expiry.
2. Bid. Solvers respond at or above your minimum. A bid below it does not qualify. A higher bid is price improvement. It is still not a promise that the RFQ will fill.
3. Settle. The first accepted fill wins. Both legs are designed to clear together on Canton. The fill appears in Activity. If nothing acceptable arrives, or you cancel first, there is no trade and the lock returns.

You name the terms. Solvers compete to meet them. Both asset legs move in one settlement.

Who can see your RFQ?

The details of a proposed trade can tell a market more than you intended. On a public venue, that information may be available before the trade is done, giving someone else time to act on it.

On Helvex, the RFQ is not on a public book. While it is open, it is visible to you, to Helvex, and to approved solvers on the fill queue. Those solvers see the pair, the size, and the minimum, because that is what they need in order to bid. A stranger on Canton does not get a public waiting room of unfinished swaps, so they cannot see your trade coming and cut in front of it.

Once a solver’s bid is accepted, the trade is between you and that solver. It does not remain posted for the rest of the queue.

The distinction is straightforward: the people who can fill your RFQ can see it. The public market cannot.

Firm, not indicative

A price on a screen is useful only if you know what it represents. An indicative price gives you a starting point for a conversation. It may never have been available to trade. On a public book, a displayed price may be gone by the time your order clears.

On Helvex, you set the minimum before anyone bids. A completed fill settles at the accepted bid, which meets or beats that minimum, rather than walking through the levels of a moving public book. That is what we mean when we say slippage is structurally absent from the fill. If the RFQ expires, or you cancel it, there is no trade at those terms. The Helvex app fee is 0 bps. Canton network traffic in CC still applies to lock and settlement. If settlement fails, the trade has not completed, and it has not slipped to another price.

The minimum you set is the floor. The accepted bid is what settles.

Atomic, both legs

Agreeing on terms leaves one practical question: will each party receive the asset it agreed to take in exchange for the one it delivers?

Helvex’s answer is atomic delivery versus payment on Canton. The two legs and the settlement receipt are submitted together: either both sides of the swap complete, or that submission does not commit. Posting the RFQ and locking the sell amount happen before that step. Canton’s CIP-0056 token standard is what those allocations use.

Helvex brings those pieces together: a private RFQ, a minimum you set, a solver who meets or beats it, and both legs settling together. The old desk gave you a discreet way to name your terms. Canton adds the atomic exchange.

First published on X, 6 Oct 2026. This page states the live rule: you set the minimum you’ll receive, and a qualifying bid is not a guaranteed fill.