What makes an RFQ trader-first?
You set the minimum you’ll receive. Solvers bid to meet or beat it. If none do, the locked amount comes back.
A trader-first RFQ starts with the amount you will accept. The venue does not hand you a price and ask you to take it.
Say you sell 1,000 USDCx for CC, and you set the minimum you’ll receive at 9,040 CC. That floor is near 0.11 USDCx per CC, close to where CC has been trading against USDCx. These amounts are illustrative. They are not a live quote.
Helvex locks the 1,000 USDCx. Approved solvers then bid.
- Solver A bids 9,091 CC. That meets the minimum. It is about 0.11 USDCx per CC.
- Solver B bids 9,140 CC. That beats the minimum. You would receive more CC.
- Solver C bids 8,800 CC. That is below the minimum. It does not qualify.
The minimum is your floor
In the app, the field is “Minimum you’ll receive.” A solver response qualifies only when it is equal to or greater than that number. A higher bid is price improvement. It is still not a guaranteed fill. The first accepted fill wins, and you cannot fill your own RFQ.
The Helvex app fee is 0 bps. Canton network traffic in CC still applies to the lock and to settlement.
If no bid is good enough
Solver C never becomes a trade. If every response is under 9,040 CC, or nobody responds before the RFQ expires, there is no fill. You can also cancel while the RFQ is still open. In each of those cases the locked 1,000 USDCx returns, and you can move it again.
The trade does not slip to a worse price. It does not happen.
Who sees the request
The open RFQ is not on a public book, and it is not broadcast through a public mempool. While it is open, you, Helvex, and approved solvers on the desk can see the pair, the size, and the minimum, because that is what a solver needs in order to bid. A stranger on Canton does not get a public list of unfinished swaps.
Once a bid is accepted, the trade is between you and that solver. It does not stay posted for the rest of the queue.
Escrow, then one settlement
Lock and settlement are different steps. When you submit, Helvex locks the sell amount in escrow. Those funds cannot be spent, withdrawn, or reused on another RFQ. The lock stands until a fill, a cancel, or expiry.
Settlement starts only after an accepted fill. Both legs move in one Canton transaction: your USDCx and the solver’s CC, or neither. There is no half-filled swap, and nothing stays in escrow after a match. Deposit and withdraw are separate steps, through Loop, on the same network as the app.
Illustrative amounts, near 0.11 USDCx per CC. Related: What Helvex is.