DeepSigma: Former Goldman Sachs and Citadel Executives Launch Perpetuals on Stocks and Commodities

Wall Street, perpetual mode. On Tuesday, October 13, DeepSigma unveiled its platform for perpetual futures on real-world assets (RWA). Its live demo covers no less than 77 markets, from U.S. stocks to Treasury yields, including gold and oil. For now, it's all about paper trading. However, the ambition extends beyond the sandbox, in a niche where the volume of RWA perpetuals has increased twentyfold in the second quarter.

Key Points of This Article:

• DeepSigma unveils a platform for perpetuals on real-world assets, with a paper trading demo covering 77 markets, from U.S. stocks to Treasury yields.
• The team is backed by alumni from Goldman Sachs, Citadel Securities, Google, and Uber, and is developing the project on the Cypherium blockchain.
• Thus, the contracts track real markets via external prices, without tokenization or ownership of the underlying assets.
• Additionally, identity verification is done through zero-knowledge proofs, with the principle of "prove eligibility, not identity".

77 Markets in Paper Trading, and Not a Single Tokenized Asset

The platform enters a field already cultivated, but with a different approach. Unlike tokenized stocks at Securitize, DeepSigma does not tokenize anything and does not hold any assets. In practice, its perpetual contracts track real markets via external price data. The trader takes a long or short position without ever owning the underlying asset. They also do not take delivery. A central order book manages the trading, while a clearing layer handles positions, collateral, margin, and settlement.

However, the real issue is the structure of traditional markets. Unlike crypto, which operates continuously, a stock stops trading at night and on weekends. The world, however, continues to move. Philip Guo, founder of Cypherium and DeepSigma, summarizes the challenge.

"The hardest part is not creating a new ticker. It’s ensuring that the market remains sensible when the underlying asset is closed, when liquidity disappears, or when an external price moves sharply."

Indeed, the announced defense kit includes multi-source pricing, position limiters, circuit breakers, partial liquidations, and an insurance mechanism.

Cypherium, Four U.S. Patents and a Private Identity

The project is developing on Cypherium, the layer 1 blockchain founded by Guo. Indeed, it claims four U.S. patents on its consensus. Its architecture combines proof of work and Byzantine fault-tolerant consensus derived from HotStuff. The announced capacity rises to hundreds of thousands of transactions per second. Moreover, the terminal features an "AI Market Analysis Desk" capable of suggesting strategies. This operates off-chain, with no execution power over the funds. On the identity side, DeepSigma relies on zero-knowledge to prove a participant's eligibility without disclosing personal data. A confidentiality bet far from the standards of current perpetual venues.

The team boasts a podium of TradFi CVs. A former FICC portfolio manager at Goldman Sachs, the bank that just connected its money market fund to Avalanche. A former engineer from Google and Uber, founder of the quantitative trading firm UmiUmi, and a macro trader who passed through Citadel Securities, distinguished in Forbes 30 Under 30 Finance. Guo had previously co-authored works with Thomas Moser from the Swiss National Bank. It remains to be seen whether the old-fashioned perpetuals, those of stocks and gold, will find their audience where Hyperliquid bets that all exchanges will go on-chain within ten years. The answer may play out on this very ground.

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