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About N1
N1, formerly Layer N, is a Layer 1 designed for trading that makes the order book, request-for-quote and margin system native network modules secured by validators, rather than primitives each application reassembles from contracts. It does not globally order all transactions by default: execution is asynchronous and unordered, and consensus is introduced only when applications bridge to one another. Sharded data availability lets throughput grow with the validator set, while isolated application state keeps unrelated contracts from competing for block space during volatile markets.
The flagship applications are the N1 Exchange perpetuals venue and the Terminal interface, alongside options protocol TradeRush, serving professional traders who need low latency and portfolio margining. Unlike general-purpose L1s the financial primitives sit at protocol level and share one liquidity and margin base; unlike a centralised venue, matching and clearing are backed by a validator set. The live network runs the Proton implementation, where a curated operator produces blocks and processes deposits and withdrawals while a validator committee monitors it and can halt withdrawals.
N1, formerly Layer N, is a high-performance rollup network evolving into a dedicated Layer-1 blockchain for finance. Key milestones include the launch of Testnet V1.2, the strategic acquisition of 01.xyz to integrate a full trading stack, and the upcoming N1 2.0 upgrade (Nord Nova) with deeper liquidity, more markets, RFQ, vaults, and equities. Long-term significance lies in its full-stack approach: native orderbook, margining, and atomic composability at the protocol level, backed by investors like Founders Fund and Multicoin. The transition to N1 marks a shift from pure infrastructure to owning applications, ensuring quality, distribution, and value capture.
On 3 February 2026 N1's mainnet went live on the same day as 01 Exchange, with the chain pitched as one venue where every asset and market sits on a single ledger; the community summed up the delivery as "the chain is real". In July N1 announced the acquisition of 01 Exchange, and on 11 August it launched N1 Exchange as an invite-only private mainnet with 40 USDC-margined perpetual markets, up to 50x leverage on BTC and ETH, maker and taker fees of 0.01 and 0.035 per cent, and deposits routed through the Proton bridge from Solana or Unifold.
Season 1 of N1 Points began the same day with 1.987 billion points, 75 million a week, described as unlocking future rewards across the network; no token has been announced. Backers include Founders Fund, dao5 and Solana Ventures, alongside a USD 20 million liquidity programme from Amber Group.
Future strategy and roadmap: After acquiring 01 Exchange, N1 will progressively open its invite-only private mainnet to a public mainnet, launch N1 2.0 equity perps, Vaults and portfolio margin, and ship N1 Mobile. The team is building a trading-card index with TCGX and Discovery Markets to broaden asset classes. After Points Season 1 it will clarify token and governance, expand cross-chain funding (deposits route via Solana's Proton bridge and Unifold), and bring in more market makers and validators to refine withdrawals and a unified-liquidity venue.
N1 began as Layer N, founded in 2022 by Dima Romanov, David Cao and Sheheryar Parvaz, with Romanov as CEO. The three have known each other since high school, entered crypto in 2019 and spent 2020 onward building low-latency onchain trading and order book systems.