Project 0 has officially launched as the first multi-venue, DeFi-native prime broker on Solana. The protocol introduces a unified margin system designed to address one of the most persistent problems in decentralized finance: capital inefficiency. By integrating with platforms such as Kamino, Drift, and Jupiter, Project 0 enables users to borrow and manage risk across their entire portfolio, rather than maintaining isolated positions on individual platforms.
Addressing Capital Inefficiency in DeFi
Traditional DeFi lending protocols require users to overcollateralize separately across each platform. This practice fragments capital and often results in the inefficient use of funds. For instance, a user with offsetting positions on two venues may still face liquidation on one because the protocols do not communicate with each other. Project 0 changes this by enabling unified margin across multiple platforms, which allows for more holistic portfolio management.
Project 0 has seen $230 million supplied and $95 million borrowed in its first 2 days.
Founder MacBrennan Peet, who is also a co-founder of marginfi, commented on the launch, “The crypto industry has a hyper fixation on reinventing existing, working applications; the Project 0 team is committed to pushing the industry forward. Today’s launch marks the first time users can borrow against their entire portfolio across venues like Kamino, Drift, and Jupiter, with unified margin. This eliminates the frustrating scenario where users get liquidated on one platform despite having offsetting positions elsewhere and fundamentally overhauls the DeFi trading experience.”
The protocol caters to two broad groups. Passive users who can benefit from optimized yield strategies by deploying their entire portfolio more efficiently, and more sophisticated traders who can manage complex, multi-venue strategies such as cross-platform cash and carry trades, hedged market making, and delta-neutral positions without the risk of single-venue liquidation.
A Different Approach to Market Integration
Unlike other DeFi protocols that often create their own trading products, Project 0 focuses on unifying liquidity across established platforms. The team has no plans to launch native trading markets. Instead, they aim to provide the infrastructure that connects and enhances existing ones. This approach avoids adding competition to already saturated areas of DeFi, instead emphasizing composability and efficiency.
Peet highlighted that prime brokerage services are a cornerstone of traditional finance and argued that DeFi requires similar institutional-grade tools as it continues to mature. By equipping users with cross-platform portfolio management, Project 0 seeks to level the playing field between retail traders and institutional players.
Building on Marginfi's Foundation
Project 0’s development builds on the infrastructure of the marginfi protocol, which has managed significant market events on Solana over the past two years without insolvency. The protocol inherits marginfi’s risk management systems, which have been tested through periods of heightened volatility. The transition integrates marginfi’s decentralized application, validators, and lending venues into the Project 0 ecosystem.
Project 0 has also outlined its approach to user incentives through a points-based rewards system. Existing marginfi users will see their points matched and transferred to Project 0, with multipliers applied to early and long-term participants.
These points will play a role in the distribution of the forthcoming Project 0 token, which the team plans to launch later in 2025 at Solana Breakpoint. Governance discussions involving developers, stakeholders, and users are scheduled to begin in mid-October.
Many community members, however, have expressed frustration with marginfi’s decision to stretch its points program over such a long period. Critics describe the program as unnecessarily drawn out and argue that the shift into Project 0 feels like a way to reset expectations without providing clear answers on a token timeline.
Commentary on social media has included sarcastic takes suggesting that the chances of a marginfi token materializing remain close to zero.
Future Roadmap
Project 0’s next development milestones include live integrations with Kamino in October, followed by Drift and Save in November. Additional integrations with platforms like Jupiter, Loopscale, and Exponent are expected to follow. The team is also preparing to extend the system to perpetual futures markets on Drift, Jupiter, and Hyperliquid.
Additionally, Project 0 is developing new applications, including a Pay product and multi-venue strategy tools, which are expected to go live later in 2025. All of these developments aim to solidify its role as a core piece of DeFi infrastructure rather than a competing trading venue.
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