What is Orca?
Orca is a cryptocurrency trading platform (Decentralized Exchange) on the Solana and Eclipse networks, created by DeFi OGs for the trading experience and liquidity providing.
Orca also has a unique protocol that stands out in the Concentrated Liquidity Automated Market Maker (CLMM), and Orca also has an application where users can exchange SPL tokens that have liquidity and/or provide liquidity to existing/new SPL token pairs. Unlike traditional automated market makers (AMM) where liquidity is provided across the entire price range from zero to infinity, liquidity providers (LPs) on Orca can choose the price range to provide liquidity or choose to provide the entire price range in some pools that have this feature.
History of Orca
Orca was first developed by developers from Tokyo, Japan, without any funding or well-known supporters. Since 2021, Orca has grown to become one of the leading DEXs in the Solana ecosystem and in the broader cryptocurrency space.
Orca first launched the Constant Product AMM (CPMM) around the same time as the initial development of the Solana network, becoming one of the early protocols in the ecosystem. In March 2022, Orca transitioned to an advanced liquidity mechanism with the launch of Orca DAO, a governance mechanism for ORCA token holders, and introduced the Whirlpool program, which continues to power Orca's CLMM to this day. With Whirlpool, liquidity providers can concentrate their liquidity within specific price ranges, increasing capital efficiency and potentially generating higher returns. This concentrated liquidity model enhances the trading experience by offering more favorable rates and lower price impact for traders, especially for larger trades.
In October 2024, Orca launched on Eclipse, a Modular blockchain that functions as a Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum while being deployed to be compatible with the Solana Virtual Machine.
Key Features of Orca
Whirlpools: Specialized liquidity pools designed to maximize returns for liquidity providers.
Fair Price Indicator: Helps users avoid slippage (the difference between the quoted and executed price) by notifying them when the exchange price is close to the market rate.
Magic Bar: A simple interface for token exchange, designed to make trading as straightforward as possible.
Solana Integration: Leverages the high speed and low cost of the Solana network.
The user-friendly design of Orca's interface - Source: Soladex
Orca Pools interface - Source: Soladex
What is Orca v2 UI?
Following active development, Orca launched its version 2 UI in 2024, catering to four user groups:
- Traders: Can exchange tokens cheaply, quickly, and confidently on Orca, with Jupiter as an accurate price comparison tool. This is also supported by the operation of the Concentrated Liquidity Automated Market Maker (CLMM).
- Liquidity Providers: Caters to both experienced and beginner liquidity providers with features from a dedicated display bar and a new portfolio feature to quickly create and manage full-range liquidity positions.
- Token Creators: New token creators can create permissionless pools for token launches on Orca using SPL tokens on the Solana network.
- Builders: Friendly ecosystem builders can leverage the most efficient liquidity sources on Solana, making it quick and easy to build using audited smart contracts, open-source software, and reviewed SDKs to participate in the project.
What is the ORCA Token?
ORCA is the native utility token of the Orca cryptocurrency trading platform. It plays a crucial role in the ecosystem, offering several benefits to holders.
- Governance: ORCA token holders can participate in governance decisions, influencing the development and operational aspects of the Orca DEX.
- Rewards from Staking: Users can stake their ORCA tokens to earn rewards, which are distributed as a percentage of the trading fees generated by the platform.
- Incentives for Liquidity Providers: ORCA tokens are used to incentivize liquidity providers, rewarding them for their contributions to the liquidity pools necessary for the exchange's operation.
ORCA Token Distribution
ORCA has a total token supply of 100 million ORCA. The initial circulating supply of the ORCA governance token started at 5.25 million.
The entire initial supply was airdropped as follows, based on the activity of liquidity providers and traders between the launch and August 2nd, 00:00 AM UTC:
- 4,000,000 ORCA for Liquidity Providers: Distributed retroactively to existing liquidity providers, calculated based on the total value of liquidity provided in US dollars.
- 500,000 ORCA for Regular Traders: Distributed equally to addresses with a total trading volume in US dollars between $1,000 and $10,000.
- 500,000 ORCA for Large Traders: Distributed equally to addresses with a total trading volume in US dollars ≥ $10,000.
- 250,000 ORCA for Advisors: These tokens were allocated to advisors and Ventures in exchange for providing upfront liquidity for the Orca protocol.
The token distribution can be broken down as follows:
Source: Orca Tokenomics
- ORCA Token Treasury: 20.1% Allocated, 40% Unallocated
- Development Team: 19.5% Allocated, 0.5% Unallocated
- Private Sale: 9.6% Allocated, 0% Unallocated
- Value-Add + Advisory: 2.2% Allocated, 2.1% Unallocated
- Contributor Grant: 0% Allocated, 5% Unallocated
Interesting Price Information for ORCA
According to data from the Coinmarketcap website on 4 April 2025, the ORCA coin has a market capitalization of US$115,307,070, or approximately 3,935,744,281 Thai Baht.
At the time of writing this article, the ORCA token is trading at a price of approximately $2.06, or about 70.39 Thai Baht per 1 ORCA. ORCA's all-time high was $22.30, or approximately 761.46 Thai Baht per 1 ORCA, on 16 November 2021.
References
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