Silhouette is a shield exchange built on the Hyperliquid blockchain, designed to preserve the confidentiality of trading volume and strategies. The project’s name reflects its core idea: the “silhouette” remains in the shadows, invisible to outside observers until the actual actions are executed. This solution allows traders to conceal their intentions from bots, prevent front-running, and protect against MEV attacks. Formed in 2024, the team raised $3 million in pre-seed funding to elevate order privacy without sacrificing speed or liquidity. At the heart of the project lies the use of hardware-based TEE modules, enabling a high level of security. Silhouette aims to create a system that is transparent in results but private in execution — a place where even institutional players can trade without fear of leaks.
- Silhouette’s Vision and Purpose
- Technological Foundation and Structure of Silhouette
- Financial Backing and Project Team
- Silhouette: Market Outlook and Prospects
- Conclusion
Silhouette’s Vision and Purpose
Silhouette is designed as a private exchange within the Hyperliquid ecosystem. Its main goal is to eliminate excessive transparency in public chains, where order information becomes instantly visible — exposing it to bots, front-runners, and other MEV actors. The name reflects the strategy: to keep intentions hidden until execution. This confidentiality is crucial for large trades and institutional users who need control over timing and volume without risk of exploitation. Protection is achieved not through centralized servers but via decentralized TEE nodes that process decisions in a hidden format and only publish the outcomes to the EVM chain afterward.
Silhouette addresses several challenges:
- Prevention of market front-running;
- Protection of trading strategies from public exposure;
- Neutralization of MEV exploitation;
- Equal execution conditions for all participants.
The project does not merely filter information — it creates an environment where privacy is combined with liquidity, without compromising user experience. The focus on private execution with public settlement preserves transparency and verifiability, balancing anonymity with decentralization. This model appeals to both institutional traders and decentralized funds seeking to minimize operational risks. Silhouette makes private DeFi trading accessible, understandable, and integrated with existing infrastructure.
Technological Foundation and Structure of Silhouette
Silhouette relies on the infrastructure of Hyperliquid — a platform with high throughput and deep liquidity pools. The core element is Trusted Execution Environments (TEE). These hardware-isolated environments allow orders to be processed in a secure zone, preventing data leaks and external interference. This ensures privacy at the execution level, which is essential for large-volume and strategic operations.
The architecture is structured as follows:
| Component | Role |
|---|---|
| User (UI/API) | Submits orders to the network via Hyperliquid |
| TEE Nodes | Privately store and process orders; handle matching and settlement |
| Hyperliquid Orderbook | Used as the liquidity source; final results are visible to all |
| Blockchain (EVM) | Publishes final interactions — swaps, exchanges, order executions |
The system supports several trading formats. Users can utilize standard SWAP operations, request-for-quote (RFQ) mechanisms, participate in auctions, or execute algorithmic orders like TWAP and VWAP. This flexibility allows trading to be tailored to specific strategies while maintaining a high degree of confidentiality. The user interacts with the system through a familiar interface, while the platform’s architecture hides order content until execution — protecting sensitive strategies and ensuring fair execution.
Financial Support and Project Team
In June 2025, the Silhouette project successfully completed its pre-seed funding round, raising $3 million from several major funds. This milestone was a key step in the development of the product, enabling the team to focus on building the MVP and a full infrastructure for shield trading. The involvement of strategic partners also confirms the high interest in privacy within the DeFi sector, especially among institutional investors and funds. The funds raised will support the implementation of a decentralized architecture, maintain the operation of TEE nodes, and enable the launch of the main network.
Key participants in the round:
- RockawayX (lead investor);
- Amber Group and Hivemind Capital (experts in trading and derivatives);
- NGC Ventures, No Limit Holdings, Protagonist (strategic partners);
- An individual investor under the pseudonym echo.
This group of participants provides the project not only with capital but also with access to global networks, including liquidity, auditing, marketing, and infrastructure.
The team consists of two co-founders. Chandler De Kock serves as CEO, responsible for strategy and partnership development, and previously worked at Luno. Stent is the technical director, overseeing TEE infrastructure and backend architecture. The team is focused on developing a secure and scalable system capable of handling large order volumes while maintaining privacy. The current development phase is dedicated to testing key functionalities, after which the public release will begin.
Silhouette: Market and Prospects
Silhouette enters the scene at a time when the demand for privacy in DeFi is especially critical. Most decentralized trading platforms fail to protect users from data leaks and MEV exploitation. Orders become visible before execution, making strategies vulnerable. This is particularly relevant for algorithmic trading, institutional volume, and cross-chain operations. Silhouette offers a solution where trade information remains hidden until the final step, significantly reducing risk and improving execution quality.
Given the current market environment, competition in the shield‑DEX segment remains minimal. Similar solutions are often either poorly scalable or overly complex to integrate. In contrast, Silhouette offers a simple, pluggable architecture on Hyperliquid, while retaining familiar trading functionality and speed. The project’s growth potential largely depends on the reliability of TEE technology and the platform’s trust level. It's also important to roll out new order types and wallet integrations in a timely manner. However, with the current level of preparation and backing, the project is well-positioned to claim a key role in confidential trading. Its potential spans beyond trading to include advanced financial strategies such as arbitrage and derivatives.
Conclusion
Silhouette is a scalable and technologically advanced shield exchange integrated with Hyperliquid. The project addresses one of DeFi’s major challenges — the leakage of trading strategies — through TEE infrastructure and private order execution. It combines confidentiality, high performance, and EVM compatibility. A successful pre-seed round and an experienced team give the project a solid foundation for future growth. Silhouette may soon become a vital component of the next wave of DeFi solutions aimed at professional traders and institutional players.
