Decibel Adds Optional Order Encryption to Aptos Trading Venue

Decibel has enabled optional encrypted order submissions on its Aptos trading venue, giving users a way to conceal trade instructions while validators order transactions and limiting the opportunity for others to trade ahead of visible orders.

The feature applies to pending orders, which can expose a trader’s intended action before its place in a block is fixed. When encryption is selected, the transaction’s function call and inputs are hidden before submission. Those details specify the requested operation and its parameters.

Validators establish the transaction’s place in a block without seeing the encrypted instructions. After the block is finalized, validators collectively decrypt the details before execution. The sender address and gas fee remain visible throughout the process.

Encryption is optional for each transaction. It changes when the order instructions become visible, but it does not hide a completed trade: finalized transaction data is recorded onchain. The feature therefore protects the waiting period before execution while leaving the resulting transaction available for inspection.

Aptos made encrypted mempool support available across its network on Oct. 12 and had named Decibel as a planned user when it introduced the feature. Decibel has now enabled it on its venue. The exchange launched its fully onchain perpetuals order book in February.

A 50-node benchmark found that encryption added about 20 milliseconds of latency per block. That figure measures added block latency; it does not measure how long a Decibel order takes to fill.

Current U.S. residents are excluded from using Decibel’s trading interface under its terms. The platform’s new option is available within its trading system, while the Aptos network feature applies across transactions that opt in.