As the global stablecoin market hits a record-high $250 billion in capitalization, Paradigm researchers have proposed a novel automated market maker (AMM) called Orbitals, aimed at improving capital efficiency in large-scale stablecoin pools.
What Are Orbitals?
Proposed by Paradigm’s Dave White, Dan Robinson, and Ciamac Moallemi, Orbitals is a hypothetical AMM design that goes beyond existing decentralized exchange architectures like Uniswap V3 and Curve. While Uniswap V3 restricts liquidity to two-token pools and Curve imposes limits on how users allocate capital across assets, Orbitals is designed to support customized liquidity exposure across multiple stablecoins — from 2 to 10,000 assets.
“Orbital unlocks capital efficiency by bringing concentrated liquidity to higher dimensions,” the researchers wrote in their Monday blog post.
Why It Matters: Capital Efficiency in Stablecoin DeFi
The design tackles a key limitation in current AMM infrastructure: scalability and flexibility in multi-token pools, especially crucial in stablecoin markets where assets are tightly correlated. By allowing liquidity providers to finely tune their exposure, Orbitals could enable higher efficiency and reduce slippage, an essential improvement for high-volume, low-volatility trading.
Though still conceptual, the idea is sparking interest. Dave White noted on X that, “Today, Orbital is just a design, but we’re excited to see how it might change the stablecoin liquidity landscape.”
Timing: Stablecoins in the Spotlight
The proposal arrives amid renewed interest in stablecoins from both Web2 giants and financial institutions. Tech firm Meta is reportedly exploring stablecoins to cut cross-border payment costs, while traditional banks are lobbying for influence over stablecoin regulation. Meanwhile, Atticus, a startup focused on stablecoins, became the first crypto unicorn of 2025.
The market now sees Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC controlling nearly 90% of the total stablecoin supply, making any improvement in trading infrastructure for these assets highly impactful.
Looking Ahead
Although still theoretical, Orbitals represents a potential leap forward in decentralized liquidity design. If implemented, it could set a new standard for how DeFi platforms manage multi-asset stablecoin pools, enhancing both liquidity and user control.
As stablecoins grow in systemic importance, tools like Orbitals could play a central role in next-gen DeFi infrastructure.