Serum is a decentralized exchange ([DEX](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/decentralized-exchange-dex)) and ecosystem that brings unprecedented speed and low transaction costs to decentralized finance (DeFi). ([DeFi](https://coinmarketcap.com/defi/)).
Serum is the only high-performant DEX designed around a fully on-chain central limit order book and matching engine. Ecosystem partners can compose with Serum’s on-chain orderbook to share liquidity and power their trading features for institutional and retail users.
In light of the popularity of DeFi and the growth of DEXes on Ethereum, users and developers are limited by high gas costs and slow transactions. Serum aims to resolve these traditional problems of DeFi, as well as issues of centralization, low capital efficiency, and liquidity segmentation.
The SRM utility and governance token enables users to receive discounts on protocol fees and voting rights; 100% of exchange fees flow back to SRM via buy-and-burn, staking rewards, and ecosystem grants.