Prevent latency arbitrage and flash crashes. Drift Systems embeds a hardware-enforced sequence into every trade packet, creating a mathematically provable order of events that software timestamps cannot spoof.
Attackers try to spot your large buy order and insert their own order milliseconds before yours to drive up the price. Drift's Sequence Locking defeats this by rejecting any packet that arrives "out of turn," regardless of its timestamp.
Instruction: Click "PLACE LARGE BUY". This generates a valid trade with Seq $S_t$. Immediately click "TRIGGER BOT" to simulate an HFT algo trying to cut in line.
Outcome: The Bot might have a faked "earlier" timestamp, but it lacks the correct cryptographic Sequence Pre-image ($S_{t-1}$). The Exchange rejects the Bot as an "Out-of-Order" anomaly.
Drift operates at the FPGA register level (1 clock cycle). It assigns a unique, monotonic identity to every packet entering the matching engine. This creates a "Physics-based" truth for trade ordering that cannot be altered by software.
Rogue algorithms often enter "feedback loops," spamming orders infinitely. Drift enforces an Entropy Budget. An algorithm is physically throttled by the rate at which it can generate valid Drift Proofs, acting as a hardware circuit breaker.
Regulators (SEC/ESMA) require proof of "Best Execution." Drift logs provide a mathematically verifiable chain of custody for every order. It proves exactly when an order arrived relative to others, eliminating "Black Box" ambiguity.
Spoofing involves placing fake orders to move the market, then canceling them. Drift binds the "Cancel" command to the specific state of the "Order." If the market state has drifted, the cancel fails, forcing the spoofer to execute (and lose money).