What Is Synthetic Asset?
A token that tracks the price of another asset without requiring ownership of the underlying.
Definition
Synthetic assets are tokens built to follow the price of something else: a stock, a metal, a currency pair. Collateral and an oracle feed do the work that custody does in a tokenized product. Nobody is holding the actual share.
How it works
A protocol takes collateral, usually stablecoins, reads the target asset's price from an oracle, and issues tokens whose value moves with that price. The collateral stays locked until someone redeems.
In Continuum
Continuum issues synthetics as paired L/S tokens. Deposit stablecoins and you get both a Long and a Short token, worth your deposit between them at mint. What stands behind them is the collateral sitting in the program rather than an issuer's promise: a pair is only ever created against a deposit, and only ever redeemed as a pair.
Related terms
A token that gains value when the underlying asset price increases.
A token that gains value when the underlying asset price decreases.
A service that brings off-chain data (like prices) onto the blockchain.
Assets deposited to back or secure a financial position.
More basics terms
Solana devnet · Test tokens only. Open a market with test tokens, or join the list for later access.