When you're running multiple trading platforms simultaneously, backend orchestration becomes increasingly complex. Deriv, a global trading platform, found themselves managing intricate workflows across user onboarding, cashier operations, KYC integrations, and cross-platform account management.
Their solution? BuildShip as the backbone of their API orchestration layer.
The Multi-Platform Challenge
Deriv operates a centralized account "hub" that allows users to create one master account while opening platform-specific trading accounts underneath it. Users can deposit funds, withdraw money, and transfer between accounts across different trading platforms, all from a single interface.
This architecture creates significant coordination challenges. Each platform has its own APIs, authentication requirements, and data formats. Traditional backend development would require extensive custom code and complex deployments of infrastructure to handle the orchestration between frontends, microservices, and databases.
BuildShip as the Orchestration Layer
Deriv's solution follows what they call a "Lego architecture", a layered system where each component can be swapped out while maintaining a solid foundation. BuildShip sits in the middle as the API Logic Layer, connecting their data foundation to user-facing applications.
Data Layer (Foundation): Supabase with PostgreSQL handles balances, user accounts, and core trading data. This layer serves as their "baseplate", owned and controlled by Deriv to avoid vendor lock-in.
API Logic Layer (Middle Connectors): BuildShip orchestrates workflows between systems, handling everything from user onboarding to KYC webhook processing. As Krishna puts it, "It's kind of a central nervous system which is coordinating amongst all our other tools and services."
User Application Layer (Top Blocks): Front-end applications built with low-code tools that can be easily swapped or updated without affecting the underlying architecture.
This approach aligns with their core principle: "own your foundation and stay flexible with everything else." BuildShip handles the complex logic of routing requests, managing state transitions, and ensuring data consistency across multiple trading platforms without requiring custom backend infrastructure.
Core Workflows in Production
User Onboarding and Account Creation
Deriv's onboarding process involves creating both a central master account and any required platform-specific trading accounts. BuildShip workflows standardize the onboarding rules and forms across all platforms, ensuring consistent user experiences regardless of which trading platform someone chooses to start with.
The workflows handle account validation, initial setup requirements, and the coordination needed to provision accounts across multiple systems simultaneously.
KYC Integration
Know Your Customer (KYC) processes involve external verification providers that need to communicate back to Deriv's systems. BuildShip handles these integrations through webhook endpoints that receive verification results, process the data, store it in Supabase, and trigger account status updates.
This approach allows Deriv to work with multiple KYC providers while maintaining consistent internal processes for handling verification results.
Additional Use Cases
With Deriv's successful adoption of BuildShip, the company is now expanding its BuildShip usage to power the following use cases:
Crypto Platform Integration: Extending their multi-platform approach to cryptocurrency trading
LLM-Powered Reporting: Using AI capabilities for automated reporting and analysis
Anomaly Detection: Implementing automated monitoring and alerting systems for human-in-the-loop workflows
Customer Support Automation: Migrating customer-facing chatbots and integrated toolsets into BuildShip workflows
Scaling with GitHub Integration
Deriv has deployed over 150 BuildShip workflows across staging and production environments. Rather than deploying workflows one by one, they use BuildShip's GitHub integration for bulk deployments.
Developers can test workflows in staging, commit changes to GitHub, and then promote entire batches of workflows to production simultaneously. This approach reduces deployment errors and saves significant time compared to manual, individual workflow updates.
The GitHub integration also enables better version control and collaboration among team members working on different aspects of the trading platform.
While BuildShip's visual interface works well for workflow orchestration, complex business logic often requires custom code. Deriv's developers can write or edit code directly in the BuildShip interface, or edit using tools like Cursor or VS Code, commit it to GitHub, and sync it back to BuildShip.
This hybrid approach gives developers the flexibility to use their preferred coding environments for complex logic while maintaining the visual workflow benefits for orchestration and coordination tasks.
AI-Assisted Workflow Creation
BuildShip's AI capabilities help Deriv's team scaffold new workflows quickly. Developers describe their requirements to the AI, which generates initial workflow structures that can then be refined and customized for production use.
This ease of understanding is crucial for a trading platform where multiple technical and non-technical stakeholders need to understand how critical processes function, and effectively hand off workflows between business units.
Serverless Operations Benefits
By using BuildShip's serverless architecture, Deriv avoids managing deployment infrastructure, scaling concerns, logging systems, and metrics collection. "Debugging with BuildShip is super easy. The logs show the input and output for every block in the workflow, making it easy to spot issues," says Bala Krishna. Their engineering team can focus entirely on business logic rather than operational overhead.
This is particularly valuable for a trading platform where reliability and performance are critical, but where the team wants to iterate quickly on new features and integrations.
Partnership-Driven Development
Deriv's relationship with BuildShip goes beyond typical vendor-customer dynamics. Feature requests have been integrated BuildShip's product roadmap, resulting in capabilities like enhanced authentication options, GitHub integration, and planned WebSocket support.
"Partnering with BuildShip has been an excellent experience. They are growing alongside us, welcoming our feature suggestions and continuously enhancing their platform." explains Bala Krishna.
Results and Impact
The BuildShip implementation has delivered several key benefits for Deriv:
Faster Time-to-Market: AI-assisted workflow creation and visual development significantly reduce development time for new features.
Cross-Functional Transparency: Non-technical team members can understand and contribute to workflow discussions.
Operational Reliability: Serverless architecture and bulk deployment capabilities reduce errors and improve consistency.
Scalable Architecture: The orchestration layer handles increasing complexity as Deriv adds new trading platforms and features.
Lean Development Teams: BuildShip enables the creation of complex applications with a much smaller team.
Key Takeaways for Teams Integrating Multiple Platforms
Deriv’s implementation shows how BuildShip can simplify complex, multi-platform orchestration—delivering scalability without the burden of custom backend development. With AI-assisted creation, GitHub-powered deployments, and serverless reliability, BuildShip provides a foundation that evolves as fast as the business.
Equally important is partnership. By actively incorporating customer feedback into our roadmap, we ensure BuildShip delivers features tailored to real-world use cases—not generic solutions that force workarounds.
For companies managing integrations across multiple platforms, BuildShip isn’t just a workflow tool. It’s the coordination layer that enables rapid iteration, transparency, and operational resilience.
👉 Ready to see how BuildShip can do this for your organization? Book a demo
This ease of understanding is crucial for a trading platform where multiple technical and non-technical stakeholders need to understand how critical processes function, and effectively hand off workflows between business units.
Serverless Operations Benefits
By using BuildShip's serverless architecture, Deriv avoids managing deployment infrastructure, scaling concerns, logging systems, and metrics collection. "Debugging with BuildShip is super easy. The logs show the input and output for every block in the workflow, making it easy to spot issues," says Bala Krishna. Their engineering team can focus entirely on business logic rather than operational overhead.
This is particularly valuable for a trading platform where reliability and performance are critical, but where the team wants to iterate quickly on new features and integrations.
Partnership-Driven Development
Deriv's relationship with BuildShip goes beyond typical vendor-customer dynamics. Feature requests have been integrated BuildShip's product roadmap, resulting in capabilities like enhanced authentication options, GitHub integration, and planned WebSocket support.
"Partnering with BuildShip has been an excellent experience. They are growing alongside us, welcoming our feature suggestions and continuously enhancing their platform." explains Bala Krishna.
Results and Impact
The BuildShip implementation has delivered several key benefits for Deriv:
Faster Time-to-Market: AI-assisted workflow creation and visual development significantly reduce development time for new features.
Cross-Functional Transparency: Non-technical team members can understand and contribute to workflow discussions.
Operational Reliability: Serverless architecture and bulk deployment capabilities reduce errors and improve consistency.
Scalable Architecture: The orchestration layer handles increasing complexity as Deriv adds new trading platforms and features.
Lean Development Teams: BuildShip enables the creation of complex applications with a much smaller team.
Key Takeaways for Teams Integrating Multiple Platforms
Deriv’s implementation shows how BuildShip can simplify complex, multi-platform orchestration—delivering scalability without the burden of custom backend development. With AI-assisted creation, GitHub-powered deployments, and serverless reliability, BuildShip provides a foundation that evolves as fast as the business.
Equally important is partnership. By actively incorporating customer feedback into our roadmap, we ensure BuildShip delivers features tailored to real-world use cases—not generic solutions that force workarounds.
For companies managing integrations across multiple platforms, BuildShip isn’t just a workflow tool. It’s the coordination layer that enables rapid iteration, transparency, and operational resilience.
👉 Ready to see how BuildShip can do this for your organization? Book a demo
This ease of understanding is crucial for a trading platform where multiple technical and non-technical stakeholders need to understand how critical processes function, and effectively hand off workflows between business units.
Serverless Operations Benefits
By using BuildShip's serverless architecture, Deriv avoids managing deployment infrastructure, scaling concerns, logging systems, and metrics collection. "Debugging with BuildShip is super easy. The logs show the input and output for every block in the workflow, making it easy to spot issues," says Bala Krishna. Their engineering team can focus entirely on business logic rather than operational overhead.
This is particularly valuable for a trading platform where reliability and performance are critical, but where the team wants to iterate quickly on new features and integrations.
Partnership-Driven Development
Deriv's relationship with BuildShip goes beyond typical vendor-customer dynamics. Feature requests have been integrated BuildShip's product roadmap, resulting in capabilities like enhanced authentication options, GitHub integration, and planned WebSocket support.
"Partnering with BuildShip has been an excellent experience. They are growing alongside us, welcoming our feature suggestions and continuously enhancing their platform." explains Bala Krishna.
Results and Impact
The BuildShip implementation has delivered several key benefits for Deriv:
Faster Time-to-Market: AI-assisted workflow creation and visual development significantly reduce development time for new features.
Cross-Functional Transparency: Non-technical team members can understand and contribute to workflow discussions.
Operational Reliability: Serverless architecture and bulk deployment capabilities reduce errors and improve consistency.
Scalable Architecture: The orchestration layer handles increasing complexity as Deriv adds new trading platforms and features.
Lean Development Teams: BuildShip enables the creation of complex applications with a much smaller team.
Key Takeaways for Teams Integrating Multiple Platforms
Deriv’s implementation shows how BuildShip can simplify complex, multi-platform orchestration—delivering scalability without the burden of custom backend development. With AI-assisted creation, GitHub-powered deployments, and serverless reliability, BuildShip provides a foundation that evolves as fast as the business.
Equally important is partnership. By actively incorporating customer feedback into our roadmap, we ensure BuildShip delivers features tailored to real-world use cases—not generic solutions that force workarounds.
For companies managing integrations across multiple platforms, BuildShip isn’t just a workflow tool. It’s the coordination layer that enables rapid iteration, transparency, and operational resilience.
👉 Ready to see how BuildShip can do this for your organization? Book a demo
