Perps Go Wall Street's Office Hours: 24/7, No Expiry, No Apologies

Decentralized exchange Hyperliquid has emerged as the leading example of how onchain perpetual futures can extend beyond cryptocurrencies into equities, commodities and stock indices, according to a Wednesday X post from Pantera Capital, an investor in the Hyperliquid ecosystem. The blockchain-focused asset manager said perpetual futures offer structural advantages over traditional derivatives, including 24/7 trading, no contract expiries, simpler position management and continuous price discovery. Pantera framed the shift as part of founder Jeff Yan's vision of "housing all of finance."

Onchain perpetual futures have gained ground against centralized venues. DEX perps volumes rose to 14% of centralized exchange (CEX) perps volume, up from less than 1% in early 2023 when Hyperliquid first launched, Pantera said. Hyperliquid accounts for roughly 40% of onchain perpetual futures trading volume and ranks as the fourth-largest fee-generating protocol in the crypto industry, generating $13.5 million in weekly fees in the past seven days, according to DefiLlama data.

Traditional finance operators are moving in the same direction. Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the NYSE, has disclosed plans for a tokenized securities venue designed for 24/7 trading, instant settlement, stablecoin-based funding and onchain settlement, first announced in January. In March, the NYSE partnered with tokenization platform Securitize to develop blockchain-based stock trading infrastructure with 24/7 trading and settlement for Wall Street. On May 22, OKX announced plans to launch perpetual futures based on ICE's Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate crude benchmarks under a partnership with the exchange operator.

ICE CEO Jeffrey Sprecher has urged regulators to create a "level playing field" for launching 24/7 onchain perpetual futures contracts. Pantera Capital's post highlighted Hyperliquid as the protocol demonstrating how blockchain-based infrastructure could compete with traditional derivatives markets on availability, settlement and product breadth.