Perpetual futures are rapidly breaking out of the crypto niche and into traditional finance, a shift highlighted this week by Pantera Capital's analysis of Hyperliquid and Kalshi's regulatory push to list gold and other commodity perps.
According to Pantera, onchain perpetuals have structural advantages: 24/7 trading, no expiration dates, and continuous price discovery. Hyperliquid, a decentralized exchange, already captures 40% of onchain perp volume and generated $13.5 million in fees last week. It has expanded into equities, commodities, and stock indices, aligning with founder Jeff Yan's vision to "host all of finance."
Meanwhile, regulated prediction-market platform Kalshi is seeking approval to offer perpetuals tied to gold, foreign exchange, and energy. Reuters reported Kalshi's crypto perps have done $16.1 billion in volume, and Chief Risk Officer Udesh Jha sees strong demand for gold from both retail and institutional traders. The move pits Kalshi against Robinhood, which already launched multi-asset perpetuals through Bitstamp and is strengthening its crypto infrastructure with the Arbitrum-powered Robinhood Chain.
These developments signal that onchain perpetuals are aiming squarely at the core of global finance. With decentralized perps growing from under 1% to 14% of centralized exchange volume since 2023, the convergence of DeFi and traditional markets is accelerating.
