Key Takeaways:
Onchain perpetual futures are expanding beyond crypto into equities, commodities and stock indices, with Hyperliquid capturing 40% of the market.
Hyperliquid now accounts for roughly 40% of onchain perpetual futures volume as the platform expands beyond crypto into equities and commodities, Pantera Capital said.
"Perpetual futures offer structural advantages over traditional derivatives, including 24/7 trading, no contract expiries and continuous price discovery," Pantera Capital, a blockchain-focused asset manager and investor in the Hyperliquid ecosystem, said in a July 9 post on X.
DEX perpetuals volumes have risen to 14% of centralized exchange perps volume, up from less than 1% in early 2023 when Hyperliquid first launched, according to Pantera. Hyperliquid ranks as the fourth-largest fee-generating protocol in crypto, producing $13.5 million in weekly fees over the past seven days, DefiLlama data shows. HYPE traded at $67.92 as of July 9, up 0.31% in 24 hours. The platform has burned 16% of its HYPE token supply in under two years, with US stock-linked perpetuals now ranking among its most traded pairs, trailing only Bitcoin and HYPE itself.
The shift is drawing attention from traditional finance. NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange CEO Jeffrey Sprecher has urged regulators to create a level playing field for 24/7 onchain perpetuals, while the DTCC plans to pilot tokenized securities trading this year with more than 50 firms including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan. Tokenized stocks have reached $2.19 billion in value, up almost 50% in the past 30 days, according to RWA.xyz.
Kalshi, the prediction markets platform, launched the first US-regulated perpetual futures in May and has since generated $16.1 billion in trading volume. The company is in advanced talks with regulators to expand perps into metals, foreign exchange and energy, Reuters reported July 9. Ondo Finance said July 7 that its perpetual futures platform now allows traders to use tokenized stocks as collateral for perp trading tied to commodities and equities, available 24/7 to non-US traders. Ondo holds roughly 60% of the tokenized equity market through its Global Markets platform, and in March partnered with Franklin Templeton to tokenize five exchange-traded funds.
Tokenized commodities reached $5.8 billion in March before pulling back to $4.7 billion, with gold making up the majority, RWA.xyz data shows. Weekend volumes on on-chain commodity perpetuals have increased ninefold since the start of 2026, as geopolitical tensions — including the US-Iran escalation early this year — drove traders to platforms that never close. The SEC in March approved a Nasdaq proposal allowing certain stocks to be traded and settled via tokens, with Chair Paul Atkins expected to broaden approval through an innovation exemption. Tokenized Treasury products, the largest RWA category, now represent almost $15 billion, though that remains dwarfed by the traditional US Treasury market of roughly $30 trillion.
For Hyperliquid and its HYPE token, the convergence of onchain infrastructure with traditional asset classes creates a direct growth channel. If the DTCC's pilot and broader SEC approvals proceed as expected, the addressable market for onchain perpetuals could expand from crypto-native volumes to a share of the $114 trillion in securities the DTCC custodies — a shift that would test whether decentralized infrastructure can scale to Wall Street's demands.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
