Perpetual Futures Are Integrating with DeFi Markets, Says Doung
Perpetual futures markets are crashing the DeFi party. The once-separate worlds of leveraged derivatives and decentralized finance are merging—and the fusion could rewrite the rules of crypto trading.
Breaking Down the Convergence
Think of it as a high-stakes mashup. Perpetual futures, the backbone of crypto's speculative frenzy, are now plugging directly into DeFi's lending pools, automated market makers, and yield farms. This isn't just a technical handshake; it's a fundamental shift in how capital flows through the ecosystem. Liquidity locked in DeFi can now fuel leveraged positions, while trading fees from perpetuals can drip-feed into yield-generating protocols. The wall between 'trading' and 'staking' is getting thinner by the block.
Why This Changes Everything
The integration cuts out traditional intermediaries and bypasses centralized order books. Traders can potentially open positions directly from their self-custodied wallets, using DeFi-native assets as collateral. This unlocks a new level of capital efficiency—imagine leveraging a yield-bearing stablecoin position to short an altcoin, all in one atomic transaction. It also supercharges composability, letting developers build complex, automated strategies that blend speculation with passive income. The result? A more interconnected, and arguably more fragile, financial lego set.
Of course, merging high-leverage products with DeFi's sometimes experimental infrastructure is a recipe for both unprecedented yield and spectacular blow-ups—a fact that would make any traditional risk manager reach for the antacid, if they understood it at all. The final act isn't about replacing one system with another; it's about watching them collide to create something entirely new, volatile, and utterly compelling for those brave enough to play.
Doung says perpetual futures are integrating with DeFi markets
The Coinbase researcher noted that equity perpetual futures may attract traders seeking 24/7, leveraged exposure to U.S. equities that extends beyond traditional exchanges.
“We think perpetual futures are evolving beyond isolated, high-leverage trading vehicles and are becoming core, composable primitives within DeFi markets,” he added.
He explained further that DEEP integration between perpetual futures and DeFi will open potent new opportunities for the more efficient use of capital. In practice, this means using perp futures to provide dynamic hedges for liquidity pools, power interest rate instruments, or act as collateral in lending protocols.
He further argued that the growing global appetite for U.S. equities, combined with tokenization, could pave the way for equity perpetual futures to disrupt traditional retail trading.
Hyperliquid, Aster, and Lighter dominate onchain perpetual futures trading
Hyperliquid’s onchain perp futures platform first went live in late 2023. Adoption later picked up in 2024 following the integration of spot trading. So far, the platform reached its highest monthly volume in July, at around $319 billion, according to DeFiLlama, as the crypto perpetual futures space became increasingly competitive.
However, shortly after its token generation event in September, Aster briefly claimed the top spot in DEX perpetual futures, with $36 billion traded in a single day, accounting for more than half of the market. In November, the platform Lighter also raised $68 million after launching its public mainnet.
Over the past 30 days, according to DeFiLlama data, onchain perpetual futures have traded approximately $972 billion, with Lighter, Aster, and Hyperliquid taking the top three spots.
Hyperliquid Labs expects its token allocation in January
Meanwhile, Hyperliquid Labs, the agency that launched Hyperliquid exchange, is set to receive its next token allocation. As announced on Sunday via a Discord post, the platform announced that it will receive its second significant token allocation early next month, comprising 1.2 million HYPE tokens ($31.2 million) that will be awarded to team members on January 6.
“Moving forward, distributions, if any, will take place on the 6th of the month,” Hyperliquid co-founder Iliensinc said on Discord.
On November 29, the team received its first allocation of HYPE tokens, which totaled approximately 1.75 million. Currently, approximately 238.4 million HYPE tokens are in circulation, trading at around $26, with a market capitalization of $6.2 billion and a fully diluted value of $ 25.1 billion.
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