Weekly Newsletter, 11 July 2025

The rise of perps, futures reimagined

As blockchain infrastructure becomes part of the fabric of our financial system, new financial instruments are emerging. A great example is ‘perps’, short for perpetual futures. Already the most popular financial instrument in crypto trading, they are poised to disrupt the trading of other, traditional instruments as well. Perps have now started to enter the mainstream.

This week, Phantom, a popular crypto wallet, launched Phantom Perps, giving its 15 million users the ability to trade perps directly from their wallet. More than 100 markets, with up to 40x leverage. Globally and 24/7, no bank or broker needed. Phantom partnered with Hyperliquid, the fastest-growing perps exchange in crypto, now nearing $2 trillion in cumulative volume. Meanwhile, Robinhood is rolling out perps in the EU, and Coinbase is preparing to launch US-compliant perpetuals. A new wave of players is entering what is quickly becoming a very dominant new product category. But what are perps exactly, and why does it matter that they are onchain?

Perpetual futures, or perps, let you bet on the price of an asset (up or down) without actually owning it, and without an expiry date. Think of it this way: if you’re bullish on Tesla, you could buy the stock. But what if you want to go short? Or use leverage? And see your live P&L as the prices move? That’s where perps come in.

So unlike traditional futures contracts, which expire monthly or quarterly, what makes perps a different animal is that they never expire. Instead, a small fee called the funding rate helps align their price with the spot market. If the perp price is trading above spot, long traders pay a small fee to shorts, and vice versa. That keeps prices anchored without needing constant rollovers or settlement. With blockchain’s introduction of fully automated, 24/7 infrastructure, perps are now made possible in a way traditional markets can’t match.

And unlike traditional futures trading, onchain perps come with full transparency and composability. You can see your position, your liquidation price, your margin level, in real time. There’s no hidden leverage, no untimely calls from a banker and no margin desk deciding your fate. You control your collateral, and margin execution is handled by smart contracts, not human intermediaries.

Another big unlock is the basis trade: hold spot (so Tesla stock in the above example), short the perp, and collect funding fees when perps trade above spot (common in rising markets). It’s a delta-neutral yield strategy that has long been a favorite of hedge funds and market makers in traditional finance circles, now available to anyone onchain.

Perps already account for most of crypto’s trading volume. They aren’t just a product; they’re a primitive that turns price views into programmable positions. Strategies that used to require an expensive prime broking account, a very high minimum to even get a seat at the table and complex execution can now be deployed by anyone with a wallet. Like stablecoins before them, they offer something structurally better. Soon, users will be able to go long or short Tesla, gold, ETH, or even private companies. Onchain, permissionless, 24/7. It’s cheaper, fairer and more transparent. This is how blockchain disrupts the status quo: by replacing the constraints of centralized systems with open, programmable financial infrastructure.

Also this week

Relevant financial updates

Core Scientific, a Bitcoin mining company, has been acquired by CoreWeave for $9bln in an all stock deal
Vertex*, a lightning-fast orderbook DEX with powerful trading features & cross-margin for maximal efficiency, has been acquired by Ink (Kraken’s blockchain) for an undisclosed amount
Portal, a developer platform for stablecoin finance offering SDKs and APIs to create wallets, send assets, and manage onchain operations, has been acquired by layer-1 blockchain Monad*
Kolscan, a Solana-based wallet tracker that monitors top onchain traders, has been acquired by Pump.fun* for an undisclosed amount
Rally*, a mobile‑first web3 wallet and marketplace that enables users to explore, fund, and trade memecoins, social tokens, NFTs, and tokens across multiple blockchains, has been acquired by OpenSea* for an undisclosed amount
Oasis Pro Markets, an SEC-registered broker-dealer, alternative trading system, and transfer agent, has been acquired by Ondo Finance* for an undisclosed amount
Remix*, a browser-based mini-game platform that uses AI tools for game creation and editing, has raised $5mln in a Seed funding round with investments from Archetype, Lemniscap, Variant, Coinbase Ventures and a few others
Distinct Possibility Studios*, an independent game developer founded by MMO and FPS veterans, has raised $30.50mln in a Seed funding round with investments from Bitkraft Ventures and Brevan Howard
Zypher Network, a ZK computing layer that enables trustless execution of AI agents and decentralized applications, has raised $7mln in a funding round with investments from Hashkey Capital, Signum Capital, DWF Labs, Cogitent Ventures, UOB Venture Management and 3 others
Kuru, a decentralized trading platform that features a fully onchain orderbook on the Monad blockchain, has raised $11.60mln in a Series A funding round with investments from Paradigm, Electric Capital, Will Price, Credibly Neutral, Tristan Yver and 7 others
DigitalX, one of Australia’s pioneering public companies with a strategic focus on digital assets, particularly Bitcoin, has raised $13.50mln in a Strategic funding round with investments from Animoca Brands, ParaFi Capital and UTXO Management
Agora*, a full service platform that makes issuing, managing, and integrating stablecoins seamless whether you’re a developer, fintech, or institution, has raised $50mln in a Series A funding round with investments from Dragonfly and Paradigm

*Underlying TBV portfolio position | Prices as per 11/07

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