Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan noted that the original expectation was for traditional markets to take 5–10 years before a large-scale shift to on-chain trading. However, U.S. military action against Iran and the closure of major global stock exchanges prompted a surge of investors into crypto platforms, trading tokenized assets and dramatically accelerating the timeline for mainstream “on-chain finance.”
Perpetual contract platform Hyperliquid has become a hub for trading real-world assets such as oil and tokenized gold. The data shows that on Saturday and Sunday last week, on-chain finance dominated global markets, with Hyperliquid logging over $11.5 billion in volume during that stretch. Tether Gold’s 24-hour volume briefly topped $300 million, while Kalshi and Polymarket also saw marked increases in trading activity. (Cointelegraph)