Oil markets have entered a volatile phase as traders increasingly turn to a blockchain-based platform called Hyperliquid to speculate on price movements. The platform recently recorded daily trading volume for a popular oil contract approaching $1.7 billion, about 250 times the level seen before the U.S. and Israel began bombing Iran in late February. The platform’s 24/7 trading capability and use of crypto perpetuals sit at the core of a broader push to enable continuous markets, a feature long touted by the crypto industry. As Mary-Catherine Lader of Native Markets notes, 24/7 global events are creating demand for 24/7 markets, and while there has been enthusiasm about blockchain enabling around-the-clock markets for years, there is now real market demand.
Hyperliquid, launched in 2023 by Jeff Yan and a small team, built a decentralized exchange and a blockchain powering the platform. They initially optimized Hyperliquid for crypto perpetuals—derivatives that let traders bet on the future price of assets without owning the assets themselves. Over the past year, Hyperliquid has generated nearly $700 million in revenue, according to DefiLlama. And it’s expanded its repertoire of what’s tradeable on the platform to spot cryptocurrencies as well as derivatives tied to real-world assets, like oil.
One of the most popular derivatives, launched by the trading platform trade.xyz, has notched daily trading volumes of more than $1 billion every day this week. “That is part of the innovation that’s honestly happening right now,” said Lader, the CEO of Native Markets. Trade.xyz’s derivative tracks the price of one barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude.
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