Author: Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise
Compiled by: Luffy, Foresight News
I have always believed that the migration of the financial industry onto the chain is inevitable.
Blockchain enables assets to be traded 24/7 with instant settlement at a fraction of the cost of traditional systems, making conventional stock exchanges and T+1 settlement seem outdated.
But I’ve always wondered: when exactly will this transformation occur, and what event will trigger a complete overhaul of the system?
After all, most people don’t even feel the delays in the current system. When my uncle buys stocks through his Charles Schwab account, he doesn’t care that it takes a day to settle, or the complex behind-the-scenes processes involving mysterious entities like NSCC, DTCC, and Cede & Co. He buys, the shares appear in his account—simple, straightforward, and seamless.
So I once thought that crypto-driven markets would first grow on the margins. Over the next 5 to 10 years, they would primarily serve crypto-native users and those who cannot fully integrate into the traditional financial system, such as global retail investors looking to trade U.S. stocks. Eventually, these systems will become sophisticated enough to gradually take over the existing infrastructure, with institutions like the NYSE transitioning to tokenized markets much as they once shifted from floor trading to electronic systems.
This would be a classic tech story: first disrupt the periphery, then take over the core. I thought it would take 5 to 10 years.
But this weekend proved me wrong. I am now certain that all of this is happening faster than anyone anticipated.
What happened this weekend?
At 2:30 AM ET on Sunday, February 28, Trump announced an attack on Iran. This timing was particularly significant for global financial markets, as nearly all markets were closed.
- U.S. stock markets are closed
- U.S. futures market is closed
- Major foreign exchange markets are closed
- European markets are closed
- Asian markets are closed
Essentially, the only markets still trading at this time are Middle Eastern stock exchanges such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which operate on a Sunday-to-Thursday schedule; however, these markets have limited size and reach, with minimal participation from Western investors and a narrow range of covered assets.
In the past, if a major geopolitical shock occurred on a Sunday morning, investors could only wait until 18:00 on Sunday evening, when U.S. futures opened, to see how the market would react. But this weekend showed us: they now have another option—turning to cryptocurrency infrastructure that operates 24/7 and is globally accessible.
And this weekend, they actually did.
All day Sunday, on-chain finance became the center of global finance. In particular, the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid took center stage, offering perpetual contracts for crypto assets as well as real-world assets like crude oil.
Hyperliquid's trading volume surged so dramatically that Bloomberg, in its report on the impact of airstrikes on crude oil, directly cited the crude oil contract price on Hyperliquid as the most reference-worthy price. This is no coincidence—Hyperliquid’s native token, HYPE, rose approximately 30% over the weekend. In my view, this更像是 investors paying in advance for its future.
But it’s not just Hyperliquid. Tether’s gold-backed token, XAUT, saw its 24-hour trading volume surge to over $300 million. Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket set new trading volume records. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other crypto assets also became focal points.
In my memory, this is the first time the cryptocurrency market has truly become a "market."
Why is this important?
If you’re a hedge fund, bank, or any investor looking to stay competitive, you have no choice now: you must open a stablecoin wallet, learn to trade on Hyperliquid, understand XAUT, and study tokenized stocks.
Because even if you don’t do it, someone else will.
This trend will accelerate. The biggest barrier to participating in on-chain markets is getting comfortable with tools like wallets, stablecoins, Hyperliquid, and Uniswap. Once you get started, all the new capabilities of DeFi and on-chain finance are within reach. Exposure leads to exploration, and exploration leads to trading.
Of course, some will say: Traditional markets can do this too! Nasdaq is implementing five-day-a-week, 23-hour trading! We don’t offer 7×24 trading because no one needs it!
Fine, say it however you like. Back then, BesTV said the same thing about Netflix, and Microsoft said the same thing about the iPhone.
The shift toward on-chain finance is inevitable. And after this weekend, I’m certain: its arrival will come sooner than any of us imagined.