Why Wall Street Suddenly Needs Perpetual Futures

Summary

Griffin Sears from FalconX explains perpetual futures and their rapid expansion from crypto into oil, equities, and pre-IPO markets. A watershed moment came when billions traded in oil perps during weekend Middle East conflict, waking Wall Street to 24/7 trading. Institutional demand is growing for weekend hedging and pre-IPO SpaceX exposure. Crypto infrastructure is proving resilient and is beginning to capture activity from traditional exchanges, though regulatory and banking-rail frictions remain.

• Perpetual futures have no expiry, centralizing liquidity and enabling 24/7 trading, first pioneered in crypto.
• Billions in oil perps traded over a weekend during the Middle East conflict, demonstrating their utility when traditional exchanges were closed.
• Institutional players are onboarding to crypto exchanges to access 24/7 markets in oil, commodities, equities, and pre-IPO assets like SpaceX.
• Incumbent exchanges face a turf war, with some like NYSE planning 24-hour trading and Robinhood launching a layer-2 for tokenized equities.
• The biggest remaining friction is the need for regulations and banking rails to support weekend fiat settlement and margin calls.
• Crypto infrastructure is proving its resilience and is beginning to consume traditional asset class trading, reversing earlier fears of being overtaken.