To begin with the conclusion, the current PerpDEX landscape is starting to diverge into two major directions. One path focuses on building massive trading venues in order to capture the infrastructure of price discovery. The other aims to evolve into a financial platform that integrates the lifecycle of capital.
A representative example of the former is Hyperliquid. By combining its own chain with a high-performance order book, Hyperliquid has built a massive perpetual futures market and has become one of the central hubs of the on-chain derivatives ecosystem. Today it accounts for roughly 63% of the open interest among major PerpDEXs, far surpassing other platforms in scale.
On the other hand, GRVT’s strategy focuses on capital efficiency, and this direction is already beginning to appear at the implementation level. In 2026, GRVT announced an integration with Aave, introducing a mechanism that automatically deploys collateral posted for perpetual trading into Aave’s lending markets. As a result, capital deposited as trading collateral can continue to generate yield while maintaining open positions. On traditional exchanges, collateral typically remains idle capital, but this integration suggests that PerpDEX platforms are beginning to function as capital markets rather than merely trading venues.
If this architecture functions as intended, GRVT could evolve beyond being just another PerpDEX and begin to resemble an on-chain Prime Brokerage. Over a longer horizon, it may even move toward structures closer to clearing markets or collateral markets.
This article examines the structural problems of capital within DeFi and explores what the two strategies represented by Hyperliquid and GRVT suggest about the future of PerpDEX.
Over the past several years, DeFi has rapidly expanded its range of financial functions. Wallets handle asset custody, DEXs enable exchange, lending protocols generate yield, and bridges allow assets to move between chains. Each of these protocols has specialized and improved its respective function, giving users far greater flexibility in managing digital assets.
However, this evolution did not proceed toward integration. Instead, financial functions became increasingly fragmented. The result is fragmented capital.
Consider a user who wants to hold ETH. In DeFi today, several choices exist. If ETH is simply held, the user retains price exposure but earns little yield. If ETH is lent out, yield can be earned but the asset becomes difficult to use as trading collateral. If ETH is used as margin collateral, the user can take positions but the capital itself produces no yield.
In other words, three roles—holding, earning, and collateralizing—are separated from each other. GRVT refers to this inefficiency as “Capital Drag.” Capital can only serve one function at a time, and every movement between protocols incurs gas costs and opportunity costs. While DeFi successfully expanded financial functionality, it paradoxically reduced capital efficiency.
To address this problem, many protocols are now attempting to re-integrate financial functions. Uniswap has expanded from a DEX toward L1 infrastructure and multi-chain deployment. Fluid has grown from a money market toward a DEX model. Tria is attempting to integrate vaults and perpetual markets through cards and wallet infrastructure. DeFi began with functional fragmentation, but it is now entering a stage of re-integration.
When we look at the structure of financial markets, the core is not asset exchange markets but risk transfer markets. While global equity markets are valued at roughly $100 trillion, the notional value of derivatives markets exceeds $600 trillion. Because corporations and investors use derivatives to hedge price volatility, derivatives markets often become the central mechanism of finance.
The same structure can be observed in crypto markets. In today’s PerpDEX landscape, Hyperliquid has emerged as one of the largest platforms, growing into a massive market with billions of dollars in open interest.
Open interest is not simply a measure of trading volume; it represents the capital that remains committed to the market. Hyperliquid accounts for roughly 63% of open interest among major PerpDEX platforms, meaning it concentrates significantly more capital than competing exchanges.
This data shows that Hyperliquid is not merely a trading application. It functions as a market where traders hold risk and where capital accumulates. Its strategy is to build a massive perpetual market that dominates price discovery and liquidity, and then expand an ecosystem—including its own L1 infrastructure—on top of that market.
Although both Hyperliquid and GRVT are PerpDEX platforms, their strategic directions are clearly different.
Hyperliquid focuses first on building a massive trading market. By combining a high-performance order book, its own chain, and deep liquidity, it has created an on-chain trading environment comparable to centralized exchanges. As a result, cumulative trading volume has exceeded $1 trillion, making it the largest PerpDEX in terms of open interest and liquidity.
This strategy resembles the exchange model of CME in traditional finance. The goal is to first create a dominant market, concentrate liquidity and price discovery there, and thereby establish a position as financial infrastructure.
GRVT, in contrast, focuses on capital efficiency. Its roadmap includes features such as Unified Margin, Prime Brokerage Lending, vault strategies, and TradFi perpetual products, all of which aim to integrate the lifecycle of capital within a single platform.
With Unified Margin, the same asset can simultaneously function as trading collateral, generate yield, and maintain price exposure. For example, if a user wants exposure to ETH, they would normally need to convert ETH into USDC to use it as margin collateral, losing ETH price exposure in the process. Alternatively, simply holding ETH provides price exposure but limited yield. Unified Margin allows users to use ETH as collateral while still earning yield and maintaining ETH exposure, eliminating the need to move capital between roles.
Members of the GRVT founding team have repeatedly stated in interviews and AMAs that their goal is not to build another exchange but to construct an on-chain Prime Brokerage. This clearly indicates that GRVT is targeting a financial infrastructure layer rather than a simple trading venue.
The structure GRVT is currently pursuing closely resembles that of a Prime Brokerage. In traditional finance, prime brokers integrate collateral management, funding, clearing, and trade execution. GRVT’s Unified Margin and Prime Brokerage Lending can be interpreted as attempts to reconstruct this functionality on-chain.
If this structure continues to evolve, it could eventually approach the role of a clearing market. Clearing markets integrate collateral, margin, and settlement processes and form the credit infrastructure that supports derivatives markets. Since PerpDEX platforms already manage collateral, risk, and liquidation through smart contracts, they inherently possess the building blocks for such evolution.
Over the longer term, if collateral reuse increases and capital efficiency improves, these systems could even begin to resemble collateral markets. In traditional finance, repo markets and securities lending markets perform this function, enabling the circulation of collateral and supporting the credit supply of the financial system.
At present, very few DeFi protocols have reached this stage. Most PerpDEX platforms are still designed primarily as trading markets. However, if GRVT’s architecture succeeds, it may evolve into something beyond a simple PerpDEX—potentially functioning as an on-chain Prime Brokerage or clearing-like financial infrastructure.
PerpDEX platforms have historically been understood as trading applications. Yet the strategies of Hyperliquid and GRVT suggest that they are beginning to evolve in two distinct directions: one toward massive trading markets that dominate price discovery, and another toward financial platforms that integrate the lifecycle of capital. It remains uncertain which path will ultimately prevail, but these two strategies offer important insights into the future architecture of on-chain financial markets.
References
GRVT. GRVT Partners with Aave to Unlock Yield for Traders.
https://grvt.io/blog/grvt-partners-with-aave-to-unlock-11-yield-for-traders/
Aave Governance Forum. Integrating Aave for Exchange Deposits and Trading Margin (GRVT).
https://governance.aave.com/t/integrating-aave-for-exchange-deposits-and-trading-margin-grvt/
GRVT. GRVT 2026 Roadmap.
https://grvt.io/blog/grvt-2026-roadmap/
Cointelegraph. Grvt integrates Aave so traders can earn yield on perp collateral.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/grvt-aave-composable-yield-perp-collateral
KuCoin News. Grvt integrates Aave to launch the first composable yield perpetual DEX.
Cryptopolitan. Grvt’s Integration With Aave Brings Stablecoin Yield to Idle Perps Collateral.
Hyperliquid. Hyperliquid Documentation.
https://hyperliquid.gitbook.io/hyperliquid-docs/
Hyperliquid. Hyperliquid Whitepaper.
https://hyperliquid.gitbook.io/hyperliquid-docs/protocol/whitepaper
Aave Labs. Introducing Aave V4.
https://governance.aave.com/t/introducing-aave-v4/14668
DefiLlama. DeFi and Perpetual DEX Market Data.
CryptoRank. Perpetual DEX Market Analytics.
The Block Research. The Rise of Perpetual DEX Markets.
https://www.theblock.co/research
CME Group. Introduction to Futures and Derivatives Markets.
https://www.cmegroup.com/education.html
Bank for International Settlements (BIS). OTC Derivatives Statistics.
https://www.bis.org/statistics/derstats.htm
International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA). Global Derivatives Market Research.
https://www.isda.org/category/research/
written by @hiroyuki_SAKA
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell, hold, or invest in any specific cryptocurrency (token). The content is based on publicly available information and reflects the author's organization and views (including estimations). Cryptocurrencies carry significant risks, including price volatility, liquidity issues, regulatory changes, and technical flaws, which may result in substantial loss of principal.
To begin with the conclusion, the current PerpDEX landscape is starting to diverge into two major directions. One path focuses on building massive trading venues in order to capture the infrastructure of price discovery. The other aims to evolve into a financial platform that integrates the lifecycle of capital.
A representative example of the former is Hyperliquid. By combining its own chain with a high-performance order book, Hyperliquid has built a massive perpetual futures market and has become one of the central hubs of the on-chain derivatives ecosystem. Today it accounts for roughly 63% of the open interest among major PerpDEXs, far surpassing other platforms in scale.
On the other hand, GRVT’s strategy focuses on capital efficiency, and this direction is already beginning to appear at the implementation level. In 2026, GRVT announced an integration with Aave, introducing a mechanism that automatically deploys collateral posted for perpetual trading into Aave’s lending markets. As a result, capital deposited as trading collateral can continue to generate yield while maintaining open positions. On traditional exchanges, collateral typically remains idle capital, but this integration suggests that PerpDEX platforms are beginning to function as capital markets rather than merely trading venues.
If this architecture functions as intended, GRVT could evolve beyond being just another PerpDEX and begin to resemble an on-chain Prime Brokerage. Over a longer horizon, it may even move toward structures closer to clearing markets or collateral markets.
This article examines the structural problems of capital within DeFi and explores what the two strategies represented by Hyperliquid and GRVT suggest about the future of PerpDEX.
Over the past several years, DeFi has rapidly expanded its range of financial functions. Wallets handle asset custody, DEXs enable exchange, lending protocols generate yield, and bridges allow assets to move between chains. Each of these protocols has specialized and improved its respective function, giving users far greater flexibility in managing digital assets.
However, this evolution did not proceed toward integration. Instead, financial functions became increasingly fragmented. The result is fragmented capital.
Consider a user who wants to hold ETH. In DeFi today, several choices exist. If ETH is simply held, the user retains price exposure but earns little yield. If ETH is lent out, yield can be earned but the asset becomes difficult to use as trading collateral. If ETH is used as margin collateral, the user can take positions but the capital itself produces no yield.
In other words, three roles—holding, earning, and collateralizing—are separated from each other. GRVT refers to this inefficiency as “Capital Drag.” Capital can only serve one function at a time, and every movement between protocols incurs gas costs and opportunity costs. While DeFi successfully expanded financial functionality, it paradoxically reduced capital efficiency.
To address this problem, many protocols are now attempting to re-integrate financial functions. Uniswap has expanded from a DEX toward L1 infrastructure and multi-chain deployment. Fluid has grown from a money market toward a DEX model. Tria is attempting to integrate vaults and perpetual markets through cards and wallet infrastructure. DeFi began with functional fragmentation, but it is now entering a stage of re-integration.
When we look at the structure of financial markets, the core is not asset exchange markets but risk transfer markets. While global equity markets are valued at roughly $100 trillion, the notional value of derivatives markets exceeds $600 trillion. Because corporations and investors use derivatives to hedge price volatility, derivatives markets often become the central mechanism of finance.
The same structure can be observed in crypto markets. In today’s PerpDEX landscape, Hyperliquid has emerged as one of the largest platforms, growing into a massive market with billions of dollars in open interest.
Open interest is not simply a measure of trading volume; it represents the capital that remains committed to the market. Hyperliquid accounts for roughly 63% of open interest among major PerpDEX platforms, meaning it concentrates significantly more capital than competing exchanges.
This data shows that Hyperliquid is not merely a trading application. It functions as a market where traders hold risk and where capital accumulates. Its strategy is to build a massive perpetual market that dominates price discovery and liquidity, and then expand an ecosystem—including its own L1 infrastructure—on top of that market.
Although both Hyperliquid and GRVT are PerpDEX platforms, their strategic directions are clearly different.
Hyperliquid focuses first on building a massive trading market. By combining a high-performance order book, its own chain, and deep liquidity, it has created an on-chain trading environment comparable to centralized exchanges. As a result, cumulative trading volume has exceeded $1 trillion, making it the largest PerpDEX in terms of open interest and liquidity.
This strategy resembles the exchange model of CME in traditional finance. The goal is to first create a dominant market, concentrate liquidity and price discovery there, and thereby establish a position as financial infrastructure.
GRVT, in contrast, focuses on capital efficiency. Its roadmap includes features such as Unified Margin, Prime Brokerage Lending, vault strategies, and TradFi perpetual products, all of which aim to integrate the lifecycle of capital within a single platform.
With Unified Margin, the same asset can simultaneously function as trading collateral, generate yield, and maintain price exposure. For example, if a user wants exposure to ETH, they would normally need to convert ETH into USDC to use it as margin collateral, losing ETH price exposure in the process. Alternatively, simply holding ETH provides price exposure but limited yield. Unified Margin allows users to use ETH as collateral while still earning yield and maintaining ETH exposure, eliminating the need to move capital between roles.
Members of the GRVT founding team have repeatedly stated in interviews and AMAs that their goal is not to build another exchange but to construct an on-chain Prime Brokerage. This clearly indicates that GRVT is targeting a financial infrastructure layer rather than a simple trading venue.
The structure GRVT is currently pursuing closely resembles that of a Prime Brokerage. In traditional finance, prime brokers integrate collateral management, funding, clearing, and trade execution. GRVT’s Unified Margin and Prime Brokerage Lending can be interpreted as attempts to reconstruct this functionality on-chain.
If this structure continues to evolve, it could eventually approach the role of a clearing market. Clearing markets integrate collateral, margin, and settlement processes and form the credit infrastructure that supports derivatives markets. Since PerpDEX platforms already manage collateral, risk, and liquidation through smart contracts, they inherently possess the building blocks for such evolution.
Over the longer term, if collateral reuse increases and capital efficiency improves, these systems could even begin to resemble collateral markets. In traditional finance, repo markets and securities lending markets perform this function, enabling the circulation of collateral and supporting the credit supply of the financial system.
At present, very few DeFi protocols have reached this stage. Most PerpDEX platforms are still designed primarily as trading markets. However, if GRVT’s architecture succeeds, it may evolve into something beyond a simple PerpDEX—potentially functioning as an on-chain Prime Brokerage or clearing-like financial infrastructure.
PerpDEX platforms have historically been understood as trading applications. Yet the strategies of Hyperliquid and GRVT suggest that they are beginning to evolve in two distinct directions: one toward massive trading markets that dominate price discovery, and another toward financial platforms that integrate the lifecycle of capital. It remains uncertain which path will ultimately prevail, but these two strategies offer important insights into the future architecture of on-chain financial markets.
References
GRVT. GRVT Partners with Aave to Unlock Yield for Traders.
https://grvt.io/blog/grvt-partners-with-aave-to-unlock-11-yield-for-traders/
Aave Governance Forum. Integrating Aave for Exchange Deposits and Trading Margin (GRVT).
https://governance.aave.com/t/integrating-aave-for-exchange-deposits-and-trading-margin-grvt/
GRVT. GRVT 2026 Roadmap.
https://grvt.io/blog/grvt-2026-roadmap/
Cointelegraph. Grvt integrates Aave so traders can earn yield on perp collateral.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/grvt-aave-composable-yield-perp-collateral
KuCoin News. Grvt integrates Aave to launch the first composable yield perpetual DEX.
Cryptopolitan. Grvt’s Integration With Aave Brings Stablecoin Yield to Idle Perps Collateral.
Hyperliquid. Hyperliquid Documentation.
https://hyperliquid.gitbook.io/hyperliquid-docs/
Hyperliquid. Hyperliquid Whitepaper.
https://hyperliquid.gitbook.io/hyperliquid-docs/protocol/whitepaper
Aave Labs. Introducing Aave V4.
https://governance.aave.com/t/introducing-aave-v4/14668
DefiLlama. DeFi and Perpetual DEX Market Data.
CryptoRank. Perpetual DEX Market Analytics.
The Block Research. The Rise of Perpetual DEX Markets.
https://www.theblock.co/research
CME Group. Introduction to Futures and Derivatives Markets.
https://www.cmegroup.com/education.html
Bank for International Settlements (BIS). OTC Derivatives Statistics.
https://www.bis.org/statistics/derstats.htm
International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA). Global Derivatives Market Research.
https://www.isda.org/category/research/
written by @hiroyuki_SAKA
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell, hold, or invest in any specific cryptocurrency (token). The content is based on publicly available information and reflects the author's organization and views (including estimations). Cryptocurrencies carry significant risks, including price volatility, liquidity issues, regulatory changes, and technical flaws, which may result in substantial loss of principal.
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