Why 'perps' could be the next big thing after stablecoins

As perpetual futures edge into the mainstream, they stand to reshape dollar funding markets in unexpected ways.

Over the past five years, a financial trading instrument called the “perpetual future” has exploded onto the crypto trading scene. Crypto traders can’t get enough of it; platforms can’t get enough of the profits it makes for them. And I, personally, have argued the instrument is possibly the cleverest financial innovation since Blythe Masters introduced the credit default swap.

Yet, despite all that adoration, few in the world of traditional finance have ever heard of the instruments. Even fewer appreciate that they could transform how interest-rate, FX, and funding markets operate if they’re ever fully legalized.

So before armies of bank analysts and McKinsey consultants churn out 50-page “special reports” on perps to prove they were ahead of the curve all along, here’s what you need to know to get ahead of the curve.