Oil markets are going crazy and one crypto ecosystem has become a go-to destination for speculating on where prices are going next: A blockchain called Hyperliquid saw daily trading volume for a popular oil contract reach a high of nearly $1.7 billion, which is nearly 250 times more volume than the contract saw right before the U.S. and Israel started bombing Iran in late February.
The popularity of Hyperliquid, whose blockchain technology lets traders buy and sell every day around the clock, reflects how the economic impacts of geopolitical conflicts aren’t limited to the 9:30 a.m.-to-4 p.m. weekday hours of stock exchanges.
The crypto industry has long touted blockchain’s capacity for 24/7 trading, as well as a trading innovation known as perpetual futures. But the popularity of Hyperliquid’s oil contracts reflects how the broader financial world is coming to appreciate these advantages.
“So, 24/7 global events are creating demand for 24/7 markets,” said Mary-Catherine Lader, founder and CEO of Native Markets, a startup building its own stablecoin, or cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar, on Hyperliquid. “There’s been plenty of enthusiasm about blockchain enabling 24/7 markets for years, but now there’s real market demand.”
