Perpetuals are a test of execution: fills, funding, and liquidations.
This year opens with a very public signal that the center of gravity is shifting.
In early October, Hyperliquid switched on permissionless listings (HIP-3). Builders can now list perp markets by staking 500,000 HYPE, with guardrails like validator slashing and open-interest caps. That move landed just as decentralized perps were setting fresh share highs against CEXs — fuel for the “on-chain is winning” narrative.
At the same time, CZ jumped onto X to swat down rumors about ties to Hyperliquid — and even weighed in on a widely discussed “$1B short on Hyperliquid” thread. Whether you read it as concern or simple rumor control, the fact that Binance’s founder is publicly addressing a DEX says a lot about where attention has moved.
Zoom out to the market structure: by mid-2025, DEX perps reached ~20–26% of global perp volume, up from low single digits two years prior. The DEX-to-CEX futures ratio hit a record ~0.23 in Q2 2025, a clean, directional sign that liquidity and users are migrating on-chain.