Perp DEX is back on the market: what is the head project doing this year

Original by: Changan I Biteye Content Team

This week, Hyperliquid again became a market focus。

HYPE prices rose by over 40 per cent a week, and they were historically high. At the same time, the Perp DEX-related projects of Aster, Lighter, EdgeX have increased to varying degrees and the entire track has returned to market view。

Perp DEX tracks have changed a lot in the past year. They are no longer merely a chain substitute for CEX contracts and are no longer competing on the basis of trading for mining, points and fees, but are expanding in the direction of stabilization currency, RWA, forecast markets, ownership chains, revenue buy-backs and revenue-type bonds。

In this article, we'll take a time-line of a few representative Perp DEX changes over the past year to see what they have achieved in recent months and what they are doing separately。

1 ️⃣Hyperliquid: from the trading platform to the bottom of the chain

In the past year, the shift in Hyperliquid has not only continued to expand trade volumes, but has been marked by the opening of product boundaries. It begins with a trading platform centred on a lasting contract, extending simultaneously to a platform for the stabilization of currencies, forecast markets and open contracts。

September 2025: USDH contest for Hyperliquid settlement assets

September 2025, Hyperliquid Propulsion USDH. The special feature of USDH is that it competes for intra-Hyperliquid dollar liquidity。

October 2025: HIP-3 from official currency to Builder built its own market

October 2025, Hyperliquid launched HIP-3. Prior to this, the market for sustainable contracts in Hyperliquid was dominated by official decisions about which assets were on the line. After HIP-3, external Builder can also deploy its own Perp market on Hyperliquid。

THE HIP-3 MARKET IS NOW BEGINNING TO COVER TRADITIONAL FINANCIAL, COMMODITY AND EQUITY ASSET CLASSES。

• WTI CRUDE OIL IS ABOUT US$ 877 MILLION IN 24-HOUR TRADE AND ABOUT US$ 200.9 MILLION IN OPEN CONTRACTS
• Brent crude oil is traded 24 hours at around $368 million and OI about $323 million。

If there is no idea of this number, it can be understood as the 24h turnover in the HIP-3 front market, which is close to the level of the main assets of the median waist of 10 to 20 people in front of the dollar。

May 2026: HIP-4 online, Hyperliquid began to make raw forecast markets

In February 2026, Hyperliquid introduced HIP-4, introducing outcomes; then advanced in the testing network, with the first live outcome markets beginning in early May。

UNLIKE TRADITIONAL CONTRACTS OF LAST RESORT, USERS TRADE BETWEEN WHICH ZONES THE TARGET PRICE EVENTUALLY FALLS。

AT PRESENT, HIP-4 HAS BEEN ON LINE WITH TWO BTC PRICE FORECAST MARKETS, INCLUDING "WILL THE BTC BE ABOVE A PRICE AT A CERTAIN POINT IN TIME" AND "WHERE WILL THE BTC FALL?"。

The biggest difference with Polymarket is that HIP-4 is not a stand-alone product, but is directly embedded in the Hypeliquid's account system and blending system, and users do not need to switch funds or participate directly in the forecast market with the same transaction account。

Based on current data, HIP-4 is in its early stages. The head market 24h traded approximately $3.29 million and the unsettled contract approximately $34.9 million。

Similarly, the BTC single-day price forecasting market, the Polymarket single market, has a daily turnover of about $43.37 million, while the current HIP-4 market, the head of which is about $32.9 million, is still at a very early stage。

May 2026: Coinbase and Circle enter, USDC is re-conforming and stable Currency

Also in May 2026, there was a new change in the stable currency route of Hyperliquid。

Coinbase has announced plans to activate AQAv2 on USDC as a fund deployer, while Circle will act as a technology deployer responsible for the CCTP and primary cross-chain infrastructure. Coinbase and Circle promise to pledge HYPE to activate AQAv2. As part of the transitional arrangements, Native Markets has agreed to grant Coinbase the right to purchase USDH brand assets。

This means that the coherent and stable focus of the Hyperliquid ecological protocol is moving from USDH to USDC。

As Coinbase as a fund deployer shares the bulk of the revenue from the reserve with the agreement, USDC will be the stable currency for the more consensual distribution of proceeds on the Hyperliquid。

IN FUTURE NETWORK UPGRADES, THE HIP-4 REGULATORY RESULT MARKET WILL ALSO USE USDC AS A QUOTED ASSET。

2-Aster: from the outbreak of trade to the attempt to build their own trading ecology

The growth path of Aster was more direct than Hyperliquid, which extended the protocol over a period of one year: the volume of the trade would then gradually expand the product and infrastructure。

December 2025: Shield Mode online

Aster released 2026 H1 Roadmap, and began to gradually go online with Shield Mode, TWAP strategic orders, and RWA permanent market expansion in stocks, foreign exchange, bulk commodities, etc。

March 2026: Aster Chain Main 1 on line, Aster from Perp DEX to own L1

Mainly engages in private transactions, conceals part of the transaction information with ZK certificates and privacy addresses, with emphasis on low delays, high levels of vomiting and zero Gas experience。

Aster does not want to be just a Perp DEX deployed on multiple chains, but rather to put blending, privacy, RWA assets, trade incentives and subsequent governance in his chain system。

May 2026: Sustained global access to hot assets and humans Living Vote

Aster continues to expand tradable assets. Aster began to place more stocks, Pre-IPO, large commodity and foreign exchange markets into trading systems, such as new assets such as SpaceX Pre-IPO contracts for sustainability。

At the same time, Aster launched Missionations Listing Vote. This mechanism amounts to opening up a portion of the currency to the community: a qualified certifier or ASTER pledge may propose a new trade pair and then the community vote to decide whether to go online。

This is somewhat similar to Hyperliquid’s HIP-3, which is turning the “platform to decide what assets” into “outside players to drive the new market together.”。

According to current data, some of the traditional financial-related markets have begun to develop a dynamic trade. For example:

• THE CRUDE OIL (CLU) IS ABOUT $8.37 MILLION IN 24 HOURS
• SILVER (XAG) IS APPROXIMATELY $7.48 MILLION AND GOLD (XAU) IS APPROXIMATELY $3.3 MILLION
• In the Pre-IPO market, SpaceX contracts are traded 24 hours a day for approximately $1.5 million。

3StandX: Make Perp surety a living asset

Most Perp DEX competes only for blending, leveraging and transactional fees. StandX is a more interesting line: it attempts to transform inactive or sunk funds in the course of transactions into revenue assets。

In January 2026, StandX launched Maker Points。

It rewards not the transaction itself, but the hanging of mobility. Users may obtain Maker Points even if they simply submit a price limit and the order has not yet been entered into; when the order is concluded, they may obtain Trading Points further。

In other words, StandX first turns passive identity from the orderbook into an incentive asset。

3-4 MonthStandX Launch SIP-1 to SIP-4

The direction of the product is beginning to become clearer: a more financially efficient Perp trading layer is built around DUSD, warehouse revenues and large transactions。

• SIP-1 is Block Trade, which pulls large derivatives transactions out of the ordinary mouth, supports chain-linking, StandX settlements and reduces the impact of large bills on orderbook。
• SIP-2 is Project Yield, which allows eligible permanent silos to participate in the distribution of proceeds。
• SIP-3 further strengthens the primary proceeds of DUSD by directing part of the StandX Perps transaction fee to the DUSD yield pool。
• The latest SIP-4 extends Block Trade to the TP/SL scene. Instead of simply adding a stop-and-go button, it uses TP/SL as a position-linked option right: users can make more flexible trading arrangements around future exit prices, price protection and serviceee。

To put it together, StandX’s product narratives are more complete: DUSD addresses the proceeds of the bond, Maker Points stimulates hanging-list liquidity, Provision Yield improves the efficiency of holding funds, and Block Trade and TP/SL provides larger and more specialized transaction needs。

This makes StandX not a mere Perp DEX, but rather a trading system around "proceed-type bonds." The difference is not to give users more leverage, but to minimize financial idleness before, during and after transactions。

4 Lighter: Since 2026, there has been a shift from air drop expectations to revenue buybacks, RWA and ZK security narratives

JANUARY 2026: LIT REPURCHASE INITIATED, PROTOCOL REVENUE STARTED AND TOKEN TIED

In January 2026, Lighter started the LIT repurchase plan. Unlike many projects that left revenues in the vault, Lighter claims to have spent the costs of DEX and future products on repurchase of LIT in the chain。

EARLY REPORTS INDICATE THAT, AT THE TIME THE BUY-BACK PLAN WAS LAUNCHED, APPROXIMATELY $13.35 MILLION OF THE AGREED TREASURY WAS AVAILABLE FOR MARKET BUY-BACKS; SINCE THEN, SEVERAL BUY-BACKS HAVE BEEN EXECUTED。

FEBRUARY 2026: UPGRADE LLP, START DESIGNING A MOBILITY STRATEGY FOR RWA ALONE

In February 2026, Lighter adjusted the Liquidity Projecter infrastructure to introduce independent strategies for different market types, including the forever encrypted, foreign exchange and RWA markets. This is done to manage the risks, liquidation and ADL of different assets separately, rather than to share a pool of liquidity in all markets。

THIS STEP PAVES THE WAY FOR THE LATER RWA EXPANSION. BECAUSE OF THE VOLATILITY OF MARKETS SUCH AS COMMODITIES, EQUITIES, FOREIGN EXCHANGE, AND THE TIMING AND LIQUIDITY STRUCTURE OF TRANSACTIONS, AS OPPOSED TO ENCRYPTED ASSETS, IT IS DIFFICULT TO FOLLOW UP WHEN ALL RISKS ARE STILL COVERED BY A POOL。

April 2026: Launching Liquidity Partner Programme, focusing on RWA depth

In April 2026, Lighter launched the Liquidity Partner Programme, which rewards participants who provide deep liquidity to the RWA market. The scheme is open to all, awards are distributed through random snapshots of order books and weekly awards are published in advance。

The scheme provides a weekly incentive of approximately US$ 250,000, focusing on crude oil, precious metals and stock markets such as NVDA and Tesla。

FiveedgeX: Since 2026, from Pre-TGE incentives to EDGE Chain and TradeFi Perps

February 2026: Circle Ventures investment, USDC primary integration became the focus

In February 2026, Circle Ventures invested in EdgeX。

Upon entry of the Circle Ventures, the EdgeX follow-up can be placed around USDC as a bond, settlement, cross-chain and institutional liquidity access, which also makes its TradFi Perps route more consistent。

MARCH 2026: EDGE TGE, OFFICIAL LANDING OF THE CURRENCY ECONOMY

In March 2026, EdgeX first published the EDGE airdrop clause and opened pre-market transactions. Then it was officially announced that EDGE TGE was scheduled for March 31st。

April-May 2026: TradeFi Perps Expansion, EdgeX began to complement stock and commodity markets

After TGE, EdgeX continues to expand TradFi Perps. The Platform has created a large number of new stocks, commodities and large markets, including assets such as NVDA, TSLA, AAPL, gold, silver and crude oil。

This step, similar to the Hyperliquid HIP-3 and Aster RWA expansion, is extending Perp DEX transactions from encrypted assets to traditional financial assets。

According to current transaction data, part of the TradFi market has begun to become liquid. For example:

• Gold (XAUSDC) 24h traded about $9.49 million
• CRUDE OIL (BZUSDC)

May 2026: Contract V2 Beta online, EdgeX moving from a single Perp DEX to EDGE Stack

May 2026, EdgeX Open Contract V2 Beta。

Simple understanding: V1 is the early EdgeX trading system, which is primarily used to run contract transactions first. V2 is the next-generation system with the goal of enabling the platform to carry more markets, faster matchmaking and more sophisticated trading products。

THIS UPGRADE HAS RESULTED IN SUPPORT OF CONTRACTS, SPOT, FORECAST MARKETS AND TRADITIONAL FINANCIAL ASSETS TRANSACTIONS SUCH AS STOCKS, ETFS, GOLD AND CRUDE OIL。

Now V2 is in the Beta phase, but new markets, such as stock and bulk commodity contracts, are already visible on the platform。

At the end

Looking back at the past year, Perp DEX has changed quite clearly: They are no longer content to be mere chained contractual exchanges。

They choose different paths, but the judgement behind them is similar: Perp DEX can't just stay in the encrypted contract market。

Since the beginning of the year, the United States shares have been strong, and the Science and Technology Unit, AI related assets and traditional financial markets have continued to attract financial attention. For chain trading platforms, users are no longer merely trading BTC, ETH and Yamamoto, but rather wishing to trade encrypted assets, US shares, indices, gold, crude oil and even Pre-IPO assets in the same account。

So, Perp DEX is competing not just for a secure contract market, but for a larger global demand for asset transactions. And that's why, over the past year, several heads of Perp DEX have been working on TradFi assets。

HYPE surge just pushed Perp DEX back into the market view. The real deeper change is that Perp DEX’s competition has changed from Cex’s alternative to “who can take on more global demand for asset transactions.”。