Crypto Perps Are Diverging From TradFi, Not Converging — Bitget CEO Challenges the 'Growing Up' Narrative

• Bitget CEO argues everyone has crypto perps convergence backwards — the market is diverging from TradFi norms, not converging toward them
• Crypto perpetuals dominate trading volume over spot markets and are developing a distinct microstructure that traditional financial risk frameworks don't capture
• Offshore perp platform competitive moats may be more durable if divergence thesis holds — but also more exposed to regulatory frameworks built on TradFi assumptions

The conventional narrative about crypto maturing to look like Wall Street deserves scrutiny, argues Bitget CEO Gracy Chen in a Financial Times piece focusing on the perpetuals market — the dominant trading venue in crypto, where the volume in perps consistently dwarfs spot trading. Chen's thesis is that the evidence from crypto's biggest market segment points in the opposite direction: rather than crypto perps converging toward the norms of traditional finance derivatives, the structural differences are becoming more pronounced, with crypto developing its own distinct market microstructure that traditional financial frameworks don't adequately describe.

Perpetuals contracts — or perps — are unique to crypto. Unlike traditional futures, they have no expiry date and use a funding rate mechanism to keep the perp price anchored to the underlying spot price. This structure enables leveraged exposure without roll risk, making them the instrument of choice for crypto traders globally. The question Chen raises is whether these instruments are developing toward the regulatory architecture and risk management norms of CME futures, or whether the 24/7 global settlement, offshore platform dominance, and retail-driven leverage dynamics are creating a fundamentally different market structure.

For investors in crypto infrastructure and exchange stocks, the perps divergence thesis has practical implications. If crypto perps are evolving away from TradFi convergence rather than toward it, the competitive moats of offshore platforms that maintain higher leverage and more exotic product structures may be more durable than a convergence narrative would suggest. Platforms like Bitget, Binance, and Bybit have built significant volume share in the perps market partly on product differentiation from regulated derivatives venues. If that differentiation deepens rather than narrows, their competitive position may be more defensible — but also more exposed to regulatory pressure from bodies like the CFTC and FSB attempting to apply traditional frameworks to instruments they don't yet fully understand.

Source: Financial Times (Tier 1) | cluster 401805