Decentralized crypto trading platforms MetaMask and Infinex are now offering perpetual futures through integrations with Hyperliquid, competing with their centralized counterparts in the booming crypto perps market.
MetaMask’s integration with Hyperliquid went live on Wednesday, allowing users to access Hyperliquid’s decentralized perpetual swaps exchange directly through MetaMask’s wallet.
MetaMask stated that the “major milestone” brings it one step closer to becoming an all-in-one, self-custodial trading platform, as it seeks to capture market share from centralized exchanges that have dominated the crypto perpetuals market.
“By embedding the Hyperliquid engine directly into our wallet and optimizing it for mobile, we’re [offering] a frictionless path for passive holders to become active traders,” MetaMask’s global product lead, Gal Eldar, told Cointelegraph in an interview.
“The opportunity is enormous. And with these barriers falling away, the timing couldn’t be better for MetaMask to bring a one-tap, onchain trading experience to our entire user base.”
Meanwhile, Hyperliquid was integrated on Infinex for beta testing a few weeks ago, and raked in more than $100 million in trading volume across the first four weeks. It launched to retail users of Infinex last week.
Infinex is a non-custodial decentralized finance front-end that launched in mid-2024, while Hyperliquid is the most liquid decentralized perps exchange on the market.
Decentralized perp volumes reach $772 billion in September
Crypto perps have become increasingly popular due to their 24/7 trading, high leverage, no expiration, and the ability to profit from both rising and falling markets — attracting mostly speculative traders seeking high returns with minimal holding requirements.
Decentralized perps trading volume has exploded recently, tallying more than $772 billion over the last month, including a record $59.5 billion on Sept. 25, according to DefiLlama. The perps market is currently dominated by Hyperliquid, Aster and Lighter.
Change in perps trading volume since February 2021. Source: DeFiLlama
Infinex sees $100 million in perps pre-launch
Infinex founder Kain Warwick told Cointelegraph that his platform tallied more than $100 million in trading volume in the pre-launch phase of its Hyperliquid integration across a four-week period.
The $100 million came from early supporters of the project called Patrons and select traders, totaling about 200 people, Warwick noted.
MetaMask aims to give users a CEX-like experience with perps
Interacting with onchain perps platforms has proven challenging for even experienced crypto traders over the years, the MetaMask executive told Cointelegraph.
“Users show intent, but they give up along the way because the process is anything but simple,” Eldar said, explaining that users must first figure out which protocol to use, find a bridge that is safe, fast and not overly costly, only to then realize that they can’t transact because they don’t have the native gas token to pay for blockspace.
“[They] discover the protocol only accepts one specific asset, which means finding a DEX on that chain to convert before finally depositing and trading,” Eldar said. “For most users, that can end up being 30 minutes of effort, wasted fees, and a lot of avoidable anxiety.”
“Many people in Web3 have come to accept that as normal. We don’t — and we can’t. We see it as a major barrier to adoption, and as our responsibility as a wallet to solve.”
Warwick said that Synthetix — an early leader in crypto perps trading that he founded — along with dYdX and GMX, failed to push perps into wider adoption, adding that Hyperliquid was the first protocol to “get it right” and scale successfully.
Late last month, Warwick revealed that Synthetix would be redeployed on Ethereum mainnet, about six years after migrating to Ethereum layer 2 Optimism.
CEXs still dominate perps despite uncertainties
Centralized exchanges like Binance and Bybit are still dominating derivatives trading volumes, notching $93.4 billion and $31.9 billion alone in the last 24 hours, CoinGecko data shows.
By comparison, 7th-place Hyperliquid is the top decentralized derivatives platform, having seen $10.3 billion in trading volumes over the same time frame.
Related: DefiLlama to delist Aster perpetual volume data over integrity concerns
Warwick echoed 1inch founder Sergej Kunz’s comments last week, that centralized exchanges were increasingly realizing that DeFi onchain was the future of the industry.
“What’s interesting is that onchain has become so compelling that centralized exchanges need a response to it […] Centralized exchanges are all trying to figure out what their hybrid approach to onchain versus centralized services are.”
MetaMask rolls out new rewards program
Eldar also touched on MetaMask’s new “loyalty engine,” which rewards onchain participation, including making swaps or perp trades.
Points accumulate over time and move users up through tiers that unlock better rewards — with MetaMask’s “Season 1” to include $30 million worth of Linea (LINEA) tokens, fee discounts on perps, priority support, and a 12-month subscription to MetaMask’s Metal Card.
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