Bitwise: This weekend's attack accelerated the on-chain migration of the financial world

By: blockbeats|2026/03/05 18:00:01

Original Title: The Weekend That Changed Finance

Original Author: Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise

Original Translation: Luffy, Foresight News

I have always believed that the migration of the financial industry to the blockchain is inevitable.

Blockchain allows assets to trade 24/7, settle instantly, and at a significantly lower cost compared to the traditional system. It makes traditional stock exchanges and T+1 settlement seem incredibly outdated.

But I have always been curious: when will this transformation take place? And what event will drive the entire system to change fundamentally?

After all, most people don't really feel the delay in the current system. When my uncle buys stocks in his Charles Schwab account, he doesn't care about waiting a day for settlement or about the complex processes involving mysterious institutions like the NSCC, DTCC, and Cede & Co. He buys, the stocks appear in his account, simple and straightforward, without any hiccups.

So I used to think that crypto-driven markets would first grow at the edges. Over the next 5 to 10 years, they would mainly serve crypto-native users and those who can't seamlessly integrate into the traditional financial system, such as global retail investors who want to trade US stocks. Eventually, these systems would become good enough to slowly take over the existing system, and institutions like the NYSE would gradually transition to tokenized markets, just as they did from floor trading to electronic trading years ago.

This would be a classic tech story: first disrupt the periphery, then take over the core. I thought this would take 5 to 10 years.

But this weekend proved me wrong. Now I am convinced that all of this is happening much faster than anyone anticipated.

What Happened This Weekend

At 2:30 AM EST on Sunday, February 28, Trump announced an attack on Iran. This timing was very particular for the global financial markets as nearly all markets were closed.

· US stock market closed
· US futures market closed
· Major forex markets closed
· European markets closed
· Asian markets closed

Essentially, only Middle Eastern stock markets such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar (which operate Sunday to Thursday) were still trading at this time, but these markets are limited in size and coverage, with minimal participation from Western investors and a limited range of assets.

In the past, if a significant geopolitical event occurred on a Sunday morning, investors had to wait until Sunday evening at the U.S. futures open at 6:00 p.m. to see how the market would react. But this weekend showed us: they now have another option, turning to the around-the-clock, global trading of crypto infrastructure.

And this weekend, they did just that.

All day Sunday, on-chain finance became the core of global finance. In particular, the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid took the spotlight. It offers perpetual contract trading for crypto assets as well as real-world assets like crude oil.

Hyperliquid saw a massive surge in trading volume, to the point that Bloomberg, reporting on the impact of the airstrike on oil, directly quoted the crude oil contract price on Hyperliquid as the most meaningful price. This was no coincidence: Hyperliquid's native token, HYPE, surged around 30% over the weekend. In my view, this looks more like investors front-running its future.

But it wasn't just Hyperliquid. Trading volume for Tether's gold token, XAUT, soared to over $300 million in 24 hours. Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket set new records for trading volume. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum also took the spotlight.

In my memory, this is the first time that, in a true sense, the cryptocurrency market has truly become the "market."

Why This Matters

If you're a hedge fund, bank, or any investor looking to stay competitive, you have no choice now: you must open a stablecoin wallet, learn to trade on Hyperliquid, understand XAUT, research tokenized stocks.

Because even if you don't, someone else will.

This trend will accelerate. The biggest barrier to entry in on-chain markets is getting familiar with wallets, stablecoins, Hyperliquid, Uniswap, and other tools. Once you get the hang of it, all the new capabilities of DeFi and on-chain finance are within reach. Exposure leads to exploration, exploration leads to trading.

Of course, some will say: Traditional markets can do this too! Nasdaq is moving towards 5 days a week, 23 hours a day trading! We don't offer 24/7 trading because no one needs it!

Alright, say what you want. This is how Blockbuster viewed Netflix back then, and how Microsoft viewed the iPhone.

The shift to On-Chain Finance is inevitable. And after this weekend, I am convinced: its arrival will be even sooner than any of us could imagine.

Original Article Link

-- Price

The privacy-focused crypto wallet Mixin announced today the launch of its U-based perpetual contract (a derivative priced in USDT). Unlike traditional exchanges, Mixin has taken a new approach by "liberating" derivative trading from isolated matching engines and embedding it into the instant messaging environment.

Users can directly open positions within the app with leverage of up to 200x, while sharing positions, discussing strategies, and copy trading within private communities. Trading, social interaction, and asset management are integrated into the same interface.

Simplified Trading Experience: No KYC Required, Opening a Position in Five Steps

Based on its non-custodial architecture, Mixin has eliminated friction from the traditional onboarding process, allowing users to participate in perpetual contract trading without identity verification.

The trading process has been streamlined into five steps:

· Choose the trading asset

· Select long or short

· Input position size and leverage

· Confirm order details

· Confirm and open the position

The interface provides real-time visualization of price, position, and profit and loss (PnL), allowing users to complete trades without switching between multiple modules.

Social-Native Trading: Strategy and Execution Completed in the Same Context

Mixin has directly integrated social features into the derivative trading environment. Users can create private trading communities and interact around real-time positions:

· End-to-end encrypted private groups supporting up to 1024 members

· End-to-end encrypted voice communication

· One-click position sharing

· One-click trade copying

On the execution side, Mixin aggregates liquidity from multiple sources and accesses decentralized protocol and external market liquidity through a unified trading interface.

By combining social interaction with trade execution, Mixin enables users to collaborate, share, and execute trading strategies instantly within the same environment.

Referral Mechanism: Non-institutional users can receive up to 60% fee split

Mixin has also introduced a referral incentive system based on trading behavior:

· Users can join with an invite code

· Up to 60% of trading fees as referral rewards

· Incentive mechanism designed for long-term, sustainable earnings

This model aims to drive user-driven network expansion and organic growth.

Self-Custody Architecture and Built-in Privacy Mechanism

Mixin's derivative transactions are built on top of its existing self-custody wallet infrastructure, with core features including:

· Separation of transaction account and asset storage

· User full control over assets

· Platform does not custody user funds

· Built-in privacy mechanisms to reduce data exposure

The system aims to strike a balance between transaction efficiency, asset security, and privacy protection.

A New Path for On-Chain Derivatives

Against the background of perpetual contracts becoming a mainstream trading tool, Mixin is exploring a different development direction by lowering barriers, enhancing social and privacy attributes.

The platform does not only view transactions as execution actions but positions them as a networked activity: transactions have social attributes, strategies can be shared, and relationships between individuals also become part of the financial system.

Regulatory Background

Mixin's design is based on a user-initiated, user-controlled model. The platform neither custodies assets nor executes transactions on behalf of users.

This model aligns with a statement issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 13, 2026, titled "Staff Statement on Whether Partial User Interface Used in Preparing Cryptocurrency Securities Transactions May Require Broker-Dealer Registration."

The statement indicates that, under the premise where transactions are entirely initiated and controlled by users, non-custodial service providers that offer neutral interfaces may not need to register as broker-dealers or exchanges.

About Mixin

Mixin is a decentralized, self-custodial privacy wallet designed to provide secure and efficient digital asset management services.

Its core capabilities include:

· Aggregation: integrating multi-chain assets and routing between different transaction paths to simplify user operations

· High liquidity access: connecting to various liquidity sources, including decentralized protocols and external markets

· Decentralization: achieving full user control over assets without relying on custodial intermediaries

· Privacy protection: safeguarding assets and data through MPC, CryptoNote, and end-to-end encrypted communication

Mixin has been in operation for over 8 years, supporting over 40 blockchains and more than 10,000 assets, with a global user base exceeding 10 million and an on-chain self-custodied asset scale of over $1 billion.

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