Financial markets are beginning to move beyond the traditional opening bell.
While stock exchanges still operate within fixed trading hours, crypto markets run continuously — 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That shift is changing how exchanges, trading infrastructure, and investors think about market access.
In an interview with TheStreet Roundtable’s Alp Gasimov, Decibel Foundation’s Brylee Whatley explained why perpetual decentralized exchanges, also known as perp DEXs, could become an important part of that evolution.
“What we’re seeing is the evolution across the board as more and more exchanges, more and more even ATSs are looking towards extended market hours,” Whatley said.
For many traditional investors, perpetual futures may appear to be just another trading product. But according to Whatley, the more important shift is the infrastructure behind them — markets designed to operate continuously, settle instantly, and function without traditional intermediaries.
Why markets no longer sleep
Traditional financial markets have always relied on downtime.
When markets close, institutions reconcile trades, review books, settle transactions, and manage operational risk before reopening the next day. Crypto markets changed that model entirely.
“You have to make sure your systems work 24-7, 365, and never have a problem,” Whatley said.
That operational shift has created demand for more resilient trading systems capable of handling continuous global activity.
“It’s having more resilient systems,” Whatley said. “You don’t have a market closed period.”
This is where decentralized finance, or DeFi, enters the picture. DeFi refers to blockchain-based financial systems that remove traditional intermediaries like brokers and clearinghouses.
According to Whatley, perpetual DEXs are designed specifically for this always-on market environment.
What exactly is a perpetual DEX?
At its core, a perpetual decentralized exchange allows traders to buy and sell perpetual futures contracts directly onchain. Unlike traditional futures contracts, perpetual futures do not expire.
“The perpetual future is widely used and common contract and the highest volume activity inside the crypto space,” Whatley said.
Instead of relying on expiration dates and rollovers, perpetual contracts use funding rates to keep prices aligned with the underlying market.
“When longs are pushing more than shorts, the funding rate increases to encourage shorts to come into the other side and provide liquidity,” Whatley explained.
Unlike traditional finance systems that involve brokers, custodians, and clearinghouses, Whatley said Decibel consolidates trading, settlement, and custody into a single smart contract system.
