The future of finance may have arrived sooner than expected, and it showed up over a weekend of geopolitical turmoil.
Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise Asset Management, says he has dramatically revised his timeline for the rise of on-chain finance after investors flooded crypto platforms during the recent US-Israel escalation involving Iran.
In a Tuesday note titled “The Weekend That Changed Finance,” Hougan admitted he once believed traditional markets would take five to 10 years to migrate meaningfully onto blockchain rails. Now, he says, that shift could happen far faster.
During Sunday’s attacks in Iran, when all traditional markets were closed, Bloomberg turned to Hyperliquid’s crude oil contract to gauge the impact for investors.
If hedge funds and banks weren’t looking at stablecoins or tokenized assets before this weekend, they’re paying… pic.twitter.com/xSeSgHIuXz
— Bitwise (@Bitwise) March 3, 2026
When the first strikes were reported around 3:30 am UTC on Saturday, global stock exchanges across the US, Europe and Asia were closed. Crypto markets, however, were not.
Hyperliquid becomes the price discovery hub
Much of the action centred on Hyperliquid, a perpetual futures platform that recorded more than $11.5 billion in trading volume across Saturday and Sunday. Traders turned to tokenized crude oil, gold and other real-world asset contracts to position themselves as headlines unfolded.
Hougan noted that even mainstream financial media referenced pricing from Hyperliquid’s crude oil contract to gauge the market’s reaction. At the same time, Tether Gold (XAUt) saw 24-hour trading volume surge past $300 million, while activity climbed across prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi.
“For most of Sunday, on-chain finance was the center of the financial world,”
Hougan wrote, arguing that blockchain’s 24/7 trading and instant settlement make traditional T+1 systems look outdated.
NYSE eyes 24/7 tokenized trading
Legacy institutions are taking note. In January, the New York Stock Exchange and its parent, Intercontinental Exchange, unveiled plans to build a blockchain-based platform supporting round-the-clock trading and near-instant settlement for stocks and ETFs. Details remain scarce, including launch timelines and network design.
Meanwhile, Chainlink announced the launch of 24/5 US Equities Streams, a service designed to deliver continuous, high-quality price data for US stocks and ETFs beyond traditional market hours. Chainlink says the move could unlock on-chain access to parts of the roughly $80 trillion US equities market.
Until then, Hougan argues, serious traders may have little choice but to adopt stablecoins and learn to navigate crypto-native platforms.
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