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The focus is shifting from new assets to new markets

A CoinDesk opinion piece said that as the crypto industry matures, it is moving away from creating new digital asset classes and toward building always-on markets around existing events and assets. The article argued that this shift could reshape the future of finance more significantly than simply launching new tokens.

In the analysis by Annabelle Huang, it was noted that Bitcoin, Ether, governance tokens, NFTs and memecoins once sat at the center of the push to create new asset classes. More recently, however, the focus has moved toward building markets for areas that were previously priced only intermittently, or not continuously at all.

What examples stand out?

  • Prediction markets
  • Oil and gold perpetual contracts on Hyperliquid
  • Pre-IPO perpetual products linked to companies before they go public

According to the article, these tools make it possible to generate real-time market signals for areas such as news flow, commodity prices and private company valuations. As a result, topics that were once discussed mainly in qualitative terms can now be measured through constantly updated prices.

Price discovery is becoming the product itself

The analysis said that in traditional finance, price discovery is often seen as a byproduct of trading activity, while in crypto markets it is increasingly becoming a product in its own right. In particular, perpetual contracts tied to private companies allow investors to see instant price signals about perceived value without acquiring equity ownership.

Market exposure instead of ownership

The article made clear that holding a perpetual contract linked to a private tech company does not mean owning a stake in that company. These products do not provide shareholder rights or a direct claim on future cash flows, but many participants appear to be satisfied with exposure alone.

Another key difference in crypto-based markets is that they operate 24/7. Because major information can emerge at any time of day, always-open markets allow prices to adjust without waiting for the next trading session or valuation round.

Infrastructure capacity could determine market quality

The piece also argued that this model promises broader participation. In traditional private markets, access is often limited by accredited investor rules, personal networks and high capital requirements, whereas blockchain-based structures can reflect the market view of a much wider group of people with internet access.

Main risk areas being watched

  • Trading capacity and latency
  • Liquidity depth and system reliability
  • Support for high-frequency trading and risk management

According to the article, many blockchain networks still face significant limitations in these areas. It said infrastructure bottlenecks could distort the quality of price signals and limit participation, and that stronger technical capacity and deeper capital pools are needed if crypto is to play a more central role in global price discovery.

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