Animoca Brands Research has published an in-depth report titled The Perp DEX Gold Rush: The Great Momentum of On-Chain Pivot, examining the structural forces reshaping on-chain derivatives trading. Among the next-generation platforms shaping this new era, Grvt is highlighted as a standout player, recognized for its institutional-grade architecture, yield-bearing margin system, and its vision of becoming a full-spectrum on-chain brokerage.

Below, we unpack the key findings from the report and what they mean for the future of decentralized derivatives, and for Grvt's place within it.

If you’re ready to experience this shift firsthand, start trading on Grvt and see how the model works in practice.

The Perp DEX Sector: From Experiment to Infrastructure

The report's central thesis is unambiguous: decentralized perpetual exchanges have crossed from the experimental periphery into the structural core of crypto markets. In 2025 alone, the top 10 Perp DEX protocols processed $7.9 trillion in trading volume, more than tripling the $1.5 trillion recorded in 2024. Simultaneously, the DEX-to-CEX perpetual trading ratio climbed from 2.7% to 11.7% within a single year. These are not speculative projections; they are the measured outcomes of a sector reaching institutional maturity.

Several macro forces are accelerating this momentum.

The trust deficit left by centralized exchange failures remains a primary driver. The collapse of FTX in 2022 fundamentally altered trader psychology. What began as a fear of insolvency has evolved into a principled rejection of regulatory capture. Users increasingly view centralized exchanges as extensions of state compliance infrastructure rather than neutral trading venues. The record fines levied against Binance ($4.3B) and OKX ($504M) reinforced this perception, pushing capital toward self-custodial, permissionless alternatives.

Regulatory pressure in major markets compounded this shift. The EU's MiCA framework forced Tier-1 CEXs to delist non-compliant stablecoins, most notably USDT, and restrict access to high-leverage derivative products for European traders. This "Compliance Squeeze" effectively evicted trillions in notional volume from centralized venues, creating a structural demand for permissionless alternatives. On-chain protocols responded by capturing the "long tail" of assets and products that compliance-bound platforms could no longer legally offer.

Demographic change is a quieter but equally significant catalyst. A new generation of traders, who are crypto-native, comfortable with self-custody, and skeptical of legacy intermediaries, treats on-chain interaction as the default mode of finance. Wallets like Phantom, Backpack, and Rabby are no longer passive asset viewers; they are active trading terminals, with platforms like Hyperliquid enabling wallet-native perp trading through builder codes that route orders and generate revenue directly within the wallet interface.

The Three Phases of Perp DEX Infrastructure

The report traces a clear evolutionary arc in trading infrastructure, organized into three distinct phases, each solving the limitations of the last.

Phase 1 (2021–2023): The Liquidity Pool Era. AMM-adapted designs like GMX and Drift prioritized accessibility but were constrained by passive liquidity, high latency (400ms–2s), and oracle arbitrage vulnerabilities, leaving professional market makers without meaningful participation mechanisms.

Phase 2 (Late 2023): The Hybrid Orderbook Era. dYdX v4 decoupled matching from settlement, housing the order book in validator RAM while committing only final outcomes on-chain. Throughput scaled to 1.5K–10K TPS and unified margin became possible, but off-chain matching remained a structural compromise.

Phase 3 (2025–Present): The Purpose-Built Blockchain Era.  Full vertical integration. Protocols like Hyperliquid and Grvt embed matching directly into purpose-built chains, delivering sub-second finality, throughputs of 200K–600K TPS, and CEX-parity execution, entirely on-chain, with no custodial trade-off.

Market Outlook: The Trajectory to Flippening

Animoca Brands Research projects the DEX/CEX perpetual trading ratio to continue its structural climb. Under a conservative linear scenario, the ratio is expected to exceed 20% by end-2026 and reach 40% by 2028. 

Under an optimistic, exponential scenario, DEX perp volume could surpass CEX volume entirely, reaching a 199% ratio by end-2028. Monthly protocol revenue across the sector, which scaled from negligible levels in late 2024 to approximately $190 million in November 2025, underscores that this is no longer a volume story alone; it is increasingly a sustainable fee-generation story.

The revenue model is becoming multi-layered: trade execution fees, liquidation penalties, leverage spreads, vault management fees, and for protocols operating sovereign app-chains gas fees and MEV capture.

Grvt: Redefining Capital Productivity in On-Chain Finance

Within this landscape, the report identifies Grvt as a platform building the next frontier of on-chain brokerage not by replicating what centralized finance already offers, but by reimagining what a financial platform can do when capital is always productive, markets are always open, and custody is never compromised.

One Platform. Every Market.

Perpetual derivatives are Grvt's starting point, not its destination. The roadmap extends into spot, FX, commodities, and equities, all on the same margin logic, consolidating what today's platforms force traders to fragment across multiple venues. Distribution scales through Grvt Builder Codes, enabling third-party integrators to route order flow through Grvt's infrastructure, extending reach without fragmenting liquidity.

Capital That Never Sits Idle

On most derivatives platforms, collateral sits dormant, an invisible drag on capital efficiency. Grvt's Unified Margin system eliminates that. A single balance backs active positions and generates yield simultaneously, starting with Aave lending protocol integrated as external yield source. Capital that is always working is the foundation of Grvt's thesis.

Infrastructure Built for Performance and Trust

Grvt operates as the first appchain on the ZKsync Stack, combining an off-chain CLOB with on-chain ZK-rollup settlement to deliver sub-millisecond latency, 600,000 TPS, and full non-custodial security. ZKsync's Validium layer adds Privacy-by-Default, shielding order flow from MEV risk and information leakage. The result is a platform that matches the performance of a centralized exchange without asking traders to surrender control of their assets.

For readers curious to explore further, Grvt is where this model is already live.

The Bigger Picture

The Animoca Brands Research report paints a picture of a sector undergoing genuine structural maturation, moving from hype-driven volume cycles toward sustainable, fee-generating ecosystems that challenge centralized exchanges on every meaningful performance dimension. 

Regulatory pressure, trust deficits, technological convergence, and generational shifts in trader behavior are not temporary tailwinds; they are durable structural forces.

Grvt's positioning within this landscape reflects a clear and deliberate thesis: that the next frontier of on-chain finance is not simply about where trading happens, but about how efficiently capital works while it does. Every design decision, from Unified Margin to composable yield integrations to a full-spectrum product roadmap, is oriented toward the same outcome: a platform where no dollar of capital is ever idle, and no market is ever out of reach.

Read the full report here.

This post references findings from Animoca Brands Research's report, "The Perp DEX Gold Rush: The Great Momentum of On-Chain Pivot." The report is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.