a16z Says Blockchains Can Broaden Markets Beyond Crypto Assets

a16z crypto argues that blockchains could broaden markets by letting users issue and distribute financial exposures globally, bringing more than conventional assets and crypto-native contracts within traders' reach.

The firm's thesis starts with two parts of any market: the risk being traded and the instrument used to transfer it. A company’s cash flow, a barrel of oil, a borrower's credit or an election result can each be an exposure. Spot trades, futures, perpetuals, options and event contracts are among the ways traders can take or transfer that risk.

In a16z crypto's telling, new trading mechanisms have often taken years to develop, even when the underlying exposure was already familiar. Grain spot trading existed long before futures began trading in Chicago in 1865. Currencies floated in 1971, followed by currency futures in 1972. Stock options had existed in customized dealer agreements for centuries before listed options arrived in 1973 with the opening of CBOE and the emergence of the Black-Scholes model. Exchange-traded funds followed in 1993.

New types of exposure took time to find markets, too. Interest rates became widely traded in 1981, credit default swaps appeared in 1994, and volatility gained a market through VIX derivatives in 2004. Event outcomes only became established trading exposures in recent years through prediction markets. The firm argues that demand for these markets existed earlier, while the process of bringing them to market constrained supply.

That process, a16z crypto says, was limited by listing committees, legal frameworks and geographic divisions. Blockchains can ease those limits through permissionless issuance and global distribution. In the firm's view, that lets market supply respond to potential demand across regions, rather than depending on a central body to approve each listing.

The firm points to crypto markets as examples of new exposures and new ways to transfer risk. Prediction markets turn discrete outcomes, such as elections, Federal Reserve decisions and court rulings, into tradable positions. Peer-to-peer lending gives individual credit relationships continuous prices, while pre-IPO markets open exposure once concentrated among a small number of secondary brokers. Memecoins and NFTs make attention and cultural relevance tradable exposures.

Other crypto products changed the trading mechanism. Automated market makers let trading begin without a market maker first agreeing to quote prices. Perpetuals combine fragmented, dated exposures into a synthetic contract balanced by funding rates. Binary contracts turn event outcomes into markets that settle at $1 or zero, while pooled lending and bonding curves offer different ways to organize borrowing, issuance and price discovery.

Perpetuals illustrate the thesis because, in a16z crypto's account, a market can be built if an oracle can represent the underlying risk and counterparties are willing to take opposite sides. That structure can bring familiar exposures, including stocks and commodities, onto a new trading format without making them crypto-native assets. Hyperliquid's HIP-3 and HIP-4 frameworks let users launch derivatives, connect to the platform's global frontend and earn corresponding yields.

The firm points to recent activity as evidence of that combination. In July, onchain real-world-asset perpetual swap volume reached an annualized run rate of $1.4 trillion, about half of Hyperliquid's book. The firm describes the trading as familiar exposures, including stocks and oil, paired with a new transfer tool.

The mix of markets also changes over time. U.S. stocks and commodities led in the fourth quarter of 2025, followed by oil, natural gas and metals in the first half of 2026. Semiconductors and meme stocks were the latest areas to draw attention in the sequence described by the firm. a16z crypto sees that rotation as a sign that new markets can form around whatever risks traders want to trade at a given time.

Its examples of possible markets include commodity and foreign exchange perpetuals, indexes and round-the-clock equity exposure, as well as computing-power futures and perpetuals tied to the consumer price index (CPI). It also points to markets involving music, social trends and sports. These possibilities would depend on whether an oracle can capture the relevant risk and traders can be found to take both sides.

Permissionless issuance will also produce markets that do not last. The market itself acts as a self-selecting filter, with demand determining which offerings persist. The firm sees applications and protocols that issue markets, along with venues where those markets trade, as the businesses positioned to capture value.