Across digital finance, onchain markets are entering a new phase in which functional assets, liquidity and user behavior are rapidly realigning.
From memecoins to financially useful assets
Onchain markets are becoming more diverse as traders move beyond purely speculative tokens. Memecoins still play a key role in attracting attention and driving user onboarding, especially for first-time crypto participants.
However, most new trading volume and fresh liquidity are shifting toward real world assets (RWAs), perpetual derivatives, and prediction venues that offer clearer financial use cases and links to traditional markets. This migration is redefining how capital flows across decentralized platforms.
Moreover, RWAs are evolving from simple representations of value into usable financial instruments that can support yield strategies, risk hedging, and structured portfolio construction. That said, memecoins remain important as attention catalysts, even as functional assets gain ground.
RWAs, perpetuals and prediction platforms gain traction
RWAs are increasingly used to design onchain portfolios that mirror or complement traditional exposure. In practice, this enables strategies that combine blockchain settlement with familiar instruments such as credit-based yields or asset-backed products, while maintaining transparent, programmable ownership.
At the same time, perpetual DEXs continue to attract both active and professional traders. As their liquidity deepens and infrastructure reliability improves, these platforms are becoming core venues for derivatives participation, hedging and leveraged strategies within the broader crypto ecosystem.
Prediction platforms add another structural layer by introducing event-based pricing and information-driven markets. However, instead of trading only on asset prices, users can take positions on outcomes such as elections, macro data releases, or protocol milestones, turning information and expectations into directly tradable positions.
Unified interfaces and the rise of the wallet gateway
As trading activity concentrates on platforms that aggregate multiple asset classes, interfaces that unify access are becoming strategically important. In this environment, wallets are evolving into full-stack gateways that manage global asset allocation, execution, and cross-market coordination from a single point of control.
Moreover, users increasingly expect a wallet to orchestrate positions across RWAs, perpetual derivatives, and prediction exposure in one place. This shift allows both retail and professional participants to optimize capital usage, manage risk consistently, and react to market signals across several onchain venues without leaving the wallet interface.
That said, infrastructure providers must ensure that these unified access points preserve security, composability, and transparency. Executing multi-asset strategies through a wallet requires robust integration with liquidity sources, clear pricing, and reliable settlement across all supported protocols.
Strategic implications for platforms and users
The gradual rotation from purely speculative tokens toward functionally grounded assets changes how protocols compete and collaborate. Platforms that successfully combine RWAs, perpetual derivatives, and event-driven instruments in a single, coherent experience are positioned to capture a larger share of future volume.
For users, this evolution broadens the toolkit for yield generation, hedging, and tactical positioning. However, it also demands greater sophistication in evaluating protocol risk, collateral frameworks, and the legal or economic structures underpinning RWAs and derivatives markets.
In summary, as functional assets gain share and wallet-centric access becomes the norm, onchain markets are set to operate more like integrated global financial rails while preserving the openness and programmability that define decentralized finance.
Source: https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2026/01/28/onchain-markets-rwas-perps/
