The rise of crypto perpetual futures has led to a shift in Ethereum's role, with its layer-2 networks such as Arbitrum and Base becoming key players in supporting these transactions. Despite not being designed for high-frequency trading, Ethereum's security-focused architecture makes it an ideal settlement layer. Developers are now building on layer-2 networks, which offer faster and cheaper transactions, to support perpetual futures trading. This has led to a compromise between preserving Ethereum's security and improving trading performance.
Other platforms like Solana and Hyperliquid have also gained popularity for perpetual futures trading due to their low fees and large user bases. However, Ethereum's layer-2 ecosystem is still seen as a vital part of the onchain financial stack, providing a settlement and collateral base for deeper liquidity, a wider range of assets, and more mature DeFi primitives. As institutions begin to take notice of onchain derivatives, the focus is shifting from whether decentralized perpetuals can work to whether they can compete with traditional infrastructure.
Ultimately, Ethereum's role is evolving to become the settlement and collateral layer that underpins perpetual futures markets, rather than the primary platform for executing high-speed transactions.