The crypto perpetual futures market has experienced rapid growth, but Ethereum's base layer was not designed to handle the high-frequency trading required for perpetuals. As a result, layer-2 networks like Arbitrum and Base have become the go-to destinations for traders, offering faster and cheaper transactions. However, Ethereum's security-first architecture makes it an ideal settlement layer, and its layer-2 ecosystem has become a compromise between security and trading performance. While Solana and Hyperliquid have gained popularity for their high-performance trading infrastructure, Ethereum's role is shifting towards becoming the settlement and collateral layer that underpins these markets.
Proponents argue that Ethereum doesn't need to be the fastest place to trade perpetuals, but rather the deepest and most trusted place to settle them.