Bitwise Chief Investment Officer: Israel-Iran Conflict "Changed Finance," Traditional Finance Embraces Blockchain Faster Than Expected

During the weekend of the Iran-U.S. conflict, traditional markets were completely closed, but the crypto perpetual contract platform Hyperliquid saw over $11.5 billion in trading volume, even Bloomberg cited its crude oil contract prices. Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan stated outright that this weekend proved on-chain finance will replace traditional exchanges at a “far faster” pace than expected.
(Background: Bloomberg reports limited impact of Bitcoin from the Iran-U.S. war, with prices stabilizing between $60,000 and $70,000; Hyperliquid contracts become a hedging indicator)
(Additional context: Iran blocks the Hormuz Strait, firing on more than ten oil tankers! Trump warns: temporarily tolerating rising oil prices, teaming up with Germany and Israel to counter)

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• Bitwise CIO: “5 to 10-year forecasts are overturned this weekend”
• Bloomberg on Hyperliquid quotes
• The NYSE’s pursuit race

As global stock markets fell silent over the weekend, a geopolitical crisis is testing the speed of the financial system’s response. Last weekend, the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran, prompting urgent trading needs from investors—yet exchanges in New York, London, and Tokyo were all closed. This crisis unexpectedly became a stress test for on-chain finance, with results surprising the traditional financial world.

Bitwise CIO: “5 to 10-year forecasts are overturned this weekend”

In a memo titled “A Weekend That Changed Finance,” Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan admitted that he previously believed traditional finance would take at least five to ten years to migrate onto the blockchain, but this weekend completely reversed his judgment.

“All Sunday, on-chain finance replaced Wall Street as the core of global financial operations,” Hougan wrote. He further pointed out that blockchain’s 24/7 trading capability makes traditional “securities exchanges and T+1 settlement mechanisms seem outdated.”

Hougan believes that for hedge funds and banks wanting to react immediately to geopolitical events, there’s now no choice—they must set up stablecoin wallets and operate directly on platforms like Hyperliquid.

During Sunday’s attacks in Iran, when all traditional markets were closed, Bloomberg turned to Hyperliquid’s crude oil contract to gauge the impact for investors.
If hedge funds and banks weren’t looking at stablecoins or tokenized assets before this weekend, they’re paying… pic.twitter.com/xSeSgHIuXz
— Bitwise (@Bitwise) March 3, 2026

Bloomberg on Hyperliquid quotes

In the vacuum left by the absence of traditional markets, Hyperliquid, a crypto perpetual contract platform, has become a substitute hub for global asset trading. According to DeFi Llama data, in just Saturday and Sunday, Hyperliquid’s trading volume exceeded $11.5 billion, covering tokenized contracts of real-world assets (RWA) like crude oil and gold.

More notably, when Bloomberg reported on crude oil price movements, it did not cite traditional futures exchanges but instead referenced Hyperliquid’s crude oil perpetual contracts—something almost unthinkable before. Meanwhile, Tether’s tokenized gold product XAUt saw daily trading volume surpass $300 million, and trading activity on prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket also surged significantly.

The NYSE’s pursuit race

Traditional exchanges are not unaware of this trend. In January, NYSE and its parent Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) announced plans to develop a blockchain settlement system aimed at enabling 24/7 trading and real-time settlement of stocks and ETFs, supporting multi-chain architecture and asset custody.

However, it’s worth noting that NYSE has yet to announce a specific launch timeline, nor disclosed which blockchain it will adopt, or whether the system will be open or permissioned—standing in stark contrast to Hyperliquid’s proven real-time trading capabilities in practice.

In this context, Doinqu believes that this weekend’s event is more than just a stress test passing. When the world’s most influential financial media start citing DeFi platform quotes, and institutional investors are forced to turn to on-chain trading, the narrative of RWA tokenization has quietly shifted from “future outlook” to “current reality.” If traditional exchanges do not accelerate their transformation, they risk further marginalization in the next global crisis.