Crypto is expanding the boundaries of what can be priced

What do these markets look like?

Traditional financial markets are sporadic. Even with publicly-traded companies, price discovery only occurs during business hours. And it’s worse for private firms, which are repriced only during funding rounds or periodic valuation exercises. Despite the fact that important information can emerge at any time, conventional markets often cannot react immediately.

But the defining characteristic of blockchain-based markets is that they operate continuously, on a 24/7 basis. That means they can absorb information as it emerges rather than waiting for the next market session or valuation event. The result is a more responsive, organic mechanism for assessing value.

Furthermore, blockchain-based markets are much more accessible than conventional ones. You typically need accreditation, special relationships, and significant capital to trade private equity, which restricts the opportunity to a small group of participants. We can now see the crypto industry taking a different approach by allowing anyone with an Internet connection to express their market views. If we take the view that markets are systems for aggregating information, then expanding participation improves the quality of that information.

Another important point, which we alluded to earlier, is that these products provide exposure rather than ownership. Holding a perpetual contract linked to a private technology company is not equivalent to owning equity in that company. There are no shareholder rights, and no direct claim on future cash flows.