Two of crypto’s most influential decentralised platforms: MetaMask and Infinex, have integrated with Hyperliquid, the most liquid decentralised derivatives exchange, in a bold move to challenge centralised exchanges (CEXs) in the booming perpetual futures market.

MetaMask’s integration with Hyperliquid went live this week, enabling users to trade perpetual swaps directly from their wallets without ever giving up custody of their funds. The integration marks a major strategic shift for MetaMask as it evolves from a simple self-custody wallet into a comprehensive onchain trading platform.

“This is a major milestone for us,” said Gal Eldar, MetaMask’s Global Product Lead. “By embedding the Hyperliquid engine directly into our wallet and optimising it for mobile, we’re offering a frictionless path for passive holders to become active traders. The timing couldn’t be better to deliver a one-tap, onchain trading experience to our users.”

Meanwhile, Infinex, a non-custodial DeFi front-end launched in mid-2024, began beta testing its Hyperliquid integration several weeks earlier. Within its first four weeks, it processed over $100 million in trading volume, primarily from early supporters and select traders known as “Patrons”. Following its success, the platform officially opened perpetuals trading to all retail users last week.

The Decentralised Perps Boom: $772 Billion and Rising

The decentralised perpetuals (perps) market has exploded over the past year, with trading volumes exceeding $772 billion in September alone, according to DefiLlama. On 25 September, decentralised perps hit a record daily volume of $59.5 billion, signalling a significant shift away from centralised platforms.

Perpetual futures or “perps” have become one of crypto’s most popular derivatives products, offering high leverage, no expiry dates and the ability to profit from both rising and falling markets. Traditionally dominated by CEXs such as Binance and Bybit, the segment is now being rapidly decentralised through platforms like Hyperliquid, Aster and Lighter.

Despite Hyperliquid’s success, centralised exchanges still lead in volume. Data from CoinGecko shows Binance handling $93.4 billion and Bybit $31.9 billion in derivatives volume over the past 24 hours. Hyperliquid, ranked 7th globally, recorded $10.3 billion in the same period, a strong showing for a decentralised protocol.

Industry observers note that DeFi’s user experience has historically been a barrier to adoption. Eldar acknowledged that traditional onchain trading was often “a 30-minute ordeal involving multiple bridges, gas fees and token conversions”. The new MetaMask–Hyperliquid integration aims to remove those pain points, offering a smooth, CEX-like experience entirely within users’ wallets.

MetaMask’s Strategic Expansion: Perps, Rewards and Prediction Markets

The Hyperliquid partnership is part of a broader expansion for MetaMask. Alongside the integration, MetaMask unveiled perpetual futures trading, a loyalty rewards programme, and plans to integrate prediction markets through an exclusive partnership with Polymarket later this year.

The MetaMask Perpetuals feature is already live in select regions, allowing users to trade derivatives directly within their wallets. Supported by Hyperliquid’s infrastructure, the feature includes one-click funding from any Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chain and notably eliminates swap fees for perps trading.

MetaMask is also rolling out MetaMask Rewards, a gamified seasonal points system designed to encourage onchain activity. Points are earned through swaps, perp trades, referrals and spending via the MetaMask Metal Card or holding mUSD stablecoins.

Each “season” lasts three months, with rewards tiers offering benefits such as:

• $30 million in LINEA tokens (Season 1 allocation)
  
• Fee discounts on perpetual trading
  
• Priority customer support
  
• Points multipliers and free Metal Card subscriptions
  

Eldar said the programme aims to reward active users while reinforcing MetaMask’s commitment to decentralised ownership. “We built MetaMask to give people true control of their assets. Now we’re extending that principle to the world’s most important financial markets, without users ever surrendering custody.”

Infinex’s Early Success and Warwick’s Vision for DeFi Perps

Kain Warwick, founder of Infinex and the Synthetix protocol, told Cointelegraph that the $100 million in pre-launch trading volume from just 200 early users proved strong appetite for a non-custodial alternative to CEXs.

“Synthetix, dYdX and GMX paved the way for decentralised derivatives,” Warwick said, “but they didn’t quite crack the scalability or UX barriers. Hyperliquid has finally done both, it’s the first decentralised perps protocol that feels truly competitive with centralised exchanges.”

Warwick recently confirmed that Synthetix will soon redeploy on Ethereum mainnet, roughly six years after moving to Layer-2 Optimism, signalling a renewed push toward accessibility and liquidity on Ethereum’s base layer.

He added that the current wave of integrations marks a turning point: “Centralised exchanges are starting to realise that DeFi’s onchain future is inevitable. Many are now exploring hybrid models to blend custody with transparency. What we’re seeing with MetaMask and Infinex is the first real DeFi response at scale.”

CEXs Face a New Challenge as Onchain Trading Evolves

Despite the dominance of Binance, Bybit and OKX, the surge in decentralised derivatives activity suggests that onchain perps could soon capture meaningful market share. With MetaMask’s enormous 100+ million user base, the integration could funnel millions of new traders into decentralised markets virtually overnight.

Meanwhile, Infinex’s success hints at a growing demand for simplified, self-custodial DeFi platforms that retain the liquidity and user experience of CEXs without sacrificing transparency.

As MetaMask’s long-rumoured MASK token approaches launch, confirmed by Consensys CEO Joseph Lubin, though without a date, the company appears poised to transform from a wallet app into a multi-service decentralised trading ecosystem.

In a market dominated by centralised giants, MetaMask and Infinex’s alignment with Hyperliquid could signal the start of a new decentralised derivatives era, one where liquidity, usability and ownership finally converge onchain.